Have you ever glanced down at your fuel gauge and suddenly discovered you were running on empty? One thing is certain, you did not find the experience enjoyable. If you are driving, there is only one solution: refuel.
But what about personally?
What do you do when you find yourself running on fumes? Our tendency is dig down a bit deeper and attempt to push through. That is not God’s plan. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance.”
Sunday we are going to explore another option to toughing out and and pushing through.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:22 — 36.0MB)
Downloads
Notes Transcript Video Audio iTunesGrace Fellowship Church
Buddy Hoffman
Series: One Story: Digging Deeper
April 14, 2013
Church: How Far Can We Go on Empty?
Acts 2:1-21
If you’re here this morning and you don’t have a Bible with you, slip up your hand. We want to put a Bible in your hand. We’re going to be looking at a number of passages of Scripture. You’re going to need a Bible, and you’re also going to want one of those handout sheets, because there’s actually no way I can cover all of this this morning. But it does provide you with some stuff during the week if you’d like to dig in and meditate and marinate on some of this stuff. I think you’ll be blessed by it.
We are in a series of the One Story. We’ve gone through Kingdom Foundations, and the metanarrative of the Bible is the kingdom of God. We’ve looked at the covenant God made with Abraham and the Kingdom Families, and the covenant God made with the children of Israel in the wilderness through Moses and the Kingdom Freedom in Exodus, and the covenant God makes with Joshua in the land and fulfills that covenant.
We’ve been looking through those things, and we’re into the eleventh chapter, epic, of that big One Story. We covered over Easter that section of the King, that the King comes, and the King announces the kingdom and inaugurates the kingdom. Now we’re into this section that is really the kingdom expanding, which is the church itself.
So we’re going to be looking at Acts 2:1. “On the day of Pentecost…” Now if you have grown up in church, you just think that has to do with the birth of the church, and it does, but it goes back to the oldest celebrated religious ritual, rite, in existence, which is the celebration of that Kingdom Freedom where God brought the children of Israel out of the wilderness and the sacrificial lamb. They would gather together at that 50 days after Passover, and they would be celebrating the giving of the law.
They would traditionally have been reading out of the book of Ezekiel. “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.” (Acts 2:1) I like the way the King James read, “They were all together in one accord.” My pastor, growing up, used to always tell the same corny story that the disciples drove a Honda, but that’s obviously not true.
“Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.” Now I want you to focus on that verse 4 and notice carefully what it says. “And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit…” Do you see that? Everyone. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just me, but we. “…and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” (Acts 2:2-4)
Now I know that depending on what denomination or church group you grew up with, you may be like, “Ah, I’m kind of Baptist or Presbyterian, and I’m not really comfortable with this.” Here’s what I want to say: Get comfortable with the Bible. Just get comfortable with the Bible, and if you’ll make up your mind you’re just going to be comfortable with the Bible, you’ll be happier, amen? So if you’re Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, or whatever I’ve left out…
But here’s what happened: They began to speak with other languages. Now later on, there is something that some would call a prayer language, but this is actually not that. This is a different thing. They are speaking actually known languages, actually in specific dialects.
“At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered…” Look at this. “…to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.” Look at verse 7. “They were completely amazed. ‘How can this be?’ they exclaimed. ‘These people are all from Galilee…'” (Acts 2:5-7)
Now Galilee was up in the northern corner of the nation of Israel. Jerusalem is down in the center and kind of the intelligentsia of the day gathered around Jerusalem and the better educated, and the tradesmen and the fishermen all lived up around Galilee and Nazareth. They actually even spoke with a dialect that was not highly appreciated by the people down in Jerusalem.
You remember even when Peter was kind of hanging out before the crucifixion. When they had taken Jesus, he was warming himself by the fire. The girl comes up to him and says, “You’re one of those Galileans, aren’t you?” The reason she knew that is because his speech betrayed him.
It’s kind of like being from the South. When you have a Southern accent, you don’t have to say anything. They know you are blessed by the grace of God. My wife is from Wisconsin, and when we first moved down here my granddad would speak, and she would look at me and she would go, “You’re going to have to interpret.”
But here’s what’s going on: They’re speaking. They’re just common people. He says, “…and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!” (Acts 2:8) Literally, they were talking not only in their language, but it’s like they were speaking their dialect. Like it would be British English and Southern English, or if it was like California, they would be saying, “Like, God is awesome. Like, kind of, you know what I mean, like.”
It gives this whole list of people here, and they’re hearing the powerful message of God. In verse 12, look at what it says. “They stood there amazed and perplexed. ‘What can this mean?’ they asked each other.” (Acts 2:12) This is really, really important that we recognize that one of the responsibilities of the church…listen carefully to what I’m going to say here…is that as much as is possible we communicate in the language and the heart language of the people who need to know the gospel.
That’s one of the reasons we have children’s church and middle school ministry and high school ministry. That’s why we have Bible translations. Sometimes people get a little upset about different Bible translations. I preach out of the New Living, but I study out of an old King James Bible because that’s what I grew up on. I still like the King James Bible, but if you hand a King James Bible to a seventh grader, you might as well be handing them Latin.
Now I know people are going, “Well, I just love the King James. It’s poetic.” Okay, the Bible, except for Psalms, is not primarily a book of poetry. It’s a book of prophecy, of truth. It is our job to communicate the gospel in a way that people can hear it. It’s our responsibility. You say, “Well, they just need to step up and understand it themselves.” No, it’s our job to condescend to a level they can understand it. Why is that? Because that’s how Jesus did it. That’s how the church is supposed to do it.
Verse 13: “But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, ‘They’re just drunk, that’s all!'” (Acts 2:13) I’ve never seen anybody get drunk and speak clearer. Verse 14: “Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, ‘Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that.'” Which I think is funny too.
“‘No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: “In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon…”‘” How many people? “‘”…all people.”‘” This is for everybody. “‘”I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.”‘” This is what he has promised. He says he’s fulfilling his promise. “‘”Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy.”‘” By the way, that means to teach.
“‘”And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”‘” (Acts 2:14-21)
Now here’s where I want us to go this morning. If you have that handout sheet, just look at that, because that’s the map of where we’re going to try to get to this morning. The title of the teaching is How Far Can We Go on Empty? Now what’s the answer to that? Not very far. I guess as far as you can coast. I think there are a lot of people in coast mode.
1. The Church is Spirit-filled common people. He says, “I’m going to pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” Not just preacher flesh, not just missionary flesh, not just king flesh, not just priest flesh, but all flesh. Do you remember when you were a kid and once every hour the guy would blow the whistle and say, “Okay, adult swim. All the kids out of the water”?
You had to climb out of water, because they wanted to see if there was anybody dead at the bottom of the pool. Here’s what he says: This is the time everybody gets to play. Everybody. Old people. Young people. Women. Men. Everybody gets to play.
2. The Church is God’s new covenant with all creation. This is really important to understand, that the church is God’s new covenant with all of creation. When you look back through the Bible holistically, just as when God made a covenant with Abraham and he says, “Through you all the nations of the world are going to be blessed,” that’s an impossible promise, but God fulfilled it.
When God makes these covenants, when he makes this covenant with the nation of Israel, he says, “I’m going to make you a light to the nations,” and these covenant things he makes, and the church is the new covenant. If you are the church and you are filled with the Spirit (I’m using the big “C” church here) then you are part of God’s big plan for the creation, the recreation, the restoration of all things.
3. The Church is today’s manifestation of the kingdom of God. That’s what Acts 1:1-8 is really all about there, but I want to come back in, and I want to focus on this issue of filled with the Spirit. There are several phrases that are used there. One is baptized by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon them. Being filled with the Spirit. Being led by the Spirit. Being taught by the Spirit. There are a lot of phrases there. Sometimes the church gets caught up in debating the terms.
I remember in college, this whole thing of baptism of the Holy Spirit… This was the big argument. Baptism of the Holy Spirit happened right here historically, and when you come to Jesus and you are born again, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Listen. That is absolutely true, but the Bible is also very, very clear that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
If I were to ask you right now, “Do you remember when you were baptized?” how many of you remember when you were baptized? How many have been baptized more than once? Yeah, me too. I’ve baptized a bunch of you guys in Israel. I’ve had people come to me saying, “When I came to faith, I was like 8 years old, and I really trusted Jesus as my Savior, but as I’ve studied the Bible longer and I really understand the significance of baptism, would it be wrong if I were to get re-baptized?”
Somehow I don’t think God is upset. I don’t think God goes, “No! You did it once.” I just think we have this really weird idea that God is upset all the time or something. I think God goes, “Yeah, that’ll be fun.” If you went to your wife and said… I was worried about Danny because he was talking about how his family was out of town over the week. It’s not so bad that your family leaves you during Spring Break, but when it’s your anniversary, that might be a problem. So we have to pray for the elders’ families. (I’m just giving you a hard time.)
But if you go to your wife and you say, “When I married you, I really meant everything I said, but I’d like to renew that covenant, because I understand it in a depth I didn’t understand it when I did that before,” I don’t think your wife is going to look at you and say, “No, you said it the first time. That’s the last time.” No, she’s going to look at you and say, “Ah, that’s a sweet thing to do. Did you do something you shouldn’t do?”
I don’t know what you think when you think of the church. I think you could probably classify three primary big categories. For a lot of people, the church is just an issue of apathy. It’s just marginalized. It doesn’t matter. You can look and we could blame the media. We could blame the Age of Enlightenment. We could blame the age of the postmoderns. We could blame the liberals. We could blame the conservatives. But undoubtedly some of the blame belongs here. Undoubtedly, we have to take some responsibility for it.
Some people when they think of the church, they’re angry. I know in a crowd this size some of you have been hurt deeply by the church. I mean, deeply. How many of you have ever gotten caught in a church fight? Not necessarily like blows, but it was like a gang warfare, and the phones lit up, and everybody just… I’ll tell you something. You get caught in the crossfire of a church fight, you’ve never seen anything. People can do some vicious things in the name of religion, amen?
I don’t think that the majority of even those who respect, revere, and have a relationship with Jesus would consider themselves if you said, “Rate yourself on a scale of one to a hundred, with a hundred being like these disciples who were ablaze. They weren’t angry. They weren’t apathetic. They were ablaze,” I don’t think you would find the majority of even those who respect, revere, and regard themselves as followers of Jesus ablaze with a passion for the church.
But if we don’t find ourselves there, Ephesians 5:25 says Christ so loved the church he gave himself up for her. Christ loves the church. Christ has a heart ablaze for the church. Why do you think we aren’t ablaze? I think it has to do with not only the church, but our families and personally not taking seriously how important, essential, crucial being filled with the Spirit is.
Because you can know all the biblical principles and live a good life and not be filled with the Spirit. I think the church has kind of tended toward this moral pop psychology principle teaching, and we have moved away from our birthright, which is to be absolutely filled with the Spirit of God.
Have you ever looked down at your fuel gauge and suddenly realized you were running on empty? Does anybody ever do that? One thing is certain. You didn’t find it an enjoyable experience. You probably felt a bit panicky. I always took a lot of pride in the fact that I’d never run out of gas. I had a friend who would run out of gas. He ran out of gas so often I actually put gas in my trunk because I knew over the next three months he would run out of gas again. I would just keep gas in my car, because he’d go, “I’m out of gas.” I’d think, “You shouldn’t be driving if you run out of gas.”
I ran out of gas on a Harley one time, and I’m telling you something. You can’t look cool pushing a Harley. It’s just impossible. The sad part about it was when I finally got it up to the filling station…Did you notice I used the word up? It was uphill. Not desperately uphill, but it was definitely a grade…I realized I’d just not turned the gas lever on. I was so not pleased with myself.
A while back, Jody and I were coming home from a trip that had crossed several time zones. When we’d headed to the airport, I knew our return flight was late, so I wanted to make sure I had gas, because I have an almost obsession about not having gas. I filled up the gas tank. I drove, and I found the best parking place I’ve ever found in the Economy lot at the airport. We left and we came home and we were exhausted. We’d been eating food that I really don’t even still know what it was, so I was a little tortured inside. I was so glad to be home.
My standard cure when you’ve eaten stuff you don’t know what it is is go to the Waffle House. I’m thinking, “If I can just get to my truck, the Waffle House is open all night.” It was just kind of drizzling. We got out to the truck. I’m probably telling publicly more information than I should, but I don’t ever travel with the keys to my truck because I have a code you can use to get into it.
The reason I do that is another story, but I went over and I punched in my code to get in the truck. Jody asked me in the kindest of ways, “What’s the problem?” and I said, “I don’t know.” She said, “Are you putting in the wrong code?” and I said, “No, it’s a simple code. It’s a real easy code.” I’m just here pushing in the code over and over and wondering why God hates me.
Do you ever do this? I’m talking to myself. “God, I’m trying to do your work. You could help here.” I got my head up against the window of my truck, and I’m looking in, wondering, “What is wrong with my truck?” I noticed I had actually left something plugged in charging. Do you know what? Your code doesn’t work if the battery is dead. Yeah, it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. You can push the right code over and over, but it won’t work.
So I called AAA. I think they’re a good company. I don’t normally recommend things, but man, I recommend that. I called AAA, and the knight in shining armor answered the phone, and she said, “What’s the matter?” They always do that? “Are you safe?” I said, “Well, safe is a relative term. I’m in Atlanta!”
She goes, “Do you need to get to a safe place?” and I said, “Well, that’s going to be a little difficult without my truck.” She said, “What seems to be the problem?” I said, “Aside from the fact I’m really incompetent, I left something charging, and it drained my battery, and I’m troubled.” She said, “So all you need is like somebody to charge your battery.” I said, “Yeah, I think that’s all I need.”
She said, “Okay, I’ll send a van right out with a charger.” Man, they were there like in a half hour. It was quick. It seemed long at the time, but it was good response time and everything. The man gets there, and he takes this little wire and unlocks the door quicker than I can do it with some keys. Your car is not safe. I just promise you that. If you think because you lock your car it’s okay, no. I’m telling you. There are a lot of people out there who haven’t even gone to college who can get in your car this quick, quicker than you can.
He popped that little door open and undid the hood, because you can’t get in the hood unless you get in the car. So I got it open, and he put the little charger on there, and he said, “Let’s give it a couple of minutes.” We gave it a couple of minutes, and I turned the car over. It started right up, and I was so happy.
As he was getting everything done, I get in the car, and I look around, and my fuel light is flashing! I look up, and it says zero miles. I said, “That’s impossible. It must be like something happened that it drained to zero and the gauges are off. This cannot be.” I said, “Wait a minute! Don’t leave!” because he’s not in a tow truck; he’s just in a van. I said, “I have another problem. I don’t have any gas. Do you have any gas?” He goes, “I have like a half gallon.”
So he poured it in my gas tank. I said, “Where’s the nearest gas station?” He said, “It’s like three miles.” I said, “Please do not leave me. I have my wife here.” So I followed him to the Shell station. I have never been so happy to see a dangerous place in my life. Do you know what I mean? There are a lot of people hanging around selling stuff that don’t make cars go anywhere but into ditches. I put gas in the car, and I was happy about that.
If I had to, I think it’s not absolutely an impossible task that given enough time and organizational ability and recruiting I could have gotten my truck to the gas station without any fuel. I could’ve begged people to help me push it. Despite freeways and firearms and other hazards, I think given enough time, that’s not a totally impossible task. I think it could’ve happened.
Some of you are going, “No, it couldn’t have happened. You would’ve died.” No, I think I could’ve gotten the truck there somehow. But what I want to say to you is the task we are called to do, if the church is God’s new covenant with creation, it’s impossible to do without the Holy Spirit. It is an impossible task. It cannot be.
Now under that second point, I gave you several references. Jeremiah 31:31 says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD…” Now listen. “…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. […] They will know me.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) “And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart…” (Ezekiel 11:19)
“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.” (Ezekiel 36:26) Now that’s what Hebrews 8 is all about, that we are in this new covenant, this new way. Hebrews 10:16-25 says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day…I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” (Hebrews 10:16)
He says, “And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another…” (Hebrews 10:21-24) I love the older translation that says, “Let us think of ways to provoke one another.” Now everybody here who has ever had a brother or sister knows what it means to be provoked. It’s really more than just consider. It’s consider ways that you spur somebody on.
“…to acts of love…” (Hebrews 10:24) That’s the kind of thing that is an offer you can’t refuse. It just provokes you to do better. Let us think of ways. “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)
Second Corinthians talks about this. Matthew 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. What you find in all of those, the Communion. He says, “This bread is my body. It’s broken for you. This wine is my blood. It’s poured out for you.” This is the new covenant. What we find is that the church today is the manifestation of the kingdom of God.
Look there in Acts 1. Look down to verse 4. He says, “Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you…'” Look. “‘…the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'” (Acts 1:4-5) You’re going to be immersed. You’re going to be completely placed within the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8) When you start looking at the way Luke talks about the work of the Holy Spirit, from the very beginning, he talks about John the Baptist. In Luke 1:15, he says, “…for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.” (Luke 1:15)
Now you see that same connection with intoxication and the Holy Spirit in a number of places. In Ephesians 5:17, he says, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God…” (Ephesians 5:17-20)
When the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, he says to Mary, “‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!’ Mary asked the angel, ‘But how can this happen? I am a virgin.’ The angel replied, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.'” (Luke 1:31-35)
That word overshadow is the same word where it talks about in Genesis 1 that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep. This is what happens when the tabernacle is built, that the glory of God comes in. When the temple is built, the Holy Spirit invades. It dwells within. This is what happens in John 1 where it says Jesus was full of mercy and truth and he tabernacled, he dwelt among us.
This is what happens with Mary. This is where we are as the church. We cannot create things. We cannot make supernatural things happen. We cannot restore creation. We cannot change the lives of people. But the Bible teaches, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold all things have become new.”
Have you ever tried to restore something? If you said to me, “Okay Buddy, you’re going to be the pastor of the church, and this is the new covenant, and this is the way God is going to restore the earth? Do you know what? I can’t even keep water out of my basement. I can’t do that. I can’t restore anything. When I start trying to restore something, it looks worse than when I started it.
Now some of you are like great restorers, but do you realize that the restoration God is going to accomplish is mega-restored? It’s like more than restored. It’s better than Eden. This tabernacle comes down and God moves in the neighborhood, and he just restores everything. Where he starts is that he moves into your neighborhood, our neighborhood. Yeah, amen.
When Jesus begins his ministry in Luke 4, he says, “Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.” (Luke 4:14) He was led out into the wilderness, but he returns filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:1-13: He is teaching them to pray, and he says, “Pray this way.” “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.” (Luke 11:2) Then he starts talking to them about what they should pray for.
Here’s what he says: “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:11-13)
The question we need to wrestle with this morning…Have we asked? Are we asking? You say, “Well, theologically, cognitively I believe I already have the Holy Spirit.” Well, yes! The Holy Spirit indwells you. There isn’t any question at all, but when you look at Ephesians and you look at Galatians, when he says, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit,” literally, that is a continuous verb. It says, “Be being filled.” Continue being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let me just kind of wrap this up here. There’s a passage in John 14:12-18. He says, “I tell you the truth…” (John 14:12) I love that. If you grew up in Sunday school, you’ll remember this is one of the “verily verilys.” Did anybody verily, verily when you were a kid? I had no idea what verily meant, but I knew if it was verily, verily, it was verily.
“…anyone who believes in me…” Now listen. “…will do the same works I have done…” (John 14:12) Do you believe that? Now I’m going to tell you something. That’s a little weak. We believe the Bible, amen? Jesus says it like a verily, verily. “You’ll do the same works I’ve done.”
“…and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name…” And I know there’s some stuff to unpack there. This is according to his will. “…and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! If you love me, obey my commandments.”
Now listen to this. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans…” (John 14:12-18).
How are you living? Are you running on empty? How’s your marriage? How’s home life? How are things going? How’s your group? You understand the church is not me; the church is we. They were all filled with the Spirit. Now let me tell you something. This is not a bad thing. I know some people get a little worried and say, “What if I just say, ‘Lord, I want everything you have to give me?’ and then you like speak in tongues or something?” Well, it won’t hurt you.
Now listen. We’re not talking about tongues here. You say, “Well, what if I like jump up and down?” Well, that won’t hurt you either. Some of you need the exercise. I’m not going there, but when you talk about the fruit of the Spirit, look at Galatians. Don’t you get tired of not being kind? Don’t you get tired of not loving people like you want to? Don’t you get tired of finding yourself out of self-control? Don’t you get tired of that life you’re living?
Listen. You don’t have to live it. You say, “Well, how can I be different?” You can organize a group and push the truck. You can push the Harley if you want, or you can say, “Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit.” Now you say, “Well, is it something like a magic thing? If I just say, ‘Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit,’ will he do it?”
Well, sometimes you need to do some waiting. It’s not a matter of that he isn’t willing, but there may be some strongholds in your life you have to come to grips with and he’s going to have to show you. But let me tell you. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a good thing. Yes.
Here’s what I want to do: I’m going to pray. We’re going to receive the offering. We’re going to have Communion. Some of you as family members need to come down together and take Communion, and you need to pray together, “Fill us with your Spirit.” Some of you need to just come down, and I’d just encourage you to say it out loud, “Fill me with your Spirit.”
You’re going to go, “What does that mean? That means you get to do stuff like Jesus did. Do you understand? There’s a big difference in these two theologies. I used to read through the New Testament and see the Gospels, and Jesus would do things, and think, “Well, that’s because he was Jesus, and we can’t do those things.”
Here’s what he says: “The things you’ve seen me do, you can do greater than those because you are going to have my Spirit.” Now I know that sounds crazy, but it’s his promise. It’s his promise, and I guarantee you we have a Father who keeps his promises. He’s a promise keeper. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you so much for you. Lord, we so don’t want to be a people who are trying to follow plans and principles and toughing it, gutting it out when you have offered…more than offered…you have commanded this new covenant community to be filled with your Spirit. Lord, we as a church, Grace Fellowship…I know, I pray this is the heart of the elders and this is the heart of the staff and this is the heart of the parents…we want your Holy Spirit filling and guiding and leading and overwhelming and baptizing.
We want you to do something that is only explainable in terms of the supernatural. We don’t want to build a church; we want you to birth a movement. We want you to do something that is alive and produces life. Lord, you’ve made a promise, and we are so bold, because you have given us this boldness. Father, keep your promise. Fill us with your Spirit. In your holy name we pray, amen.