Matthew 3 How to Be Filled, the Holy Spirit

Welcome to West Side Christian Fellowship. We are actually in the book of Matthew, as many of you know, and we spoke on a very controversial topic last week, did we not? The filling of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, the unction of the Holy Spirit. And as you can see, we're going to be doing part two tonight filled with the Spirit of God, and I will I will submit to you tonight that there is probably nothing more important than this topic, apart from salvation, being filled with the Spirit of God.

And to some people, that might seem a little weird, a little awkward, a little interesting. But all we what we really believe is as Christians is once you you surrender, you give your heart to Christ, you repent of your sin. As a result of that, God's spirit, the triune nature of God, God's spirit comes and dwells with the believer inside of us.

And then now we are controlled by the spirit of God, fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, contentment, longsuffering, all the fruit of the spirit is there, but also the lust of the flesh is still there. So I was thinking as a Christian, you probably understand this, too. It's almost like a jack on a hide.

You know, it's it's a pull of the flesh or the filling of the spirit. It's the succumbing to the lust of the flesh or being filled with the spirit of God. And that's why the Bible speaks volumes on this topic of obeying the word of God, because that is how a person is truly filled with the spirit of God.

So if you weren't here last week, I encourage you to go online and listen to last week's message. It's already posted. It was part one on the baptism of the spirit, the filling of the spirit, the fire of the spirit.

And I'm not scared of those terms primarily because the Bible uses those terms. Jesus filled when he was filled with the spirit of God and preached in the spirit of that. And when he spoke, it said the Bible records that the spirit of the Lord was upon him, upon him.

He was clothed with power. So he brought he brought freedom to the captives. So this isn't a topic we need to kind of cringe from.

And what happens when you talk about the Holy Spirit? A lot of people either throw out the baby with the bathwater. So if anything, we've seen all the stuff on TV, we've seen all this stuff before. Let's not even talk about the Holy Spirit.

So as a result, there's no there's no talk of this power of God, this filling of God, and that's kind of what I want to attempt to do tonight. And as I said last week, this topic has been known to split many churches. I was part of a church that split because of this.

It's divided friends. It's caused a lot of disunity. And the ironic thing is it's the spirit of unity.

And I often tell people it's the Holy Spirit, me and the Holy Spirit and you is not divided. Isn't that interesting concept? If there's tension, if there's division, if we're butting heads, the Holy Spirit's not. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of unity inside of me and unity inside of you.

So usually what happens, those flesh gets in the way we argue, we backbite, we we bicker, we complain, and it's like this. And we think we're so spiritual and the other person's not. And the other person thinks, well, they're spiritual and the other person's not.

But the Holy Spirit is never divided. If you think about that, the next argument you get into, it'll really make you stop and think, OK, what's going on here? Because we should, as believers, be able to work through things. It's the spirit of unity that break.

That's why most of us are here tonight and throughout the churches in America, the true blood church of Jesus Christ. Why many people come together? It's because the spirit of unity is drawing them. The spirit draws them.

And actually, nobody even comes to the father except the spirit draw actually comes to the son unless the father draws them to the side. So it's that drawing of the spirit. It's the spirit filled life is something that you definitely don't want to take for granted.

And we talked last week. Also, I'm just refreshing a lot of people is the two camps. You know, one camp believes we should never mention the feeling of Holy Spirit or mentioned.

Don't talk too much about the Holy Spirit. The other camp, it's all about the Holy Spirit. Emotional.

If it's odd, it's God. Anything goes. And what we try to do is find the balance.

As I said last week, one group needs to read their Bible and put this put certain things and parameters, the other group needs to experience the Bible that they're reading. And that's kind of where we left off. We talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of Holy Spirit, the fire of the Holy Spirit.

And really why this you know why this topic is uncomfortable is because it challenges comfortable and it disturbs the normal. This is when you take nominal Christianity and it becomes passionate Christianity. That's the difference.

You take a nominal Christian, which the Bible refers to as lukewarm or carnal, and they become a spirit filled believer. Everything changes. Worship changes.

The study of God's word changes. They have a passion for God's word. Their friends change.

Their addictions leave. Why? I'm not talking about we don't struggle, but we have a carnal Christian that a person filled with the spirit of God. And that's the difference.

They're filled with God's spirit. So with that said, where do we leave off last week? Anybody remember? Matthew, chapter three, verse 11. Let me get this now.

Matthew, chapter three, verse 11. I think it's going to be up there. And here we go.

This controversial topic again. John the Baptist is speaking here. He said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to even carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And if you want to know what that means again next week or tune into the video, because it'll take just too much time to explain that again.

But his winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

And John tried to prevent him saying, indeed, are I need to be baptized by you and you are coming to me? I mean, can you imagine this? Jesus Christ is coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. And John the Baptist saying, wait a minute, I'm not even worthy to hold your sandals and I'm going to be baptized, I'm going to baptize you. And Jesus says, what's he say here? Permit it so for thus it is fitting for all.

For all of us to fulfill all righteousness, then John allowed him to be baptized. And in the King James, it's right here, it's permitted so, but the King James, Jesus says suffer it so, suffer it so, which means allow it, John, allow this to happen so that it will fulfill all righteousness. And there's so many different commentaries on why did Jesus get baptized? You know, some say this, some say this, why did Jesus get baptized? I mean, why did John baptize him? Well, I like to just first look at the text, suffer it, so allow it for some reason, this must have must must have been of God's will, because it says suffered so that it might fulfill all righteousness.

So John the Baptist saying, let Jesus saying, let this happen. It has to happen. This is God's will.

And the righteousness implies the will of God and baptism is a sign of submission and surrender, really of identification. So what I'm thinking here is if you look to John 1 8, it says that John the Baptist was not the light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. So John the Baptist, his Baptist ministry is baptizing people for repentance.

We know that Jesus didn't need that, right? He wasn't there to be to repent and have that cover of sins. He was there to allow this, this, this will of God, this mandate of God to happen. So that's where we pick up.

John the Baptist is baptizing him and Jesus is allowing him. Then we pick up in verse 16. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove.

Now, notice there he's saying like a dove. You know, sometimes you see the little dove on Christian literature and symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and that's fine. But I'm not sure he actually saw a dove.

He saw the spirit of God clothed, Jesus being clothed with power from on high, this the spirit of God coming and descending upon Christ and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And that's one of the proof texts we use for the Trinity, the triune nature of God, father, the son, the Holy Spirit.

We see that all right here. The son is in the Jordan River. He's just been baptized, being obedient because of what the father commanded, being baptized.

Then the heavens open up and the spirit of God descends upon him. And then the father said, this this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.

So we see the triune nature of God there. Now, this is very interesting if you have to turn there. But Luke four records.

Luke four says, then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness. Now, this is pretty interesting. Why would the text say after his baptism, after his endowment of power, the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus Christ.

Now the Bible says and then Jesus being filled with the spirit of God was led into the wilderness to be tempted. Why would Jesus need to be filled with the spirit of God? And that's what a lot of people have been debating. Throughout history, Jesus was fully God, yet fully man.

But to me, the scripture is pretty clear that something not extra, not in addition to, but this endowment of power and what I mean by that word, I'm going to explain that later. A lot of old readers and writers used to use that word. It's being clothed with something you're receiving.

You're being clothed with the power of God. And we don't see Jesus in ministry before this time. He goes from he goes from obscurity to notoriety.

Just like that, nothing, 30 years, nothing. And then now he's baptized, the spirit comes, descends upon him. Now he's filled with the spirit of God.

Now he turns the world upside down. So it's this filling of God's spirit that's this overflowing of God's spirit. So we we believe and I believe that Jesus somehow when the spirit fell upon him, he was filled mightily with the spirit of God.

Then he began his earthly ministry. It's crystal clear there. Luke 4, 14, then then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit.

We don't see that, Matthew. But Luke 4, 14, a few verses later, after Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit, then he went into the wilderness. And after his wilderness experience, which we'll talk about probably next week, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit.

So you see how Jesus is returning in the power of the spirit, being filled with the spirit. So how much how much more me and you be filled with the spirit of God? We need that just as much. So so that's that's where we're at so far.

Everyone praised him when this happened. He went to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue and as was the custom, he stood up to read in the school.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him unrolling it. He found the place where it is written. And we talked about this before.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Do we call that ironic? Do we call that? Oh, it's just coincidence. No, Jesus was baptized into the Jordan River, filled with the spirit of God.

The Bible says that he was filled with the spirit of God beginning his ministry. And now he stands up and he preaches. He says the spirit of the Lord is now upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.

He has set me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord favor. In a nutshell, he had received his baptism of fire. He had been filled mightily with the spirit of God.

Now he's going to go in and now he's going to preach. He's going to witness. He's going to heal people.

He's going to proclaim the kingdom of God. So see, that's the that's what many people don't understand. The filling of the spirit of God is not some weird thing.

It's not that it's when God fills you and you overflow. He fills you and then you testify there's fruit of the spirit there. So a lot of people just aren't filled with the spirit of God.

That's what's happening. That's what that's what the fear of the spirit filled life is, is being filled with the spirit of God. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

I'm going to get to that in a minute. But think about this. When we're talking about the spirit filled life, as we submit, as we surrender to God, he fills us with the spirit.

Some people don't want that. And I'll say, OK, this message isn't for you then. They've got they've got comfortable Christianity is what I call it.

They've never talked about Jesus at work or at home or anywhere else. They'll come to church now and then. Right.

OK, I come to church. I'm a good person. But there's no spirit filled life.

The spirit is not overflowing from them. If you guys want a quick example to kind of wake everybody up, I'll give you one. Here is what this should look like.

Give you and then you can remember this from here on out. This is a spirit filled life. You, me emptying ourselves.

We're emptying ourselves of self. We're saying, Lord, fill me. We're singing the songs, Lord, fill me.

That's what we talk about a little bit. But what it looks like is this. He comes in and he fills and it doesn't just stop.

Right. What to do? That's the spirit filled life. It flows in a way it keeps going.

It flows into everything. Your marriage, your workplace, your friends, your relation, everything. It's a spirit filled life.

It's filling. But then what is Dio Moody say? We have to stay under this because we're leaky vessels all the time. We're leaking.

We're filling our mind with things that we ought not be. Our attitudes were leaking. We're leaking.

So we come in dry and dead and stagnant. We're not filled with the spirit of God. So we need that filling of the spirit.

Lord, would you fill me with your spirit? I'm going to empty myself. Then it flows into everything. Our study time, our worship, everything.

It's a spirit filled life. That's what it should look like. But the majority of Christians know nothing about this.

They know nothing about this. They don't even shame. What are you talking about? Because our lives look like this.

Not this. That's the difference. That's a spirit filled life.

God's spirit is overflowing into all areas of life, financial, relational, spiritual. Everything's affected. Everything's affected.

Or nothing is. You see the difference? Either everything is affected or nothing is. And that's why I preach on this topic so much is because that's the that's the key to the Christian faith, is it not? Being filled with the spirit of God so you can do God's will.

You can understand his ways. You can be called of him and witness and everything transforms. Everything changes.

That's how important this is. As we learned last week, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And I didn't get a chance to talk about this, but I want to tonight.

Fire. What does fire do? It burns and consumes, it purifies and it refines, it warms and it comforts and it destroys and it annihilates. So what does the Bible say about fire, this Holy Spirit and fire? That's not a bad thing.

It's a very good thing. You should desire that saying, I want the fire of God in my life. I want that passion of God.

Have you ever heard the phrase that guy's on fire, that woman's on fire? Or in sports, we say it all the time, such and such is on fire, three home runs and two games, he's on fire. What's that mean? What's that mean in the Christian community? That person is filled mildly with the spirit of God. That's a good thing.

And the Bible says this about fire. Great care was taken to preserve a burning fire. I don't want you to forget that statement I'm going to bring up later.

Great care was taken to preserve a burning fire. Think about it. In Jesus' time, they didn't just have little matches and little lighters with a whole bunch of the fluid in there.

And you could just, whenever you want, turn on the stove, all this fire. There was, once you started a fire, you needed to keep that fire going because it could go out very easily. And here's what I want to read, what R.J. Forbes said in studies in ancient technology and biblical doctrine here.

Great care was taken to preserve a burning fire. Think about this burning fire in your soul for the spirit of God to avoid the necessity of rekindling it. Abraham apparently carried a piece of burning fire with him when he went to offer Isaac.

Fire was used in warmth and refining metals, also for destroying such things as idols. They would throw their wood idols into the fire and it would consume them. It also played an important part in worship of the tabernacle of the temple.

As I'm reading this, I'm thinking, this is exactly what the fire of God does in our life. It gives that warmth. It also refines us and shapes us and it destroys the sin, these idols in our hearts that shouldn't be there.

Not only that, it plays an important role in worship. Everything changes in my life. When I talked about last week, when that spirit filled life and the spirit began to fill me mightily with the spirit, worship changed.

I used to be bored to death. When there's worship over to now, I don't want it to stop. Where's that? Well, how did that happen? It's surely not me because my flesh in here is ready for a burger and I want to get out of here.

But the spirit cries, Abba, father. And as you submit to that, the spirit says more. Feed me, feed me, feed me.

The flesh says, feed me so I can destroy you. The spirit says, feed me so I can guard you. So you're feeding one or the other, and that is my greatest struggle up here.

My greatest struggle when I do this and when I preach sermons, I put all this together. My greatest struggle and what I'm trying to do is fill you with the spirit of God, not me doing it, him doing it. But sometimes it takes that stirring and that convicting and that emptying to do that.

If I had a whole bunch of concrete and I just put a whole bunch of concrete in here, how much water could it take after that? Nothing, nothing. That's what a hard, rigid, prideful, arrogant heart does. There's no spirit of God in them.

They're not overflowing with the spirit of God. They're overflowing with the world. They're overflowing with bitterness and judgmentalism and jealousy and envy and backbiting and gossip and arrogance.

They're full of the world. They love the things of the world. There's no spirit of God in them.

So when they come to church, they're bored to death. They can't wait to hurry up and get out of here. Or when's Shane going to finish? That's why I often say that I'm tying it back into the spirit filled life.

Now, I'm not talking about a perfect life where everything's great and we're never worries and there's never valleys. There's always mountains. But it's a life anchor to this.

And you're standing under that and you're just sitting there going, Lord, fill me, fill me, fill me with your spirit. And it just flows into all areas of life. Everything that's the spirit.

That's what it looks like. I don't want just a little cup, a little pixie cup, because that doesn't adequately do it. It's a spirit filled life.

It just keeps filling everything. Our marriages are fine. Everything changes.

Everything's affected by that. So that's what the filling of the spirit is. That's that's how contextually when the Bible talks about it, he's talking about the spirit filled life.

And I love that the song Chelsea did. I think I actually she sent it to me or sent her. I don't remember.

But there's one thing I wish I could write the author of the song when they say, I will provide the fire. Right. God says, provide this, provide the fire.

I'll provide the sacrifice. But it's actually the opposite. I must provide the sacrifice.

That's when the fire falls. And a lot of people are like, Lord, as soon as you provide the fire, I'll provide the sacrifice. He says, no, it's not going to happen like that.

Romans 12, present your bodies as living sacrifices. Holy, what is your reasonable service? As we present our bodies as living sacrifices, that's when the fire of God falls. I will bring the sacrifice.

Lord, you bring the fire. So it's not a weird term. You guys don't need to worry about this term.

You need to embrace it. The spirit for life, the fire of God, because it's got spirit in it. And I know many people feel the stirring, don't you? You feel, Lord, I want that.

I want what he's talking about. I want I want that. I need that.

Lord, I want that. But the difference between want that and have that is this. The emptying of self.

Because as you empty yourself, God fills you. You see how that works. When you say, Lord, this is your job, wherever you work, this is your job.

This is your career. Lord, take me wherever you want to take me. Lord, do with me what I am yours.

That is a spirit filled life. We say, well, Lord, here's my plans and here's what I'm doing. I don't want to work there.

I don't want to live there. And we've got everybody want to leave California right now. And they just don't like it here.

And we want to do this. We want to do this. And then, Lord, come and bless these plans.

And we wonder why we're hard and rigid and no fun. And where's the spirit of God? I feel, you know, this and God seems distant. And there's nothing there because you're not allowing him to move.

You're not allowing him to fill you and guide you because you've got your plans. I'm guilty as charged, I've made many plans. And every time I say I'm not going to do something, he says, oh, yeah, you're going to do it.

So be very careful what you're doing. You're not going to do. Because it's usually a heart check and he wants he wants to show us he's more concerned about our character than our comfort.

And I forget that. It's hard. I want this and I want this.

But he wants my character developed. He wants your character developed. And that's how that's how the spirit filled life works.

Now, I'm going to go to the historical context of the filling of the spirit, because a lot of people aren't really sure what I'm talking about here. So I want to talk about the historical context in the Bible. And if you if you can look up at the screen, it should be John 20, verse 19 through 22.

Now, keep in mind, this is right after Jesus's resurrection. Jesus was just resurrected and he comes to the disciples. Then on the same day and evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.

Jesus came in and stood in the midst and said unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had said said this to them. Now, listen, pay attention.

This has got a lot of people baffled. And, you know, it is a baffling text. So we need to think through this.

He showed him his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Then then said Jesus to them again, peace unto you, as my father has sent me, even so I send you.

Now, are they Christians at this point? Well, here's the interesting. Now, here's the interesting. And when he Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Ghost.

Wait a minute, they're disciples, they're following. You tell me these guys die. They're going to go to hell.

So you see why this has people baffled, I mean, what are you talking about here? Well, well, let's just read this when he breathed on them. He said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. And what we do know is the Holy Spirit could not come yet.

The Paracletus, he could not come until Jesus was glorified. So some say that he was breathing the Holy Spirit into these people, filling them with the Holy Spirit of God. So something to think about.

Acts two, when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. Now, we're not going to talk too much about this, but this is this whole issue on tongues debate that, you know, there's two sides of this as well. This is where this comes from.

What they did, these people heard the disciples speaking in their native tongue, Phoetian and Roman and all these different, you know, all these different. I don't have the time to read over. But they're speaking all their different languages.

They're speaking the glorious gospel of God. And these people are convicted. They're saying, look at these guys are speaking in our language.

They're crying out to God. They're speaking the glories of God. That's these people were filled with the spirit of God.

They spoke in tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. Back then, nobody has a problem with it. But now it's of the devil.

You know, OK, let's save that one for a later date. But if you're glorifying God, you're not of the devil. You cannot have blessing and cursing coming out of the same mouth.

You cannot be worshiping God in something and glorifying the devil. So just think about that. But that the spirit, the disciples were filled with the spirit of God.

They spoke in tongues. All that is is an unknown language, unknown to them, known to somebody else. I don't think that's for God who created the universe.

I don't think it's too far fetched to give somebody that language of speaking in an unknown tongue to them and known tongue to somebody else. They said these guys are not drunk, as we suppose. They're filled with the spirit of God.

They're speaking the glories of God. And they are convicted their heart, Peter said, repent and be converted. It was it was they were full of fire.

They're full the spirit of God. So that's why you'll see what which is considered Pentecostals or charismatics believe that when somebody filled the spirit of God, one of those signs, one of those evidence is that speaking in tongues. That's where they that's where that denomination comes from.

So now you see the need for denomination isms, even though we don't. You know, well, the church is divided. Well, I can kind of see why we need those, because you have a church that doesn't believe in that, doesn't believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, doesn't believe that those are for today's all that sees all that.

Well, they're going to have a hard time fellowshipping with the group that does. You see why there's different denominations. Could we say both? You know, they have different, different theological issues, right? But this has nothing to do with salvation.

These are not what we would consider essentials. So that's why we don't have to divide over them, because these aren't essentials to salvation. These are non essentials, I think, are very important.

But we can still be believers. We can still be united for the cause of Christ. So that was just a side note.

That's why there's different denominations. Baptists arose out of believing you have to be baptized, not just a little infants or not a sprinkling. You had to be baptized.

So let's call them Baptists. We have reformed, right? Reformed doctrine from John Calvin, John Knox, the Reformation. That's where the reformed faith comes from.

They come from the reformed faith. Pentecostal charismatics come from the day of Pentecost. They believe that when somebody feels the spirit of God, that they speak with tongues in an unknown language.

So now you see where all those different denominations come from. And really, it's the same God. It's the same spirit, but different ministries.

And just in my opinion, somebody who's been filled with the spirit of God, they don't have to argue it. You have to argue this filling of the spirit. I've experienced it.

I lines up with scripture. There's no need to argue and debate it. I'm just trying to tell me the sky's not blue.

You know what I see it, I've experienced and it lines up with scripture. So that's what the day of Pentecost, the tongues, the tongues issue doesn't bother me whatsoever. It's clearly biblical that they spoke in other tongues and God enabled them.

And we see that throughout the New Testament. And the argument goes that now we don't need that anymore. When that which is perfect comes, that which is, in part, will be done away with.

Some say this has come. This is the perfect. This is the perfect.

We don't need the gifts of this, the gifts of that. When that which is perfect comes, when that which is perfect comes, everything else will be done away with those kind of sign gifts. That's what one side says.

The other side says, well, we believe that all those are still active today. So you see how those can be, there's some tension there. And this, this, when that verse, when that which is perfect comes to me, even reading John Calvin's commentary, he says it's the perfect is Christ.

So they would say that all those things are still needed today, exercised today, because the perfect has not come yet. The canonization of scripture is not the perfect. So it gets into theological, you know, bantering back and forth on that.

But we'll be here all night if I keep going on that. When the day of Pentecost, they filled the spirit of God, they spoke in other tongues, basically being baptized in spirit, filled the spirit is you're bringing down heaven's atmosphere into the life of the believer. You're bringing down the spirit of God into the life of the believer.

That's why people have a passion for the word of God. Have you ever had it where you couldn't put this down or we just love to worship God? That's the spirit of God. My flesh doesn't want to do it.

It's the spirit doing that. And that's what draws us in. It's that endowment of power I talked about being filled with the spirit of God.

And, you know, the Bible says, and when Peter was filled with the spirit of God, he preached and when Paul was filled with the spirit of God, he preached. And Jesus being filled with the spirit of God went into the wilderness and just being filled, the spirit of God came out after his temptation. And they even said Stephen was filled with the spirit of God as he was being stoned.

What about when they said, go choose seven men filled with the spirit of God? Let them rule over this area. See, this term is throughout the entire New Testament being filled with the spirit of God. So it begs the question, what I just spent 25, 30 minutes doing is, are you filled with the spirit of God? This is a yes or no, folks.

You ask me, Shane, are you married? Oh, yeah, I am. I am. I forgot.

Either either you've been either, you know what I'm talking about right now as I'm preaching, you say, amen, brother, preach, I'm filled with the fire of God. I'm filled with the spirit of God that resonates within me. I'm deep calling, deep Abba, father.

We you know exactly what I'm talking about. Others saying, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about, Shane, and that's a group I'm speaking about, because that's why other groups believe that there is something subsequent to conversion, not more.

We have the Holy Spirit at conversion. We have the Holy Spirit. But does he have all of you? See, that's where the Bible talks about quenching and grieving the spirit of God.

So you can take two. I'll take I've seen it before. I'll take two young adults, both say 26 and 26, both Christians.

This one hits schooners tonight. He gets drunk. He gets hung over.

He gets hooked up with some girls tonight. He feels convicted, but he just continues, continues, gets into porn next week, watching all this stuff on TV, MTV, BT, whatever. All this is just filling his mind with junk, just so depressed, so discouraged.

I got this guy. He's going to church. He's on fire for God.

He's making right decisions. He just feels a passion. He wants to come to both services.

What happened here? Filled with the spirit of God, filled with the world. I'm just shooting you straight tonight. That's the difference.

That's the difference. I mean, I can remember clear as day I would get that pull of the flesh. I would get in my truck and I'd be heading to schooners.

Think of that nice, big, cold beer. I'm meeting some friends. Put on worship music.

Uh-oh, uh-oh, something's happening. I'm convictions being drawn. You're worshiping God.

I can't, I can't, I can't do this. I turn around, just go home, put down my, my, my blinds, turn off the lights, close it. I'm not home.

I'm not home. I'm worshiping God. What happened? It's that fight there.

It's that fight inside. Fill with the spirit of God. I had to start filling myself because the flesh was pulling me.

So as you, as you obey, as you obey the word of God, that's where the feeling comes from. That's what the spirit filled life is. All the spirit filled life is, is somebody filled with the spirit of God because they obey the word of God.

That's a simple definition. I just summed up the whole message right there. You want to be filled with the spirit of God, you obey the word of God.

If you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. The if is conditional, that comes first. If you provide the sacrifice, then I'll provide the fire.

If you provide the humility, then I'll provide the grace. If you provide the repentance, then I'll provide the restoration. If you provide the brokenness, then I will rebuild and restore you.

You see how that works? God's always saying, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I'll heal their land. We say, Lord, heal our land right now. But we have the most porn viewed in any country in the world.

We have more abuse than anything else. More alcoholism, more drug addiction, more spousal. All this stuff is falling apart.

But Lord, come and heal our land. He says, no, if my people do this, then I will. But see, we want Lord bring the fire, then I'll do the sacrifice.

He says, no, bring the sacrifice, then the fire will fall. So it's fighting the flesh all the time, the obedience, Christ learned obedience through the things he suffered. Last week, you heard me quote, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in his holy place? Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in his holy place? He who has a clean heart and clean hands and who has not lifted up his soul to an idol.

See, it's all conditional. You do this, you will receive this. But we want the other God do this.

Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? And he says, a loving father saying, son, sit down. Let me rebuke you. Let me discipline you.

Obey my word. I mean, I could preach on that for the next month. The power is in the obedience.

And yeah, it's hard at first. Absolutely. When I was driving, that beer sounded good.

That music sounded good. And the flesh is pulling me. But the spirit saying, no, son, turn around.

Turn around right now. Put that Christian music in. Put that sermon and you put James McDonald and you'll turn right around.

That's what I did. I had to fight the flesh, I had to pull out some big guns and turn to turn this truck around, lose my number, don't call me anymore. And the flesh is pulling, the flesh is pulling.

But that's where the spirit filled life comes from out of obedience. And out of that, that that that travailing of soul and fighting the world. Somehow we just think of Christianity as a walk through the park.

Fill me Lord, fill me. I don't want to sacrifice. I don't want to give up anything.

I don't want to obey your word. Fill me with your spirit. It's not possible.

Feeling is a byproduct of a surrendered, broken, humble life, obeying the word of God. Not perfectly, but a heart set on that. So now you see why most people aren't filled with the spirit of God.

Because they want they do not want to do. And the power is in the application and doing it. I mean, guys, this isn't new stuff.

If it's new, it's not true. If it's truth, it's not new. This is why Paul used so many verses.

Look, if we have time, I'm going to go through a lot of these. He would say, be not conformed to this world. Why? Because you will quench your spirit.

Put away these things fleshly less. Why, Paul? Because you will quench your spirit. Abstain from this.

Why, Paul? Because you will quench the spirit of God. Do not do this. Let this mind be in you.

Put away these things. Do not lie and backbite. Why, Paul? Because you'll quench and grieve the spirit of God within you.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and noble and honest and right, meditate on these things. Why, Paul? So you can be filled with the spirit of God.

You let me just give you a secret real quick. We do not or you should not expect delayed or immediate gratification in Christianity. We have our microwave version.

I want this. God, thank you. He it's delayed gratification, it's that yearning after him, it's that desperate for more, it's that seeking.

If you seek me with all of your heart, not for five minutes right now, but if you seek me, that's when you'll find me. That's the spirit filled life that many people are scared of. And I don't know why.

Versus Acts 19. Acts 19. While Paulus was at Corinth and Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus, there he found some disciples.

Here we go. Another controversial thing. Paul found some disciples and asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? The answer said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

And I wonder how many how many in the room don't raise your hand, but how many of you could honestly say that? I'll never forget a Bible study 10 years ago, I read this passage and a pastor's son told me, you know what, I would say the same thing. I was shocked. So surprised he's cheated on his wife three or four times now.

Gone to somebody new. Why is that no surprise? Because you have a form of godliness. You've never surrendered, submitted to the work of the spirit.

So you're being led by the flesh. And the lust of the flesh will pull us away every time. That's why the spirit filled life is the only hope.

When it says put on the whole armor of God, you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. All of that is anchored in the spirit filled life. The sword of the spirit, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness.

All that is the filling of the spirit. And look what he says here. How many, we don't even know.

We've never even heard of a holy spirit. And how many would say the same thing? It's like saying, are you alive? Hey, guys, are you alive today? Yes, we're alive. Well, that's you wouldn't know if you're filled with the spirit of God.

So somehow these guys did not know. So Paul asked them, then what baptism did you receive? John's baptism, they replied. Paul said John's baptism was a baptism of repentance.

He told the people to believe in the one coming after him. And that is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Paul placed his hands on them, then the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with other tongues. Oh, there's that word again. Better stop saying that I'm just reading scripture.

He's put his hands on them. They spoke in tongues and they prophesied. And there are about 12 men in all.

So see, the spirit filled life changes everything. Now, were these guys Christians or not before this event? You see how the debate goes. Just looked at the MacArthur Study Bible this morning, he said they weren't.

Why is everybody worried about this topic? The spirit filled life. Paul uses an interesting word here. It's not an interesting work.

It's over 300 times in, I believe, the New Testament. Look, the word disciple, verse one. Disciples, they were disciples, they were why would he say there he found some disciples? Was Paul, was he meaning false converts? What was he thinking here? So you see, some say they weren't even saved to begin with.

They weren't just they weren't disciples. I don't know why Paul called them disciples, but he did the other side. Yes, they were.

They were believers, but they weren't disciples. But they didn't understand the spirit filled life. They didn't understand the submitting and surrendering to the work of the spirit.

So you see, this isn't a topic we need to be afraid of. The Bible talks about it often. And the word they use here also, the spirit came upon them is what I've talked about before, that Greek preposition epi.

This is something different than the spirit alongside of us, the spirit in us. This is epi, it's upon us. It's the whole thing.

It's almost it's like this. That water is epi on that bottle. That whole bottle submerged in it, it's sunk everything, that bottle now is full of that water.

So that's what he's saying here. And then these people were not just disciples, not just having the spirit residing in them. They were baptized in that spirit.

They were filled with the spirit of God, that epi, the spirit came upon them. It's almost like it's a controlling. That's why Paul would say, do not be drunk, which is dispensation, being drunk, but be filled with the spirit of God, because one or the other is controlling us.

And he links it with now I'm not talking about being weird and all this stuff with the Holy Spirit, pep rallies and just weirdness. I'm talking about somebody truly filled with the spirit of God. They are controlled by that spirit of God.

So somebody's lifestyle characterizes the world, nothing to do with the spirit of God. You can rest assured they're not filled with the spirit of God. Again, I'm not talking about a struggle.

We all struggle. I'm gonna have to pass Panda Express on the way home again tonight and fight that flesh of one wanting that that that beef and chicken, all that stuff, you know, it's it's there that the flesh wants the flesh wants and the spirit says, No, that's just a little thing, but I'm trying to bring it, bring it back home. So have you experienced this atmosphere? Have you experienced I'm not talking about tongues and all this stuff.

That's that's that's that's a time for another conversation. But have you have you felt this empowerment of the spirit of God? I believe it's there for everybody, everybody. Every believer has the spirit of God.

But does the spirit of God have all of you and countless biographies? I brought that book before they found the secret is the title of one of them. And it's Christian biographies of all these men and women of God who are used mightily of God and all of them later on in their life after they became a Christian were filled with the spirit of God. See, it's not some extra like God says, OK, in four years from now, I'm going to fill you with my spirit.

It's there. It's there right there. Do you quench and grieve that spirit or do you flame the fire of that spirit? And then it has to come out.

And what holiness does a life of holiness and righteousness and seeking God that fills you with the spirit of God. There's joy and peace and everything. You're filled with the spirit of God.

I mean, it's it's so vital. Now, let's if we have a few minutes, let me talk about this topic, how do we feel, how should we be filled with the spirit of God? Well, I hit on a lot of that already and I kind of jumped ahead. But have you ever heard the phrase simple, but not easy? It's like just like weight loss.

Very simple, very simple. Eat less, move more. That's it.

Or eat the right kind of foods and the avoid the wrong one and then move a lot more. Exercise, burn that added energy. Very simple, very simple.

I don't think I could teach my eight year old. Eat more or eat less, move more. That's how you lose weight.

Now, this is the same thing with the Holy Spirit. Very simple. This isn't complex mathematical equations.

This isn't deep theological nuances. This is very simple. But very difficult because Satan will go after the most precious things and make them boring and dry and dull.

That's why there's so much power in the word of God. If I could get you to turn off the TV for a week and spend time in the word of God, praying and petitioning, your life would change radically. That's why praying is so boring, because that's the key that unlocks the ignition to the spirit for life.

That's why the Bible, or should I even start on it, you know what these guys are talking about. Yeah, maybe next week. Let me get my five minute devotional real quick.

You know, there's not that you're the things that are most important are going to be the most difficult. Think about that. Praying, praying is I'm not talking about just praying, OK, Lord, I hope I feel better tomorrow and do this and open this job opportunity.

I want to sell more of this and do you know, I'm talking about a person really praying, spending some time. Don't turn off your cell phone. Don't look at the clock, just pray and give God your heart.

Spend time in his word as you're doing that, you're emptying yourself and you're being filled with the spirit of God. That's the spirit filled life. So it's very simple, but it's not easy.

And what what quenching and grieving the spirit of God is. We'll talk about that later. It's a kink in the water hose.

Talked about this two years ago when I did this thing in the Holy Spirit. I told the story about my little boy. Turn on the water full blast.

I want to go out in the grass and play with it. Is this just a tiny bit? Daddy, what's going on? He couldn't figure out what's at the waters all the way and what's going on. Nothing, he couldn't he couldn't play with anything, it's a little drip of water.

You want to squirt things and play and clean nothing. All I did was go over and kick the kink out of the water hose and the thing shot up and all around got him all wet. He cried a little bit.

What? What stopped that flow? This is profound, folks. Think about it. What stopped that flow? A kink in the hose.

So when I talk about obedience to God's word and repentance and surrender, I'm wanting you to remove that kink in the hose so the spirit of God can move my leaf through you. That's what repentance does. It gets the junk out of you and allows the spirit of God to move through you.

We have a lot of kinks in that sometimes a hose has four or five kinks. You get out one, there's three more. And that's what quenching and grieving the spirit of God, the word quenching.

We know, right? There's a fire. Let me go throw this whole thing on the fire. That's quenching.

There's a fire of God within your soul if you allow it. But you quench it through sin. And I do.

It quenches and it grieves. So it's just a little kindle. It's nothing.

Or we grieve the spirit of God. If the spirit of God is grieved by sin, by wrong attitudes, guess what he does? He doesn't fill the believer. It's almost like it's just there, just quenched and grieved.

That's why many people are depressed and anxious and fearful and irritable. The very living God inside of them, either he can give you the peace that surpasses all understanding or the scripture is in error. See, we can't have it both ways.

We can't say, yeah, but this and the economy, my finances. He will guard your heart with perfect peace whose hearts are laid steadfast on him. See, always conditional, but we somehow we've grown up in this.

I want this without doing this. God says, no, as soon as you give me this, then you'll get that. You see how that works? So the very first thing we must do, filling follows obedience.

Shane, have you talked about this before? Oh, absolutely. This is going to be a theme from here on out. The filling of the spirit of God follows obedience.

Many people, you'll see many people finally filled with the spirit of God after they obey the conviction of the Holy Spirit that they've been ignoring for years. Whether it's bitterness and gossip, jealousy, attitudes, wrong, arrogance, all these things, they know they're just holding the spirit of God back. Once you begin to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, give those things to God, begin to obey his word.

That's when you feel the spirit of God. Feeling that that feeling follows obedience. Remember, Jesus said, allow it, suffer it so that all righteousness may be fulfilled.

As I said before, sanctification is God's job. You know what sanctification is? God's changing us. So sanctification is God's job.

But obedience is our job. Obedience is our job. There's no way around that one.

It's time to throw in my famous saying right about now, if you don't like what I'm saying and you're irritated by what I'm saying, that's because you need to hear what I'm saying. And if that statement irritates you, you really need to hear what I'm saying. But that's how God works, he convicts, he convicts.

I see it all the time. People are like, I don't like what that guy's saying. He's challenging everything I've enjoyed, everything that's in my heart.

I know I need it, but I don't like what he's saying. Are you telling me I'm not filled with the spirit of God? Yeah, if you're filled with the spirit of the world, you can't be filled with the spirit of God. Jesus said you cannot serve two masters, you'll either love one and hate the other or despise and want to be loyal to the other.

You cannot serve both God and the God of this world. So there's a distinction there. I like what John Rice said, born in 1895, there is no way that you can please God.

Does anybody want to please God here? There's no way you can please God, no way you can have sweet communion with him to get your prayers answered if you are in open rebellion against the known will of God. So if there are areas in our lives where we know we are an open rebellion to the known will of God, you fill in the blank. It can go from anything from less of the flesh, less of the eye, pride, anything.

The good thing is I don't have to list it because we're already convicted. We're already convicted knowing I need to work on those areas and we cannot get our prayers answered. We cannot be filled with the spirit of God unless we turn from those things, unless we undo that kink in the hose.

That's all obedience does. Obedience removes that kink in the hose. So now we can be filled with the spirit of God.

And basically the formula is this obeying, submitting, emptying yourself and you're filled. That's how if you want to be filled with the spirit of God, that's that's what the Bible talks about. You obey the word of God, you submit to empty yourself and then you are filled with the spirit of God.

I like what R.A. Torrey said on this point, the filling of the spirit. Make sure you remember this, the filling of the Holy Spirit and the gratification of the flesh cannot go hand in hand. That's profound.

The filling of the spirit and the gratifying of the flesh cannot go hand in hand. They cannot be married. In other words, if we want to be filled with the spirit of God and we keep gratifying the flesh and doing those things we know we ought not be doing, you cannot be filled with the spirit of God.

They are polar opposites. So the next point on this, if you want to be filled with the spirit of God, we talked about obedience, filling follows devotion. The filling of the spirit of God follows devotion.

As soon as you begin to devote your life to God and spend time in devotions and crying out to God, not only does he fill you through obedience, now he's going to fill you because of devotion to him. Remember what I said earlier, the flesh says, feed me so I can destroy you. What does the spirit say? Feed me so I can protect you.

The flesh says, feed me so I can depress you. The spirit says, feed me so I can encourage you. You see the difference? We're feeding one or the other animal.

Feed me so I can make you anxious and fearful. Or the spirit says, feed me so I can give you peace that surpasses all understanding. Feed me so I can fuel your addiction, the flesh would say.

The spirit says, feed me so I can remove your addiction. And the flesh says, feed me so I can draw you farther away from God. The spirit says, feed me so I can draw you closer to God.

See, that's the difference. I like what Jesus said. Many of you have heard this verse before.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. Fill with the spirit of God.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore that light in you is darkness, how great it is. What does that mean, the light of the lamp of the body is the eye? We have to remember the eye is an image for the human capacity to absorb external influences.

The human eye, I'm absorbing external influences, are I not? That's why pornography is so dangerous. You are absorbing external influences. You are sleeping with somebody other than your spouse or your dream or whatever you're doing.

You're feeding your mind. And as a man thinks, he becomes. See, the mind is the battlefield.

The mind is the battlefield where battles are won or lost. On the battlefield, it's up here. So as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

The light, let me read that again. The image of the light is for the human capacity to absorb external influences. That's why I preach so hard against entertainment.

What you're putting in through the eye gate comes out here into the spirit gate, in the spirit realm. What you're feeding, what you're focusing on. You need another proof text? I like what Paul said.

Finally, brothers and sisters, this is in Philippians. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admiral, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. We do just the opposite.

We feed our minds with fear. We feed our mind with all this junk and murder shows and mysteries and all this garbage. We feed on this stuff.

We say, why don't I feel the spirit of God? Because the eye gate is allowing demonic influences, it's allowing the world in. That's how it works. This isn't rocket science.

This isn't psychology part, you know, master's degree in this. This is straight biblical doctrine. That as a man thinks what you allow in is what you get out.

So once you obey the word of God, then you submit and you have devotional time. Then everything changes. What you put into your mind.

This I say therefore, verse 17. I actually didn't write the chapter down. So I think, Isaac, I don't think we have this one up here.

Let me just read it. Paul is saying this. I say, therefore, testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk.

Well, that tells me that a lot of people are walking as in the wrong direction, does it not? Paul saying, listen, do not walk as they walked in the futility, the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness that you put off concerning your former conduct. Paul saying, put off your former conduct.

Let the old man die. Crucify the old man. I'll put something here on this point.

Tell me your mental diet and I will show you your spiritual health. Line up here afterwards. You tell me your you tell me your mental diet.

I'll tell you if you're filled with the spirit of God or not. Because all this garbage is on TV and the movies is that nothing to do with the spirit of God in them. Nothing.

It's demonic. It's dark. It's depressing.

Yet we're feeding our mind on that. Never in the word of God. We wonder why we're not filled with the spirit of God.

It all starts here on this devotional life in a heart because because the human mind, the human heart is not neutral. I can't go to church and kind of enjoy these things and I'll be neutral. It's either one or the other.

People are like, I'm getting tired of this guy talking about this all the time. Well, I have to. We're talking about the being filled with the spirit of God.

This plays a dramatic role in that that aspect. Think about how can we watch all this garbage or listen to all this garbage and be around friends and just speak garbage all the time and then then be filled with light. What are we missing here? It can't it can't they can't coexist.

The gratification of the flesh and the fullness of the spirit do not go hand in hand. So once we have obedience, once we have filled the spirit of God because of devotion in our thought life and walking, David said, I walk within my house with a perfect heart, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. Paul said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

How, Paul? Oh, by the renewing of my mind. Finally, whatever things are pure and honest and noble, meditate on these things. There's a lot of indicators there that whatever as a man thinks, so is he.

What we put in is what we're getting out. The next point, the fault, the last point. Filling follows repentance.

The filling of God and repentance, of course, has been a general theme, but I cannot I cannot get by without talking about this, and I'm just assuming when I talk about the spirit of God, I'm assuming I'm talking to believers primarily. But if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ or in God, this this this is step one. This is vital.

We must repent of our sin, confess Christ as Lord, cry out to God to save us, and he will. Then as a result, you can be filled with the spirit of God. This isn't something weird, this isn't something mystic, this isn't something new age, this is Bible.

This is straight biblical doctrine, repenting and turning to him. And let me just pray, Chelsea, while you come up and we conclude, I'm going to pray before I do this final point, Lord, I just pray right now that Lord, those surrendered hearts that want to know you more. Lord, we all want to be filled by your spirit, with your spirit, Lord, but we want to do it, Lord, correctly.

But we want you to fill us, Lord, show us areas right now that we need to work on. Show us areas where there may be kinks in the hose that are preventing this mighty filling of the spirit. Lord, I ask on this final point that you infuse into us this life that we need, the spiritual life that we cannot live without, Lord, we cannot live without you.

We pray that you would fill us, Lord, and I pray for a strong sense of conviction right now, Lord, on those who need this message, who need to be filled with the spirit of God. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.