This sermon emphasizes the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, focusing on the reverence for God, the passion to fulfill God's purpose, and the need for a deep humility and respect for others. It highlights the example of Jesus as the perfect spiritual person, filled with the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. The speaker encourages a hunger for the Holy Spirit's power and a commitment to living a life dedicated to God's will.

Okay, I'm happy to be here. I was thinking today, when I was thinking of speaking on the Holy Spirit, is to talk about God Almighty, because the Holy Spirit is God. And sometimes when I have, you know, looked out at the stars at night, and I see, knowing a little bit of geography, how small the Earth is, a tiny speck of sand in the universe, which we call planet Earth, and on this little grain of sand is a small little, tinier speck, like me, trying to talk about Almighty God. I'm amazed that preachers don't have a greater sense of fear when they stand in the pulpit to speak as the mouthpiece of God. If there were more of that humility and reverence, the church wouldn't be in the state it is in today. So that's what's primarily lacking. I say, in a school, if in one class all the children got zero, the problem is probably with the teacher, not the students. So when I see a lot of Christians in such a pathetic state, the reason must be the teachers. They've not had good teachers. And that's why Christianity is in the state it is in. The first two promises in the New Testament are, one, Matthew 1.21, He will save His people from their sins. It's absolutely unheard of in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, all they knew was, God will forgive you. He'll bless you with numerous earthly blessings and protect you from your earthly enemies. And that's about all most Christians are interested in today. But the New Testament begins with this promise in Matthew 1.21, He will save His people from their sins. If I lose my temper and I can be forgiven, I lose my temper again tomorrow and I can be forgiven, I lose my temper again next week and I'm forgiven, I can't say I've been saved. I can say I've been forgiven. And God keeps on forgiving me. But I'm not saved. If I keep on lusting with my eyes and I'm forgiven, lusting and forgiven, lusting and forgiven, I can say God forgives me. And I have to be honest and say He hasn't saved me. And that applies to so many other areas. If I tell lies and ask God to forgive me, again tell lies and ask God to forgive me, again tell lies and ask God to forgive me, I have to say God hasn't saved me from telling lies, but He's forgiven me. And then I must be honest and say that I know Jesus is my forgiver, but not my Savior. This is the deception that's in Christendom, who called Jesus their Savior, and He wants to save you from. He says He'll save us from hell, but the expression, save from hell, is never found in the New Testament. If we listen to preachers, and don't read the word of God, we will be deceived. So, we must remember that it's that Jesus came to save us from our sins, not just forgive us. And that's the first promise. And that's related to the gift of the Holy Spirit, because what they didn't have in the Old Covenant was the Holy Spirit dwelling within. They had the Holy Spirit upon them, not within. And the way I illustrate that is, if you have a cup that's upside down, and you pour water on it, that water can flow. If you keep pouring water, it will flow endlessly. And if you think of that as a blessing of God, that's how the Holy Spirit was upon people in the Old Testament. God used people like Samson to deliver the Israelites, and David, and even Saul, when the Spirit of God came upon them. But the inside of the cup was dirty. Samson's inside was full of idolatry. Gideon's inside was full of idolatry. David's inside also had idolatry in it. And yet, all these people were used by God. So, if all I desire is to be used by God, I'm just the Old Covenant Christian. So when I hear of some preacher who has been mightily used by God, and you suddenly discover the guy was living in idolatry or homosexuality, just like this, the inside of the cup's dirty. I don't question the fact that the water flowed all around. See, these are the type of people who will finally stand before the Lord and say, Lord, we prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name, we did miracles in your name, and the Lord said, it's alright. You still go to hell because the inside of the cup's dirty. I didn't come here to make you do miracles. I came here to save you from sin. And if you don't begin there, I want to tell you, we're back in the Old Covenant. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus turned that cup upside down, right side up, and said, I'm going to pour the Spirit inside you first, and then it's going to overflow and then flow out from the innermost being the rivers of living water. It will flow. That's the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. That's why it says in John 7, 39, the Holy Spirit was not given because Jesus was not glorified. That's an amazing verse if you stop to think of it. John 7, 39. And you wonder, hey, wasn't the Holy Spirit given in the Old Testament? Well, when you understand this illustration, you realize He was given, but not in this New Covenant way. So the question is this. Do I want the Holy Spirit first of all when I seek God's power? Do I want Him first to cleanse me or use me? Do I want Him only to use me? I mean, I've spent all my life with an Old Covenant Christian. But I've seen that God uses a lot of people who are not so dirty. It used to puzzle me until God gave me this understanding with this illustration that cleared my doubts. The second promise in the New Testament is Matthew chapter 3, verse 11. It's very interesting that these are the first two promises with which the New Testament opens. One is, save you from your sins. And second, Matthew 3, verse 11, Jesus will baptize you. And the word baptism, unfortunately, we don't know its meaning because it's become a very religious word. In normal English, people don't use that word. People who haven't read the Bible won't even know what that means. Because it's not an English word. It's a Greek word. It just means immersion. And I wish all the translations had translated it into English like they translated the rest of the New Testament into English. You see, they didn't translate it because in those days, they didn't immerse people. And good old King James made sure that they wouldn't translate something that would disturb his relationship with the Anglican Church. So I wonder why modern translations don't translate it as immersed. Because Bible sales will go down if they translate it exactly. So it's all got to do with money, position, and things like that. But the real meaning is he immersed you. If Jesus had gone to all the world, made disciples, and immersed them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I would never have any child baptism if they had translated it properly. And we'd understand it properly too. He would immerse you in the Holy Spirit. That I can understand better than baptizing you in the Holy Spirit. So it's got an awesome religious sound about it. At least in my mind. But immersed is very plain English. He would immerse you in the Holy Spirit. And just like I'm immersed in water, completely covered, we go completely down. There's another way to be immersed, and that's if I stand under a waterfall. So here's the Holy Spirit's picture like a river coming from heaven. And it's the greatest waterfall of all. If I stand underneath it, I'm thoroughly immersed. And as long as I stand there, under it all the time, I can be always immersed in the Holy Spirit. And this is the problem with a lot of people who may have once had this experience, and move away from there, and they're no longer full of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, you read about, in the Acts of the Apostles, you read about people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you read about people who are full of the Holy Spirit. It's like having your petrol tank in your car, filled, or always full. And there's a lot of difference. Once filled, or empty now perhaps. We need to be continuously filled. And that's why there's this command given in Ephesians 5.18 to Christians, who were baptized in the Holy Spirit, be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. So those are just some introductory remarks, so that we don't get wrong ideas. And the other thing I want to say, before we go further, is Luke 11, and verse 13. In Luke 11, verse 13, it says, If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So, it is more certain, that's the way I like to put it, it is more certain that the Holy God, the Father, my Father, will give the Holy Spirit to me, than that an earthly father would give good gifts to his children. Or, he speaks about giving child fish, and eggs, and bread, you know, food. More readily than an earthly father or mother would give food to his child, my Father in Heaven wants to give me the Holy Spirit. It's a good gift. How much more? The reason why Jesus put it like that is because many people have a feeling, and you may find that in your mind too, and I certainly had it in the early days of my Christian life, that God is sort of very stingy when it comes to giving us the Holy Spirit. He's pretty lavish in forgiveness, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit, he's really sort of reluctant, and he's not going to give to everyone. And that's exactly how the devil wants us to think, and as long as you think like that, he will not receive the power of the Holy Spirit in his fullness. I mean, just like, I think of a lot of people in non-Christian religions, who feel that God is very reluctant to give them forgiveness. Now, I don't think there's a single person sitting here who can feel God's reluctance to forgive you. Because you've been taught right. But if you were not taught right, you would have the same feeling that a lot of people in non-Christian religions have. That forgiveness is not easy. I'd rather go on a pilgrimage somewhere, or light a few candles, or give some money, or roll on the ground, all types of things people are doing. And it's very difficult for them to believe what we say, I never rolled on the ground, I never lit any candle, I never went on any pilgrimage, I just received it. They can't believe it. They can't believe it's so easy. It's exactly the same with the Holy Spirit. God gave two gifts to the children of Bethany College. One was cleansing from sin, the other was a gift to the Holy Spirit. Both are gifts. And if you pay for something, it's not a gift anymore. And the reason why all those people in non-Christian religions do not receive forgiveness of sins is because they're trying to earn it. They're trying to pay for it. Sorry, not yet. It's too expensive. They'll never be able to pay for the forgiveness of sins. And I think the reason why a lot of Christians don't receive the power of the Holy Spirit is exactly the same thing. They're trying to earn it. Maybe by a little fasting or a prayer or something or the other. You can travel your life, you won't earn it. It's too expensive, you can't take it. But when we come in humility and receive as a gift, we can open ourselves. And how much we receive depends on how much we open ourselves up to. You know, if you keep all the windows in the room curtained off and closed, it'll be dark. But the sunlight is just waiting to come in. The moment you pull back the curtains and open the blinds, the sunlight is coming. You don't have to plead with the sunlight to come in. But you come in the measure in which we open. And if you still keep some windows closed, that part's going to be dark. And I see that as a very good illustration of why some people are filled with the Holy Spirit and some people have a little bit of the Holy Spirit in one corner of their lives. And it's like praying and praying and praying for the sunlight to come in and keeping the curtains closed or the blinds down. It's pointless praying. You've just got to pull the curtains and open the blinds. In other words, open up every area of your life to Christ. And that's more easily said than done. We think, yeah, I've given everything. Maybe you haven't given your ambitions and your plans for the future to the Lord. You haven't made up your plans. Well, that's an area where the curtains are drawn, the blinds are down, and the Lord's waiting for that to be yielded. And I remember hearing of a preacher who heard of other people who were filled with the Spirit and became great preachers. And he wanted to be filled with the Spirit. As far as he knew, he surrendered everything, and he was still not filled with the Spirit. And he asked the Lord what it was that was holding him back. He said, you want to be a great preacher. He thought he knew that. And he realized that deep down, the purpose of which he wanted, the Holy Spirit, was so that he could preach like Moody or somebody like that. And when he yielded that, God filled him. So, it's a gift. A gift that God will never give. There's a verse in James which says, You do not have because you do not ask. How much more will the Holy Spirit, God the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? I think that's one big difference between children asking for food and we asking for the Holy Spirit. That children don't have to ask for food. Parents will recognize that need and just give it. But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, God waits for us to ask. It's just like forgiveness. And many other things in the Christian life. The reason God waits for us to ask is more than one. I think He wants us to have an awareness of our need. I think that's very, very important. And Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Poor in spirit just means those who are aware of their desperate need. And I'm aware of my desperate need for forgiveness of sins. And I realize there's no other way. I come to Christ and ask Him to forgive me. When I realize my desperate need for the power of the Holy Spirit, I realize there's no other way to live the Christian life. When I come to Him and say, I'm not willing, Lord, I'm willing to pay any price, He tells me. So, James 4, it says, first of all, verse 2, you don't have because you don't ask. The last part of verse 2. James 4, verse 2. You don't have because you don't ask. That could be one reason. Because I don't have a sense of need. I don't ask. I can't get along without it. Or maybe you ask a few times and say, well, it's okay. I can get along without it. Maybe that's why you don't receive. The other is, verse 3, you ask and don't receive. Because you ask with wrong motives. That could be another reason, too. That I want to receive the power of the Holy Spirit so that I can testify to other people that I got it. Or I heard of other people who had some fantastic experience and I'd like that. So, there could be wrong motives. It may not be to glorify God. If my motive is to glorify God, to obey His commandment, which says I must love Him with all my heart and love others as myself, if that's my motive, then the motive is pure. But if my motive is something else, that could be a reason. You ask and don't receive because your motives are wrong. So, let me turn to John 14. See, when we think of the Holy Spirit and the early church, by early church, I don't mean everything in the first century. Because the church at the end of the first century, you read Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3, is in a pretty pathetic state. It's certainly not filled with the Holy Spirit. So, when people talk about the first century church, they say, are you talking about A.D. 95 or A.D. 30? But A.D. 95 is pretty dead. And I don't want to be like that first century church. But the way it was right in the beginning, Acts chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, that's amazing. By the time you come to chapter 6, they've started murmuring and grumbling. It's already started. And when you go further down in Acts chapter 15, you find Paul and Barnabas are fighting with each other, saying, we can't get along with each other, you go your way, I'll go my way. That's the early church, by the way. So, I'm not talking about... You'll find it declines pretty quickly. But when you look at how it was right at the beginning, chapter 2 and 3 and 4 and 5, there was something wonderful about that church. So that's what I mean by early church. And... It says in Acts... You know, the preparation for that was what Jesus spoke to the disciples about the Holy Spirit. So, the very first time that he spoke to them about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I want you to see this. Because I think if we... You know, many Christians have a bad habit of picking verses out of here and there, they remember verses, but they don't see the context in which those verses come. So, they miss something. For example, here is a verse, which a lot of Christians know, I will ask the Father, and He'll give you another comforter, a helper, John 14, 16. And he's referring to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. I will ask the Father, John 14, 16, and He'll give you another helper, another helper means, just like Jesus, He's the first helper, the Holy Spirit is the other one. But, if you see the context of it, it is, verse 15, that's important, because verse 16 begins with the word, and, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. I'm often said, have you ever read Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount, and ever wondered, what is the one thing Jesus never said, in those three chapters? Moses went up to the mountain and brought ten commandments, Jesus went up to the mountain, in Matthew 5, and replaced the ten commandments with the Sermon on the Mount. You know, that's what He did actually. He said, Moses told you don't murder, I say you don't get angry. Moses said, you don't commit adultery, I say you don't lust after a woman. Moses said, don't tell lies when you're swearing, I say you must never tell a lie. He was just raising the standard. Moses said, love your neighbors, I say love your enemies. So, Moses said, pray, I say don't let anybody know when you pray. Moses said, give, he was just raising the standard in everything. So that's what Jesus did. And if you take every verse of that, Matthew 5, 6 and 7 seriously, you come to the end of it, the question is, well, how shall I live this life? That's the one thing He never said there. Do you notice that? He never told us in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 how we could live this life. Why is that? Why does He just leave it up in the air? You've got to live like this, okay, see you later. And you're up in the air there, and you're wondering, how in the world can I live this life? Because the whole purpose of the Lord speaking like that was, and leaving it like that, was to see how many people would take it seriously and say, Lord, this is the life I want to live. Tell me how to live it. And for that, what was required was not an explanation but the Holy Spirit. The answer is the Holy Spirit. But, why should you mention all that to someone who's not eager to live this life, someone who can casually read Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and then go on to chapter 8 as in just another chapter. Why in the world should God waste His time in giving the Holy Spirit to such people? Not at all. I know in my own life, it's when I became desperate and said, Lord, I can't live this life. That's when God began to open up that to me. I don't know whether you have come to that place yourself. You know, people say, well, wait for the Holy Spirit. Yeah, you've got to wait because God's waiting for you to come to that place. It's not because God is reluctant. On the day of Pentecost, they were waiting because God's time had not come. There was a time when Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem, the second person of the Trinity. And there was a time when the third person of the Trinity was to come on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. It is, there was a fixed time. You couldn't make Jesus born one day earlier than God's plan and you couldn't let the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity come to Jerusalem. It was like the birth of the second, third person of the Trinity in Jerusalem. There was a fixed day for it. That's, they had to wait for that. But after that, we don't have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come. Never do we have to ask God to do the, anybody being asked to wait. But I think people have to wait for the forgiveness of sins even though Jesus died two thousand years ago for their sins because he's not willing to acknowledge his sins. The multitude of people are not willing to acknowledge their sins. The multitudes will acknowledge it but don't repent of it. Well, then they've got to wait. Wait for what? Not for Christ to die. They're not ready. That's exactly the reason why a lot of people have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come. He's already here. So it says here if you love me, John 14, 15, you will keep my commandments. And someone who reads scripture casually will say, yeah, that's right. We'll go on to the next verse. But a person who takes scripture seriously will read that and say, Lord, how in the world can I keep your commandments? How in the world can I live a life where I never get angry, where I've never lost after a woman, where I always keep the truth, where I'm free from the love of money, where I'm free from anxiety? That's what you said in Matthew chapter 5 and 6. How in the world will I keep it? To that person the Lord says, I will ask the Father, verse 16, he'll give you a helper to keep those commandments. So if you have a desperate desire to do the whole will of God in your life, then the answer will come very quickly. Let me read another verse in Acts 5. It says in Acts 5, 32 that the Holy Spirit's given to those, the last point, to those who obey God or those who want to obey God. See that's not a verse a lot of people turn to when people ask, how can I receive the Holy Spirit's power? Acts 5, 32 says that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him or I would say who want to obey Him. You see the same thing in what we read earlier. If you love me, keep my commandments and I would pray to the Father that you would get a helper. And that's not just referring to my personal life. When you think of being like Jesus who was the perfectly obedient Son of God, He was obedient in overcoming sin but He was also obedient in fulfilling a ministry. There are two aspects of Jesus' life and His ministry and both require obedience. In life He had to obey in the sense of never doing His own will but doing the Father's will. And in His ministry too. He needed power for His ministry just like He needed power for His life. So the Holy Spirit's come to give me power for my life and for my ministry. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to keep my heart pure in a wicked evil world. It's impossible to do it. If you love me keep my commandments but I know you can't keep them. So I pray the Father to give you a helper to help you keep my commandments. And you remember Jesus told Peter Do you love me? In John 31? Take care of my sheep. That's ministry. That's not living a holy life. Shepherd my sheep. Tend my lambs. How to do that? I pray the Father to give you a helper to help you to keep my word. Let me turn now to Isaiah and chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. Now perhaps before we go there I should show you Isaiah 42. See this is a prophetic reference to Jesus Christ. Isaiah 42. Behold my servant whom I uphold. Let's refrain from Christ. Behold my servant my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice in the nations and he will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break. A dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. He faithfully bring forth justice. He will never be discouraged or crushed until he has established justice on the earth. It's very interesting. Now most people think when the spirit comes upon people they start yelling but it says here he will not cry out or raise his voice. I don't believe Jesus yelled in his preaching. There was a power in his words which didn't require yelling and shouting. It was the quiet power of the Holy Spirit that took God's word straight to people's hearts to convict them of sin. I'm reminded of a story I heard of a preacher who had thank you a preacher who had his points written down on pulpit and on a paper and one of the points was one of the things he had written there was point number three this is a weak point so bang the table and shout. I never forgot that. Whenever I hear people yelling I say that's a weak point that's why it's better to shout and get it across. It says about Jesus he wouldn't cry or raise his voice and I don't believe Jesus did that but it was such a mighty power of the Spirit. When Jesus was walking with the disciples to Emmaus that's a seven mile journey it took them three hours it says he opened up the scriptures to the people from Genesis to Malachi and at the end of it they said didn't our hearts burn within us when he spoke? It's not because he was young there's a quiet power of the Spirit that can it's not just in pulpit ministry even in personal conversation all of us can have the power of the Holy Spirit in our life so that we speak God's word to people when they meet us when they come to visit us or you write an email to somebody the Spirit is upon you quiet words that can go straight to people's hearts and make them that's God's will for every single one of his children you know we may not all stand in the pulpit but we're all meeting people all the time every day and we're called to be God's mouthpiece but I like this it says in Isaiah 42 my servant whom I uphold upholds like I'm holding up this Bible this Bible is so dependent on me holding it up I mean if this Bible could speak it would say I can't stand up here like this up in the air without someone holding me up what about if you stood there for one hour no, it'd be still the same I'm here for 20 years I still need somebody to hold me up that's what the Holy Spirit does my servant whom I uphold I put my spirit on him he won't have to cry out or yell words to me his words will go forth convicting and at the same time bringing encouragement to those who are like bruised reeds you know he'll encourage them a dimly burning wick he won't just blow it out and say well you're good for nothing he will blow it into a flame so and he won't get discouraged there are a number of prophecies concerning the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in Isaiah and here's one of them Isaiah 11 in Isaiah 11 it speaks again of the Holy Spirit resting on Jesus Isaiah 11 verse 1 there'll be a shoot from the stem of Jesse Jesse is the father of David and speaking about Jesus verse 2 the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him the Spirit of wisdom understanding counsel strength knowledge fear of the Lord you know in the book of Revelation you read of the seven spirits of God or the seven fold Holy Spirit here it is all seven Spirit of Jehovah Spirit of wisdom understanding counsel strength knowledge and reverence for the Lord this is the seven fold Holy Spirit that rested upon Jesus now I'm thinking particularly of that last one the Spirit of the fear of the Lord the early church had a reverence for God which came through the Holy Spirit which I have to say I find so lacking in today's Christianity and to me that's one of the clearest proofs that the Holy Spirit as far as missing today unfortunately you know you use the word charismatic which is related to the gifts of the Holy Spirit charismatic grace charisma those again Greek words gifts of grace charismatic Christians are churches are supposed to be those who believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit but many people when they think of charismatic they think of a lot of noise and a lot of singing and a lot of instruments and a sort of a happy time together but I feel that what's lacking in many of these churches is reverence for God that's why I don't believe personally that's a lot of which is really charismatic people can call it that but there's a reverence from God that comes when a man is filled with the Holy Spirit I think of some of the shallow songs that come out of these charismatic churches where they talk of Jesus as some old buddy of mine whom I can put my arm around and say hi well Jesus wants to be our brethren and our friends but one of the things I've discovered is that the more a man comes to know God the more he reverences Him and fears Him and it's the spirit of the fear of the Lord it says here that is upon Jesus and He will delight in the fear of the Lord that's the one thing picked out of all those seven in verse three He will delight in the fear of the Lord when the spirit of God is upon a person He has a tremendous reverence for God His whole and that reverence for God is what makes Him hate sin and not just hate things which other Christians call sin but hate to do His own will in anything that is sin His definition of sin gets more sensitive to doing what I want to do the origin of sin is there you can see it in a little one year old child this is what I want to do and that's the thing you've got to break in that child if you want him ever to become a child of God and that's what's going to be broken in all of us I want to do this I want to do this you know there's a lot of you know emphasis on trying to get people to dress modestly what's the root of it all I want to be like this who in the world is going to tell me to be different you don't want that person to need a little more reverence for God when you're filled with the Spirit you develop a reverence for God it's not I don't mean this I'm not saying it will remove all humor from your life you don't become a so serious Pharisee that's a false reverence for God I believe Jesus had a sense of humor I really believe that I mean I'll give you one instance of it you remember that time when the disciples went fishing all night and caught nothing and Jesus says hey fellas you got any fish that's a sense of humor they knew very well they hadn't got anything get some fish by the way so I don't believe that building a spiritual image you become very serious and solemn and I don't think so I don't think Jesus was like that I don't think children would have been drawn to Jesus if he was like that the children the children were scared of the Pharisees but they loved to be with Jesus so there was something pleasant about him his holiness was something beautiful about that holiness something pleasant and you find when you get to heaven you discover God is like that there's something attractive about true holiness and there's something repulsive of the holiness of the Pharisees which the Israelites were told this is what God is like and people ran away from that there was something beautiful pleasant about the holiness of Jesus because it was coupled with a deep humility a deep reverence for God which brought in him a great respect for human beings you know I believe that the more I reverence God the more I respect human beings all creation all human beings because I say dear God's made them I mean there may be things in them which are peculiar I don't agree with but they can make you respect them and love them and the lack of respect that you see in Christians today is not a proof they don't know the Holy Spirit they're not filled with the Holy Spirit Jesus was in love with people I mean he could love a woman who was divorced five times in Samaria and now sleeping around with a man who's not even her husband only Jesus would ever think of talking to such a person he was a spiritual person perfect example spiritual person as Jesus Christ his standards he didn't lower his standards for all of us but he had compassion for women caught in adultery he loved women and children some of the marks of a really spiritual person was totally pure but has compassion for the worst of sinners because he came to save them not to condemn them not to make them feel they're good for nothing but to give them value in spite of God that's why that's what changed Mary Magdalene who had been possessed with seven demons what is it that made her stare around in that tomb empty tomb on that Sunday morning early in the morning I mean they may have gone there about four thirty in the morning but the disciple said hey hey he isn't here and I haven't finished my morning sleep I've got to go back to sleep but not Mary Magdalene she said you guys can go back to sleep if you like I want to find where they took his body there was a longing in her and she'd been such a sinner so I see there was something attractive about Jesus you know the perfect example of a spirit filled man he didn't come across like an overpowering person who put a sense of awe in people he was a friendly humble person I've often thought that if I had been in Nazareth and I heard of this carpenter some guy called Jesus he was a carpenter nobody knew he was a son of God if I spent half an hour with him what is the impression I've asked myself what impression I've had of Jesus when I met him when he was 25 years old when he wasn't bringing me miracles and such things I spent half an hour with him what impression do you think you would have had of him I don't think he'd have given you a sense of awe about how holy he is I don't think so I think I would have come away with a feeling that boy what a humble man he was in a world full of people of manifest pride and hidden pride and subtle pride and false humility I said here's a boy what a genuinely humble man this man is no pretense about him but he makes me feel important and I believe that's the mark of a real spiritual person and so rare to see such people in the world today and I believe that should bring a burden in our hearts the name of the lord is so dishonored in the world today because people who tend to be Christians are not really filled with the holy spirit they're not filled with the same spirit they're filled with Jesus we have Christians arguing about all kinds of theological points and this that and the other and one trying to score points over the other claiming to know more but what the world needs to see is people filled with the holy spirit and so my whole purpose in what I want to share here is to create a hunger I don't want to give you theological explanations because I don't believe theological explanations are never going to lead you to the fire of the holy spirit but if you can have a hunger I get the hunger when I see Jesus the perfect example of a spiritual man and as I get a picture of Jesus in the scriptures approachable humble gracious but totally pure the standard of purity was so high and who had such a passion to complete the work of his father on earth he had no other ambition he had no ambition to make money or become famous or nothing see that's a spiritual man I find so many people who claim to be spiritual who have so many other ambitions maybe in the church to be a great preacher or somebody like that Jesus didn't have any such ambitions so if you look at Jesus as the perfect example of a spiritual person you can't go wrong and the more you see him the more you'll have a tremendous hunger in your life to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be like him and you look back over the years since you were converted and you ask yourself had you had that passion to be like him and to live for him and to make your life count for God on this earth see Jesus knew that he had a very short time and so he couldn't afford there's a little poem written by A.B. Simpson he was a great man of God 100 years ago which often thought of it he said no time for trifling in this life of mine not this the path my blessed Savior trod but strenuous toil each hour and power employed always and all for God no time for trifling each hour and power employed always and all for God and that's not just for full-time Christian workers all of you are in your secular jobs all had a secular job but if you were to ask him Paul what are you he'd say I'm an apostle you'd say hey I thought you were a clinic maker oh that's just to earn my living I'm an apostle you know each of us has a calling in the body of Christ if you're born again you're part of that body and you have a calling a function maybe you have a little finger or heart or liver kidney something but there is a function and it's not all the same you're all different God wants only one person like me in the body and one person like you and your calling will be different from mine when you get filled with the spirit you won't preach like me but you have a calling it's like the hand and the feet do different things eyes and ears do different things but they need power and that's fullness of spirit and if you recognize that you have a calling in the body of Christ if you're born again you are you have a calling whether you know it or not you may not have been passionate enough to find out what that calling is maybe because you're spiritually lazy you've been lazy many years not bothered to find out what your calling is you just want to somehow drift along like most Christians just get in some church ease your conscience give a little bit of money for God's work and somehow drift along and get to heaven that's not the way Jesus lived on earth he lived with a passionate purpose God sent my father sent me to earth for a purpose I've got to fulfill it I want to say that to you my brothers and sisters I pray you'll be gripped with that sense of passion that God has a purpose for you a specific plan and purpose that's why he saved you that's why he allowed you to come to Christ that's why out of all the world in the midst of so many sinners he picked you also a sinner to know Jesus and I hope that you'll never lose sight of that once you see it I saw it about a minute side of it when I was 21 years old 50 years ago and boy it's just gripped my heart all these years I said Lord I've got only one life I've got to be very careful that I fulfill your plan I want to do everything that you sent me on this earth to do so that I'll be able to say at the end of my life I finished the work you gave me to do that was how Jesus lived and that's the passion he communicated to his early church to those 120 particularly to the apostles by filling them with the Holy Spirit they were filled with that same passion that drove Jesus to live a holy life and to fulfill the task God sent him on earth to do and that's why the church is called the body of Christ because you know there are many titles of the church and the family of God kings and priests which are also in the Old Testament referred to Israel Israel was called the kingdom of priests Israel was called the bride and Israel was called the people of God but there was one title that was the and that means the same function that that earthly physical body of Jesus did for 33 years but we continue now doing the will of God completing the purpose of which he sent us to earth and saved our souls and fulfilling the purpose the specific purpose in the body that God called each of us to do I hope you will be gripped by this and it doesn't matter if other people are not fulfilling it or not you know it's very easy if you look around at others to either to descend to their level or to congratulate ourselves that we are their believers and satisfy yourself that you're better than them by yourself with Jesus and see whether you've come short the way he lived his earthly life because that is the perfect example of the spiritual life.