10.16.05 AM Smyrna Assembly of God Pastor Shell Osbon
“Living A Spirit-Filled Life - Part 2”
Acts 19:1-6
Intro
Acts 19:1-6
Paul has met a group of people in Ephesus who are followers of Christ but they are completely unfamiliar with the Holy Ghost. No doubt Paul explains the Spirit of God to them, lays hands on them & they were filled with the Holy Ghost. As soon as this takes place they began to speak in tongues & to prophecy - gifts of the Spirit.
Accepting Christ as your Savior is essential for salvation. But, once you are saved, God then has the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost available to you!
I’d like to share a message with you entitled, “Living A Spirit-Filled Life - Part 2.” I’d like for us to consider “The Person Of The Spirit” & “The Potential Of The Spirit.”
Part 1 Review
The Promise Of The Spirit
Joel 2:28,29 God says, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons & daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And on My menservants & on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
The Purpose Of The Spirit
Acts 1:8 Jesus says, “You will receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you & you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem & in all Judea & Samaria & to the end of the earth.”
Part 2
1. The Person Of The Spirit
One of the basic theological questions that you must answer is this: “Is the Holy Spirit a force that influences our lives or a Person that guides our lives?”
How you answer this determines whether you believe that the Spirit is a force that you can lay hold of & use or a Person who lays hold of & uses you! The force allows you to be in control & the Person allows the Spirit to be in control!
The following story is a tragic example of what happens when the Holy Spirit is perceived to being nothing more than a force that can be used for personal gain.
Acts 8:5-13
Now let me clarify for you that this Simon is not the same as Simon Peter who was a disciple & an apostle of Jesus Christ. This Simon is one who practiced sorcery or who was a magician.
Miraculously, as Simon heard Philip preaching, he believed on Jesus & was saved! In a public denial of his previous involvement in sorcery, Simon was baptized in water. He then follows Philip & witnesses some incredible miracles that God performed.
Acts 8:14-24
Peter & John are sent down to Samaria by the apostles to help them with further discipleship. Once they arrive, Peter & John began preaching about the Holy Ghost because these new Christians had not yet been filled with the Spirit. As Peter & John began to lay hands on these new Christians they received the Holy Spirit.
Simon witnesses this great outpouring of the Holy Ghost & sees how the Spirit began to take hold of these new Christians. He is so intrigued by what takes place that he offers some money to the apostles in order to buy the power of the Holy Ghost so that he could do what they have done.
Peter rebukes Simon to the point that it seems like Peter isn’t convinced that God will forgive Simon for what he has said. In fact, in the Greek language, Peter literally tells Simon that he will very likely go to hell over what he has just said. Simon is so distraught that he doesn’t even try to pray but asks Peter to pray for him.
If you think of the Holy Ghost as a force, you’ll focus on you having more of Him. If you think of the Holy Ghost as a Person, you will focus on allowing Him to have more of you.
I want to clarify that the Holy Ghost is not an “it” or a “thing” but is a person. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Ghost.
Notice the use of the personal pronouns “He” & “Him” each time Jesus refers to the Spirit in these references:
John 14:16,17 Jesus says, “I will pray the Father & He will give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him for He dwells with you & will be in you.”
John 16:8 Jesus says, “And when He (Holy Ghost) has come, He will convict the world of sin & of righteousness & of judgment.”
John 16:13 Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth & He will tell you things to come.”
The Holy Ghost is not merely some force that we have invited into our lives & our churches. The Holy Ghost is as much a part of God as God is a part of the Holy Ghost.
The Bible is filled with references to the Holy Ghost in conjunction with God the Father & Jesus Christ . In reality, the Spirit is equal to & inseparable from God & Jesus.
Mark 1:9-11 says, “It came to pass that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting & the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’”
Notice the presence of the Holy Trinity in this passage. God is speaking from heaven, Jesus is being baptized in the water & the Holy Ghost is resting.
Matt 28:19 Jesus says, “Go therefore & make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit.”
Notice that Jesus includes the Father & the Holy Spirit along with Himself in providing this method of baptism.
2 Cor 13:14 Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ & the love of God & the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Paul includes God, Jesus & the Holy Ghost in his apostolic benediction giving further credence to the Spirit’s equality.
2. The Potential Of The Spirit
Potential is defined as “abilities that lead to future success or usefulness.”
I’d like to consider a few of the things that the Spirit of God has done & how those principles apply to our lives today.
Gen 1:1,2 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens & the earth. The earth was without form & void & darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, the Holy Ghost can move upon the chaos of your life & create things that God will soon say “It is good” over!
The Holy Ghost can create order out of the chaos of your life!
2 Sam 23:2 David says, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me & His word was on my tongue.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, you should expect for the Holy Ghost to speak through you! There will be a supernatural enabling that the Spirit gives you to speak at times when you would normally be silent.
Luke 12:11,12 Jesus tells His disciples, 11 “When you are brought to trial in the Jewish meeting places or before rulers or officials, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. 12 At that time the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say.”
Tere will be times when you will have absolutely no idea what you are supposed to say. But those are precisely the times when the Holy Ghost will give you the right words!
John 7:37-39 says, “Jesus said, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me & drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, rivers of living water will flow from your life.
Luke 4:1-2 says, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan & was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil. In those days He ate nothing & afterward He was hungry.”
Jesus has just come back from being baptized in the Jordan River. The very next thing that happens is that the Spirit leads Him into this intensive time of temptation. The devil comes to Jesus & tries 3 different temptations to get Christ to fall. Each time Jesus defeats him by saying, “It is written.”
Luke 4:13,14 says, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee & news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, you’ll be able to defeat the temptations that come your way. Not only can you face the devil being filled with the Holy Ghost but you can stay full of the Holy Ghost once the battle ends!
Rom 8:26 says, “When we do not know what we should pray for, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, even if you have no idea what you should be praying about, the Holy Ghost will begin to pray through you! There will be times that God will bring someone or some situation to your mind & all you’ll be able to do is pray in the Holy Ghost!
2 Cor 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, you’ll begin to enjoy a new level of liberty or freedom that you’ve never known! And there’s nothing quite like freedom!
Jude 20 says, “Build yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost.”
As you begin living the Spirit-filled life, you will build up your faith by praying in the Holy Ghost!
Conclusion
“The Person Of The Spirit” takes hold of you rather than you taking hold of Him. He is in control; not you.
“The Potential Of The Spirit” enables you to be & do all that God has designed & destined you to be & do.
Eph 5:18 says, “Be filled with the Spirit.
The Greek word translated as “filled” literally means “to fill to the top so that nothing can be added.”
