Sermon Central
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Living A Spirit-Filled Life - Part 3 Series
Contributed by Shell Osbon on Dec 31, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: God’s desire is that every Christ-follower live a life that is filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
10.23.05 AM Smyrna Assembly of God Pastor Shell Osbon
“Living A Spirit-Filled Life - Part 3”
Intro
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.
I’d like to share a message with you entitled, “Living A Spirit-Filled Life - Part 3.” In this message we will consider The Partnership Of The Spirit, The Persistence Of The Spirit & The Proximity Of The Spirit.
Part 1 & Part 2 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.”
The Person Of The Spirit
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.”
The Potential Of The Spirit
2 Cor 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Part 3
1. The Partnership Of The Spirit
A partnership is “two or more people who participate with one another.”
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.”
Jesus told His disciples, that He had partnered with for 3½ years, that His Father was going to send them “another Comforter” which would be the Holy Ghost. He goes on to tell them that the Holy Ghost would be with them & that He would be in them forever.
The Greek word that has been translated as “Comforter” is the word “Parakletos” which literally means “one who has been called to one’s side to help; an advocate.”
1 Cor 6:19,20 Good News Bible says, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you & who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God. He bought you for a price so use your bodies for God’s glory.”
The Apostle Paul is telling the believers in Corinth about the fact that they are not going through life by themselves. He wants them to know they have a Partner in the person of the Holy Ghost. It was important for these early Christians to know that their Partner was living in them & had been given to them by God Himself.
Ps 51:10-12 David says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, & renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence & do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation & uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
David knew that he couldn’t clean his heart or adjust his spirit (attitude) by himself. It seems that his greatest fear was that God would cast him away from His presence or that He would take the Holy Spirit from him. His final cry was that God would enable him to have the joy of salvation restored & that the generosity of the Holy Spirit would uphold him.
David was in partnership with God. David had to be willing to allow God to do what God was capable of doing. David couldn’t do God’s part & God wouldn’t do David’s part.
You are not alone in this life that you are living! You have a faithful Partner in the Person of the Holy Ghost who is walking with you each & every step of the journey!
As you look at your life & you see all of things that need to change, don’t be overwhelmed by thinking that you’ve got to do it by yourself. You’ve got a Partner working with you to bring about every change that God desires to see take place in your life!
