In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the growth of believers. He refers to Romans 8:3-4, which speaks about Jesus coming to deal with the problem of sin so that the righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit. The speaker highlights that the law demands holiness, love, perfection, and being like God, and it is through the Holy Spirit that believers can increasingly fulfill these requirements. He also mentions that the kingdom is built by the Spirit, not by human effort, and that the end result of living according to the Spirit is not just personal satisfaction but also a bigger picture of proclaiming good tidings, healing the brokenhearted, and setting captives free, as Jesus did during his ministry.

The Holy Spirit Covenant. Let's continue in our second half of the study. Study number four, second half, the Holy Spirit Covenant. We're looking now at the work of the Holy Spirit and sanctification and going on with God. That is, in daily Christian living. The place of the Holy Spirit in this new covenant of grace. And we see He is to be fully, totally involved. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Another place to look on this truth. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. God chose us for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. This word salvation is a big one. So often we think of salvation as, again, equal to the forgiveness of sins. A mistake we often make with the grace of God, that God's grace is equal to forgiveness. No, God's grace is shown in forgiveness, but it's far bigger than that. And God's grace is shown in salvation from sins, but salvation is far bigger than being saved from our sins. Salvation is the saving work of God. It includes salvation from and salvation unto. Hebrews, so great a salvation it speaks of. There's so much more to the saving work of God than we comprehend. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Salvation. Talking about the full work of the Spirit of God and the saving work of God. Sure we're saved from things like hell, sin, the devil. And praise God for the salvation from. But there's an even bigger aspect, and that's the salvation unto. As much as Jesus is greater than Satan, so is the salvation unto greater than the salvation from. As much greater as heaven is than hell, so is our salvation unto greater than what we're saved from. As much greater is the righteousness of God than the sins of the world, the flesh, and the devil. So is our salvation unto greater than the things we're saved from. And see, salvation is through sanctification by the Spirit. By our lives being initially set apart for God, and then increasingly set apart for God. Right up until they're totally in heaven set apart for God. That's all by the Holy Spirit. That mighty saving work of God is through sanctification by the Spirit. God's sanctifying us, setting us apart more and more and more. Away from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and sin, and self, and time, and space, and unto him, and heaven, and eternity. It's by the Spirit of God. It is so critical to walk by the Spirit. It's so critical to live in daily dependence upon the Spirit. Just as surely as we could never be born again without the work of the Spirit of God. So once born, we cannot grow as children of God, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Romans 8.4 is another place that tells us this kind of truth. Romans 8.4. Verse 3 tells about the Lord Jesus Christ coming to deal with the problem of sin. Verse 4, that, to this end, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The righteous requirement of the law. We touched on it when we were looking at the study on the law, its message, and what it's requiring. Remember, it's be holy, be loving, be perfect, be just like God. That's what the law demands, nothing less. Here's the astounding truth. The righteous requirement of the law can increasingly be fulfilled in us. Why do I use the phrase increasingly be fulfilled? Well, because of not only the context of Romans 8 and 7, contrast walking according to the flesh by walking according to the Spirit, but a walk is a progressive thing. It's not a jump according to the flesh or a jump according to the Spirit. It's a walk according to the Spirit. Every day, every issue, every step, every moment, everything we face, everything that comes at us. Here are two choices. Here's what's before us. Are we going to face it, go into it, through it, deal with it according to the flesh or according to the Spirit? Isn't God good to make the choices, not multiple choice, and here's a hundred? But either or, either flesh or spirit. Walk according to the flesh, it's death, and it's the bondage and struggle of Romans 7. Walk according to the Spirit, it's life and peace, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled increasingly in that life. In other words, there is a way to stand before the holy law of God that says be holy and actually measure up practically with more and more godliness developing in our lives, not by us getting to be better innately, but by the Spirit bringing forth more of that life of Christ experientially, practically, daily. There's only one life that ever measured up to the law of God. Which one was that? Jesus Christ. No one ever did before, no one ever will afterward. But He is the eternal I am. He is our hope of glory living in us today. That same life that He walked is available to us to draw upon, and it always measures up. When we walk by the Spirit, the life that we draw upon is the life of Christ in us. Verse 2 makes that clear. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death dwells in the members of our body, our earthly tabernacle, in our humanity. And it pulls us down like this gravitational spiritual pull to defeat. But the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from that if we just walk by that higher law, that higher principle, that higher reality. Sure, sin and the tendency to it dwells in our flesh, but we don't have to walk according to the flesh. Again, this is the whole Christian life. Learning not to walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Walk according to the flesh draws on my resource, my humanity, what I can provide. It will never measure up. Walking by the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus operates. This principle that the Holy Spirit can take the life that's right there in Christ and make it our portion to live by. That life always measures up in every given situation, task, opportunity, problem, challenge, that life always measures up. It's always sufficient. It always pleases the Heavenly Father. That's the life we want to live and lead. That's sanctification. Sanctification, maturing in the godly standards of Christ seen in the law. Seen in the law, but not produced by the law. I was going to see if I had another quote from Pastor Chuck on that subject. Let me check because it was a great one. Page 131. How did Mark know that? Man, some guys not only know the Bible, they know the textbooks. Yes, he's been here before, I know. We'll see if I have it. If not, we'll just press on. Let's press on. I teach this in too many settings. Sometimes part of my notes gets into more confined like the Growing in the Grace of God seminar. Read page 131. How walking in the Spirit produces that life that the Lord Jesus wants to see in us. Walking according to the Spirit. Sanctification. Two different ways to talk about the same process. We all agree with the Word of God. We are totally convinced we could only start out with God by the work of the Holy Spirit. Surely no one would see otherwise. Well, all the way from Galatians 3, 2, and 3, right through these other verses we looked at, it should become increasingly as clear to us and as deep a conviction that I'll only grow with God the same way I was birthed by God, and that is by the work of the Holy Spirit upon, in, and through our lives. Now, with that sort of in mind, let's reflect together on this great arena of truth. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You know, we often say things like, oh, I just want to be like Jesus. Well, praise God for that desire. That's a godly desire. I want to just be like Christ. Let me ask you, do we want to be like Him in the way He functioned when He was upon earth? I don't mean trying to say the same things and look and act like Him, but down behind the veil of His inner sanctum, inside of Him, how did He walk with God when He was on this earth? Too often we think, well, He just was God and did what was natural, you know. He just was holy and loving and perfect. Yes, He was God, never ceased to be God, but it's that evaluation of His life on earth overlooks major New Testament truths. Philippians 2, He emptied Himself. He laid aside those divine prerogatives. He didn't go around acting like God. He went around showing how man should live on earth before God. And then in dependence upon God, the Father was seen and God was at work. Jesus and the Holy Spirit, a tremendous study. The way Jesus related to the Holy Spirit, we are to relate to the Holy Spirit. He was not only God in the flesh, He was perfect man, showing what human life was intended to look like. Matthew chapter 1, verse 20, end of the verse, the message to Mary, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Actually, the message to Joseph about Mary. So Jesus was conceived by the Spirit. His human existence here upon earth came by the work of the Holy Spirit. Think of the parallel of us. Our spiritual new creature existence here on earth, we were birthed by the Holy Spirit, born again. Matthew 3, verse 16, Matthew 3, verse 16, When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. So the Spirit came upon Jesus for ministry. Here He is publicly declared to be a Messiah, initiated in His public ministry of Messiah. And the Spirit of God comes upon Him. As we'll see later, Acts 1.8 says the same thing is to happen to us. You shall receive power to be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. We'll talk more about that in a moment. So again, a parallel. And then chapter 4, verse 1, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. One little side note here, is that the spiritual life has some wilderness times built into it. Our fleshy misconception, our natural mind thinking is walking according to the Spirit is just going to be, you know, nothing but goosebumps and mighty victory and glory, hallelujah, and wow, look at Him. Look at that Christ-likeness, you know, all the time. Listen, the wilderness is also included in the Spirit-led life. Who led Jesus into the wilderness? Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. The Lord knows the wilderness confrontations we all need to do the work He wants to do in us, which basically is a work of letting Him be seen in and through us. And that was Jesus' mission, to reveal the Father. So led of the Spirit, Jesus was led of the Spirit. That's the general truth for our context right here. Remember Galatians 5.18, we just read, we are to be led of the Spirit. Look at the parallels. Jesus conceived of the Spirit, we're born of the Spirit. The Spirit came upon Jesus for His public ministry, we are to be empowered by the Spirit coming upon us for witness. Jesus was led by the Spirit, we are to be led by the Spirit. The parallels are not incidental nor accidental. His was the perfect life before the Father. The way He lived is the way we are to live. This was prophesied that Jesus would live this way, Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 2, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch, one of the Messianic titles, a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, all of this coming by the presence of the Spirit of God upon Jesus' life. Sure, from Jesus' human appearance on earth in conception, the Spirit of God was there and was always with Him and in Him, but the Spirit would come upon Him for empowerment. Upon Him for empowering, we'll talk more about that in a moment too. Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2. Another Messianic prophecy. What the Messiah would confess once He came. Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. These are words Jesus repeated in the synagogue that day when they handed Him the scroll. They're in Luke 4, I think it is. Jesus repeated these words. These words were about Him. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. That's the anointing power that sends me out to preach good tidings, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and all the rest of His ministry. It was by the Spirit of God, again. He came for the Father to be seen in and through Him, and He depended on the work of the Spirit upon Him. That's how Jesus lived. Yes, He was God the Son. Never ceased being, but didn't function out of that prerogative or resource. Remember Philippians 2? He emptied Himself. Came as a man. Functioned as a servant unto death, even the death of a cross. That's the way He lived. Walked in meekness and lowliness and dependence. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived and ministered by the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the way we're to do it. With that in mind, let's think for a while with the Lord in the Scriptures about the fullness of the Holy Spirit, our next heading. The fullness of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11, verses 9 through 13. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Of course not. Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? No. If then you, being evil, 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? The final application of these verses on asking, seeking, and knocking are the giving of the Holy Spirit by the Father to those who ask. Ultimately, this is about the Holy Spirit in people's lives. Some have read this paragraph and said, wait a minute, I'm a Christian, I'm born again, I already have the Holy Spirit. This can't apply to me. And they want to apply it only to initial salvation, being born of the Spirit, first getting the Spirit. Sure, there's a great application there. Maybe you could even say a primary interpretation there. That's fine. But though the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are called in the Scriptures to be filled by the Spirit. And in Acts, repeatedly, the Spirit came upon those who were already involved by the Spirit. Often we're in a place where we need to ask and seek and knock, needing a more full measure of the Holy Spirit, a new work of the Holy Spirit, a new dimension of His work in our lives, a more full presence. Our lives, our vessels are to contain the life and presence of the true and living God. In our humanity, our vessels both get expanded, the contents get expanded as well as seem to leak out. The leaking would be the walking according to the flesh, you know, not living by that Spirit of God presence in us. And you end up, you feel like an empty vessel because you're drawing on what the vessel has, not what's in it, you know. Or even when you're full of the Spirit and really pouring out, you know, you can get kind of an emptiness. Well, both cases, the filling of the Spirit is designed to deal with that. I was just thinking that in Luke, this teaching on asking, seeking and knocking, including with, you know, him saying this is about really asking for the Holy Spirit, follows his teaching on how to pray. Yes, yeah, really is significant, really is. How often do we connect the work of the Holy Spirit with prayer, really? Often it's too easy to think of prayer as just some duty I've got to crank out, you know, praying in the Spirit and praying in the Spirit. Yes, in Jude and elsewhere. Yeah, exactly. Ephesians 6, 18. Yeah, also praying by the Spirit. Amen. I think it's very profound that it is connected. The wonderful thing I think here on this matter of the fullness of the Spirit, you know, if human parents who by nature are evil can do good to their kids. My wife and I loved our kids dearly when they were with us. We love them today also in a new way, more as growing friendship with adults. And well, I better not get into that. It's just different. Both great. I want to go on record. Both great, but different. And we're enjoying this new different way to relate to our kids now that they're in their mid-twenties. And but we loved back then and we love now to do good things for our kids. I mean, it's one of the joys of our life to just pray and seek ways we can bless our kids and our grandkids, all three of them. My goodness, if someone like me innately by my nature, take the Lord out, you know, just think of me, what I'd be without. If I wanted to be good to my kids. How much more our Heavenly Father who's perfect, how much more will not he give? Good gifts to his children in the other parallel passages, just good gifts here. It's right down to the heart of it. The Holy Spirit, you know, how much more would I give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And folks often wonder, well, how do you know if you if the fullness of the Holy Spirit is yours? Let me put you through a very rigorous test. Have you asked? Well, yeah, but what do you mean? But verse nine. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you to promise not might be will be rest on it. You ask fullness is yours. Well, when and how and well, only God knows. Only God knows. I think we had this year sometime one Wednesday, I think it was one time Brian asked me to teach. We taught on the results of being filled with the spirits right after you taught that Wednesday night. Yeah, you tell him Wednesday night about being filled with the spirit. It stirred me to teach Sunday on the results of being filled with the spirit. And we looked at, I don't know, 20 or 30 different biblical indications that a life is filled with the spirit. We don't know in what way the spirit of God wants to manifest at every time and situation. That's some of the excitement of it. It's his choice, not ours. But we have this promise. You ask the fullness of the spirit. The spirit will be given to you in whatever way needed. Seek, have you sought the spirit? Have you felt that need and sought it? Seek and you will find. Have you knocked on the doors of heaven? Lord, I need a new measure of your spirit upon my life. And it will be open to you. It's not maybe. Absolute promises. And just as we're saved by faith, we can take these measures of work in our lives by faith. Just ask and head on counting. God will do it. God will do it. What we need is available by grace in this new covenant by the full work of the Holy Spirit. The full work of the spirit brings the full measure of God's new covenant grace. Whatever fully needed and in whatever way fully needed. Another way to talk about this, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you personally, maybe in your life, certainly in mine and the situation God had me ministering in 14 years in Dallas, Texas. These next verses were personally and geographically through our ministry. They're strategic. Notice how it's approached differently here, the fullness of the spirit. Now, it's not going to be about specifically asking, seeking, knocking for the spirit to work in a full way. But the result is going to be the same. John 7, 37 through 39. On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this, he spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given in this full measure because Jesus was not yet glorified. The outpouring of the spirit was to await Jesus at the right hand of the father. But look at how this would happen. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Thirsting spiritually, having needs or dry places or a sense of emptiness or a yearning that has not been satisfied yet. If anyone thirsts, how do we have that thirst met? Come to Jesus and drink. We bring that thirst to Jesus. How do you drink of his provision? The next words tell us, he who believes in me. And then it goes on to say the result that will come. If we come to Jesus, believing he can meet the thirsty places in our lives. That he can satisfy, he can quench the thirst. Come to Jesus in faith. It's like drinking. It's like you grab a cool glass of water. When you're physically thirsty, you come to it, believing it can meet the need. And you know, it's the same thing spiritually put. You have spiritually thirsty places. Just come to Jesus, believing. Just come to him, believing he is sufficient to satisfy that. Now it jumps to the end result of this kind of a process. This kind of a way of living. He who believes in me, comes believing I can quench this thirst. As the scripture said, out of his heart, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. The picture is a thirsty one coming to Jesus, believing he can quench the thirst. And obviously he can and will. But it goes beyond just meeting personal need. It goes bigger to the bigger picture. It's too easy to get the Christian life all wrapped up in me. And even though God wants to meet our thirst to quench them, it's not just so we're not thirsty. It's not just so we're satisfied. God's workings are always in us to work through us. Just like Jesus came to reach whosoever will. God works in and through us to touch whoever will receive our ministry in his name. God's desire is that we not just have our thirsty places quenched, but we drink so much of that living water by bringing our needs to Jesus Christ habitually, that that drinking of living water just becomes like a well spring that pours out like a fountain. This is a way to live and minister. Take every hunger, yearning, thirsty, desire, vision, need, opportunity to Jesus, believing he can deal with and handle it. And here's the characteristic aftermath of that. Out of that person's innermost being will increasingly characteristically flow rivers of living water, rivers of living water flowing out of our inner man. Why that is an aftermath of the fullness of the spirit. I mean, it's just another way to talk about the same thing. I love the way God does this in the word. He can take the same issue and come at it all kinds of ways. Does it page after page really? He's always talking about the same thing. We just don't catch it always. When I was in Dallas, Texas. I was there to go through Dallas Seminary four years, ended up there five years because we had three kids during seminary, which was a little bit of complication. And then I was painting houses early on for resource for the family, but also a little group in our home of three couples grew to 11. And then folks wanted public meetings. We held them. It grew to hundreds. And that became a church that I pastored through all those years in seminary plus eight or nine after. And that complicated things, too. And believe me, I was a thirsty man in those days. Spiritually speaking, I mean, needy to the max. And though a couple of years into that, the church grew a little and the church wanted to support us. I was in Dallas, Texas. I was there to go through Dallas Seminary four years, ended up there five years because we had three kids during seminary, which was a little bit of complication. And though a couple of years into that, the church grew a little and the church wanted the scriptures but what do we believe around here you know it's far more important to be in line with the party line you know that you know theologically correct and wrong question and as I was searching the scriptures ministering and you know and watching these lives I realized you know something some of these people weren't religious kooks using religious jargon to cloak the flesh hey these were spiritual godly people totally committed to the word of God and shared insight and testimony that I'd never heard except when I got it kind of pooh-poohed at seminary you know I thought and Lord something's going on here then on one vacation visited a little church on Sunflower Street off Fairview and never been the same since and it was back before Costa Mesa was in the tent even and I saw something that Sunday night in worship in love and ministry and in teaching of the Word of God for two hours that's not orthodox you can't do that Sunday night you know it's not a Bible study for fanatics this is the congregation you can't do that but it was done I blew my mind I I was in tears ten minutes into that service I'd been pastoring years I grew up in church I had never seen it like that well eventually God brought a spiritual revival to our church and we fell out of favor with I think the seminary in some ways but I think came into favor with God in some other ways and and well as a good question there was a little bit of both there too much of one maybe not enough for the other seminary supposed to being a beginning you know seminal a beginning of your walk with God in ministry hours much of it was cemetery amazing thing happened our congregation we found we had the full spectrum we had people who were ultra-dispensational like they were Bollinger Ites or something like that I forget all these ites and isms but they wouldn't even have the Lord's Supper or baptism that was only for the book of Acts I mean that they had they'd put the dispensations they were ultra-dispensational you know God only works this way in certain times never in the other way in those times like today he doesn't work in the fullness of the Spirit in these certain gifts you know they've got it all chopped up and I couldn't buy it though I didn't know why it sounded wrong but I began to see and living demonstration then I began to listen to Pastor Chuck's tapes and read his books and hear him on radio every day back there and things started to change and I found when I approached this matter of I taught in a lot of home Bible studies taught on the radio in Dallas for 11 years and ministered a lot of people who'd been vaccinated by the seminary so they wouldn't get a dose of the real thing you know a little bit of talk about the Holy Spirit and then what it is and isn't and can never be you know you're kind of safe you never would get carried away with things of the Spirit and I noticed the moment you'd start speaking the needy dry struggling lives about the fullness of the Holy Spirit like no no I don't get that I'm immune to that the Lord led me to these verses personally and filled my heart with his spirit and I began to minister these verses throughout the whole Dallas arena to thirsty well-intended but kind of letter of the law believers often and I found we found just dozens upon dozens through the years more and more and more their lives were filled with the Holy Spirit not by convincing them this is for today and you got to say it this way and do it this way and that theology is wrong and this is right but just urging them to take their thirsty places to Jesus and believe he could meet them just minister Jesus to them in Jesus is the fullness of the Holy Spirit and through in those days I wrote I read a book by Gilquist Peter Gilquist called let's stop fighting about the Holy Spirit touched me deeply I'm kind of sad to see Peter Gilquist go off in the Avenue so-called Orthodox evangelical church he's back in the robes and the patriarchs and all that it's kind of sad but but nonetheless God gave him a tremendous word to this book I remember a story out of this book two blind men were sitting on a bench in Jerusalem and they're talking to each other former blind man and they're giving each other their testimony well you were healed by Jesus of Nazareth to me too you know and the other says well tell me your testimony and he tells him the first one goes you mean no spit and no clay no no no he just said receive your sight and I could see the other one says to him you weren't healed the point being we want to measure everybody by our own testimony you know if it didn't happen to you the way it happened to me it didn't happen to you you know that is so carnally fleshy religious minded and so often that's the way it is about the fullness of the Spirit you know we want it to be just like it happened to us or just like our denomination said it is you know so narrow-minded so much quenching the Spirit so much missing what God wants to do and God sent me out you know not in some crusade to prove that you know this dialogue this jargon and fullness of the Spirit baptism is what God wants I just started ministering Jesus as the thirst quencher and hungry humble hearts were glad to go to him they knew he could meet that thirst and always fun to just watch these who were just just staunch anti spirit-filled you know you know they had it all you know they were you know and they weren't going to get those cares me just watch him get filled to overflowing with the work of the Spirit of God well God wants to fill us with his spirit he wants to fill us with his spirit if we're going to walk in the fullness of the Christian life and a full ongoing progressive sanctification being made more more like Christ and set apart for God it has to be by the work of the Holy Spirit this new covenant of grace it's by the Holy Spirit these are the verses are probably very familiar to just touch upon them for about five or seven minutes acts 18 power by the Spirit coming upon us Jesus said his followers would be his witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them that's where they get the power to share the reality of life in Christ you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you the Spirit always been with them the spirits throughout the world convicting everyone of sin and righteousness and judgment the Spirit comes in the new believers in fact in John 20 Jesus breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit the Spirit is in every Christian and is around convicting every non-christian so there is the spirit with people that new birth the Spirit comes in people there definitely is a work that Jesus talked about distinctly the Spirit coming upon us empowering us for service and ministry in Acts chapter 2 verse 4 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit the baptism of the Spirit was promised but when it happened it wasn't called the baptism of the Spirit the only terminology used when it did happen was not look they've been baptized with the Spirit it was they were filled with the Spirit or the Spirit came upon so it's all interchangeable terminology oh we get so picky over the terminology and make our use more narrow than the use of God filled with the Spirit the Spirit came upon them then in Acts 431 those who had already previously been filled or filled again and when they prayed all the disciples they were getting persecuted and told to shut up about this message of Messiah when they prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit what was the evidence they spoke the Word of God with boldness so the filling of the Spirit is is to be a wreak reoccurring experience not just once and for all and that certainly fits Ephesians 5 8 which 518 which says be filled with the Spirit or it could be translated least in the Amplified Bible be ever filled or as some of sort of paraphrase it be always being filled with the Spirit always desiring the Spirit always seeking always available for the full and complete work of the Spirit in all areas of our lives then Ephesians 3 that great prayer it seems like this is almost never taught with the thrust that it carries in relationship to the Holy Spirit a lot of great things in this fabulous prairie Ephesians 3 14 through 19 and on but look at verse 16 that he would grant you according to the rich of his glory to be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man we can certainly ask God to send the Spirit to us in that way strengthening us within verse 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God now see in my former state way back early past me I'd have this one on the list you get filled with the Spirit you have rivers of living water flowing out and you have this being filled with all the fullness of God you know they'd all be distinct different works of God on my list you know and how do you get each of those and what do you say and do and you know what order they come and how do you know if you got some and not the other again we're talking the same thing different language being filled with all the fullness of God can be nothing other than being filled with the Spirit of God through whom the presence of God is made real in our lives great prayer to pray one for another concerning the fullness of the Spirit Jesus ministered by the Spirit we want to walk in the fullness of the Spirit those who live under the new covenant of grace God wants to build in our hearts a desire to live and walk and minister and grow and serve by the fullness of His Spirit if there were a sponge growing beside the ocean and right beside the ocean was with that sponge you know that would be one thing that sponge was growing in the ocean the ocean would be in it as well as with it and if great ways of the ocean pounded upon it impacting it the ocean would be coming upon that sponge spiritually speaking there are similar things like that that take place with human lives it's not strange to talk about the Holy Spirit with in and upon their all having their own spiritual heavenly reality and we want to have the Spirit coming upon us flooding us filling us and overflowing from us in this life of grace under the new covenant in conclusion acts 751 urges us by example not to resist the Spirit that is by self-sufficient self-will self-righteous ways Ephesians 430 tells us not to grieve the Spirit and then it goes on to list the things that grieve the Spirit anger bitterness and bad relationships and bad attitudes 1st Thessalonians 519 says do not quench the Spirit quenching would be not responding to his word his convictions is moving in our lives Holy Spirit is a person he can be resisted grieved or quenched we don't want to get caught in that way it's all of the flesh one other word in conclusion Zechariah 4 6 remember this not by might or by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts like pastor Chuck's favorite way to explain the Calvary Chapel phenomenon that God has worked out in lives this wonderful work of God just part of what he's done wherever he's worked not by might or power not by man's power and might but by the Spirit of God that was God's word is irrevocable call back to Jerusalem reestablish the testimony ministry of God there in a broken-down destroyed captive arena how is it going to be done will have you overwhelmed don't look to your own might and power is irrevocable look to the Spirit of God that's the way it is to be in our lives you know the next verse perfectly fits the point of tonight and this whole course verse 7 says the same thing in different words speaks to the mountain of impossibility in front of the rubble and says Oh great mountain before is a rubble you shall become a plane mountain of obstacle obstruction you'll become a flat place for is a rubble just to advance on and he's a rubble shall bring forth the capstone last piece you put in the arch to hold it all together so it stands he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace grace to it two different ways to say the same thing verse 6 says the kingdom is built by the spirit not by man's resource when's the rubble sees the mountain of impossibility removed he brings the last stone in place the work is done he stands back what does he shout hey we did it hey my administrative genius came through you'll just say grace grace to it one verse says it's all by his spirit the next verse says it's by his grace those are two ways to say the same thing we live under the new covenant of grace we are to walk by and be filled with his spirit let's pray together Lord this is what we desire what we need and what we see you have for us that a life of abounding grace living daily by the grace of God will be a life live not out of the resources of the flesh but by the work of the Holy Spirit Oh Lord make this so in our lives just fill us overwhelm us by the presence and work of your spirit we know what will be happening as your grace will be working upon us and innocent through us and we thank you that you'll do that abundantly in Jesus name