Everyday Supernatural: Being Filled with the Spirit - Mike Pilavachi // GOD SPEAKS TODAY

[Music] hello there my name's Mike Pihl of Archie and I'm speaking on a little series the subject of which is how to live a supernatural life in the everyday and much of what I'm saying is taken from a book that my colleague and friend Andy Croft and I wrote a little while ago ago called everyday supernatural and I say that I say this every time so you know not just to blame me if you don't like some of the material and we really hope I really hope that this is going to be helpful to you as you seek to live for Jesus our subject today is being filled with the Holy Spirit and what that means I became a Christian two months before my 16th birthday from a very non-christian background and after I met Jesus I started reading books about what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I read the Acts of the Apostles the story of the early church and I saw that they had a dynamic encounter with God by his Spirit and I began to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I remember I asked this older couple who led her home group I was in if they would pray for me to be filled with the spirit and I didn't know what I was doing I just become a Christian they didn't know what they were doing either and I went round to their home one evening and we sat in their front room and I sat on a chair over here and they sat on a SETI over here and we began praying soon after 8 o'clock and we just prayed mostly in silence they didn't lay hands on me they didn't realize that that was part of what you could do or anything like that and then literally out of nothing at about 20 past 10:00 at night I suddenly sensed God's presence in a whole new way it was like he'd come into the room and he'd come into me and I started to laugh and I started to bubble over and I didn't even know that sometimes when people we were filled with the spirit they might laugh and and be joyful I didn't know anything like that and I just looked up and I said to this couple I said you can stop praying now he's come he's here at that point they came over and they laid hands on me and I remember for the next few weeks it was it was just the most wonderful wonderful thing I felt like I was being overwhelmed with filled with liquid love and and there was a joy and a peace and a sense of his presence that I never wanted to move away from I loved it and that was the beginning of a real turnaround in my life from that time on it wasn't that things got easier but just my reading of the Bible I would read it and things would fall into place I would somehow understand things in a new way and that doesn't mean that I don't have to sometimes grapple intellectually with questions in the Bible and do study absolutely but so often I'd get what what's known as revelation it would be like oh yes I see how this fits I see what you're saying here Lord I never saw this before and so often in my in my praying I I just he just I just sensed him nearer to me prayer seemed easier and sometimes it's very hard work prayer it absolutely is but but even so there was a difference there was a difference I remember I would sit on my bed and I would just say Jesus you're here father you love me father you love me I worshiped in a completely different way I was filled with with adoration and love and and I didn't just want to sing songs about Jesus I wanted to sing songs to him I didn't want to just sing songs about the father I wanted to sing songs to the father and even the songs with lots of lots of doctrine the doctrine came alive I remember Oh for a thousand tongues to sing migrate Redeemers praise I just I just would I would I can't sing in tune to save my life but I would sing hymns like that in my room on my own again and again and again and that's what it meant for me to be filled with the spirit now one question that many people ask and I remember I asked was do I have the Holy Spirit before I was filled with the Holy Spirit and the answer from Scripture very clearly is if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit you cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit because it's the Holy Spirit who reveals Jesus to us and when Jesus comes into our lives his Holy Spirit comes into our lives as well and in fact in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit so if you say Jesus is Lord and you mean it you know you have the Holy Spirit and in in Romans 8 there is an another test that that those who are filled with the spirit they desire the things of God they desire to be like God is a desire for holiness he's not called the Holy Spirit for nothing and there's a there's a there's a there's a desire and a passion they're sorry there's a desire and a passion there for him and for his holiness and to be more like him there there's some tests about whether you have the spirit but we all have the spirit if we're Christians but we all need to be filled with the spirit because to be filled with the spirit is to be overwhelmed with the spirit one of the words is baptized in the spirit and there's two versions of that word baptized one is initiated into and the other way that word is used is is is immersed in and we want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit and not just initiated into the Holy Spirit now one of the other questions that people ask is do we when we become Christians do we receive it all you know in Christ is every blessing in the heavenly places and if we've received it all we don't need to ask for more I don't think that's what the scripture teaches I think we have received it all in Christ but we need to unwrap that which we've received we need to make our own that which has been given to us and we are told to ask to seek to knock again and again and again but then on the other side there are those who say yes you become a Christian but you need the second blessing and and a friend of mine was asked once do you believe in the second blessing and he thought for a moment and he said yes doesn't it come between the first blessing and the third blessing I'm not sure that it's just our first blessing you receive Christ and the second blessing you receive the spirit I think there are many blessings and they are all in Christ they are all found because of Jesus Christ in fact in fact when you receive forgiveness you receive everything and everything was one for us from the cross there isn't a second blessing there is a part from Christ there are many blessings and they are all Jesus's blessings to us when when before Jesus died on the cross he had a flass supper in the upper room where they ate the Passover meal which was symbolic of Jesus the Lamb of God going to the cross and shedding his blood for us and then when Jesus went to the cross where we read in the Gospels that he cried out it is finished and then when he cried out in his finished it is finished it says he gave up his spirit and there and there's two ways that that can be translated one is he gave up he gave up the ghost when he died and another way it could be translated is he handed over his spirit and and I believe there's both are true in innocence he yes he died he he excelled his last he breath breathe his last breath but at that point from the cross he handed over as it were the Holy Spirit and straight after that the soldiers speared his side and out of his side came blood which signifies the forgiveness of our sins and water which is a symbol of the giving of the Holy Spirit and it's very interesting that straight after that on the day of Pentecost where did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit the disciples received the Holy Spirit in the upper room the Upper Room where they had had the Passover meal the Last Supper there can be no Pentecost without Calvary the Spirit comes from the cross and if you find it hard to believe that God will fill you with his spirit it should be no harder than believing that your sins have been forgiven because if he forgave your sins why would he withhold his Holy Spirit from you now I just want to look at some scriptures that show us that that the giving of the Spirit happens more than one time it is he is given again and again and again in John chapter 20 after Jesus rose from the dead he met with his disciples and we read in verse 21 these words again Jesus said peace be with you as the father has sent me I am sending you and with that he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive anyone's sins their sins are forgiven if you do not forgive them they are not forgiven he breathed on them do you know what is happening after Jesus rose from the dead when he believed on them that was not just that was more than the symbolic of creation in creation at the beginning of Genesis God's Spirit hovered over the waters he breathed God breathed life into Adam he breathed on him the Ruhr the breath of God the spirit of God and Jesus through whom life was given Adam and the whole of the created world was brought into being he then in his resurrection life he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit so there you go they received the Holy Spirit then but it didn't end there he then says to them at the beginning of of acts wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon you then you will have power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth and then we read at the beginning of Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place suddenly the sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting you see there we go the the fight the wind again the breath the breath that comes they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them and do you know you see at that point those disciples who when you look at their lives in the Gospels they were full of doubt they were full of error they were they they they didn't understand they didn't get it they ended up being the heroes the heroes of the book of Acts God used them in the most amazing way they had courage they had boldness they were fearless they heard the voice of God and they proclaimed the gospel in word and deed and they did that because they were filled with the spirit what is the evidence that you are filled with the spirit well there's a lot of evidence the main evidence is love it really is love at the end of Acts chapter 2 we read this having been filled with the spirit the early church they devoted themselves devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and mine's performed by the Apostles all the believers were together and had everything in common they saw property in possessions to give to anyone who had need every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily daily those who were being saved that's what we long for that's what I long for in my life and in the life of my church that daily we would devote ourselves to the Lord to prayer to the teaching of his word to one another and to the poor and we would and we would we would passionately press into him why because he's put the desire for him in our hearts by the Holy Spirit but do you know it doesn't even finish on the day of Pentecost then in Acts chapter four Peter and John have been arrested and they've been threatened and they've been told if they keep preaching about Jesus they'll be killed the disciples meet again and they pray and you know they don't pray Oh Lord protect us O Lord get us out of here they pray for boldness they say Lord would you stretch out your hand and perform signs and wonders in the name of your holy servant Jesus too to show that this is you and do you know what we read this is amazing after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly so what we see from Scripture is after Jesus rose from the dead in John chapter 20 he breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit then a little while later in the upper room on the day of Pentecost a violent wind came and filled them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit then just two chapters later on and possibly a few weeks later as they were praying for boldness the Holy Spirit came shook the building and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit there are many blessings in the one blessing of Jesus there are many fillings why do we need to keep being filled with the Holy Spirit because we leak because we leak in Ephesians chapter 5 Paul says do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit and the Greek phrase there can the most accurate translation is keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit be filled with the spirit again and again and again and for some of us we don't where we shy away from an experience of the Spirit we're meant to experience God with our him in our emotions not just to think about God with our minds we're whole human beings we're not just heads and and and admiring God with our minds and experiencing him in our emotions causes us to obey Him in out with our wills and it all comes together and so don't be afraid don't be afraid of experiencing God it is your birthright don't be afraid of asking to be filled with the spirit but there's some other service that we we remember when we were first filled and we call it baptized in the Holy Spirit years ago and it becomes a monument it becomes this thing that happened to us a long time ago no don't just look back ask him today ask him today to fill you afresh ask him today not simply that you have an experience that makes you feel happy but so that you might be equipped to serve Him do you know it says Jesus says in Matthew in chapter 7 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks the door will be opened and then he says later on how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him in in Luke's version it's how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him and we're encouraged we're encouraged to ask he says ask and you will receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be open for you so he says it three times in three different ways and then he repeats it for everyone who asks receives everyone who knocks will have the door opened everyone who seeks will find he says he he keeps repeating it because he wants you to know our Father isn't a reluctant father how much more than a human father with your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit and the good gifts of the Spirit to those who ask him we need to be a people of his presence as we talked about in the last session and the way we do that is by being filled with him filled with this spirit filled with his power years and years and years ago when they were evangelizing China and the first missionaries went and some missionaries went to a remote part of China to one of the remote provinces where they spoke a very unusual dialect and they decided to translate the scriptures into that Chinese dialect and and one of the principles of translating the Bible is the principle of dynamic equivalence the first thing you try and do is if it says it in the original Hebrew or Greek you want to say the same thing in the language but sometimes there isn't the same phrase in the new language so then you try and work out as the translator what is the principle of dynamic equivalence what is the nearest way in the in the language and in the idiom and in the culture of the country that we can accurately say what was said in the original and when they came to talking about the Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit they realized that in this particular dialect they didn't have words for holy and spirit so the translators had a thought and do you know what they came up with they come up came up with the phrase resident boss so in one part of China for a while the Trinity was known as the father the son and the resident boss I love that what a great description of the spirit the boss who resides within us you see being filled with the spirit isn't about getting more of him to use for our will but it's about him getting more of us to use for his will it's submitting to him first of all ask asking faith because he wants to give and then say Lord I want to be consumed by you I want to be follow you with all my heart I want to submit my will my heart my everything to you use me in the way that you want every revival that I have ever read about and I love reading about revivals involves the spirit being poured out and we must be a church that don't just have memories distant memories of when God did stuff we need to be a church if we're to see the sick healed the the lame walk the blind seeing if we're to see those with broken hearts restored if we're to see all these things we need to be a church that is filled to overflowing with the spirit and the power of God and as we do we will hear the still small voice from within us he will direct us he will speak to us he will whisper to us I want you to do this I want you to go there he he will just give us little Inklings and you know what in our own strength to do his work in our strength it's exhausting it's hard work and it doesn't work but to do his will in his resources is a different ballgame apart from anything else it's fun it's fun and you get to stand in all just as the early Christians stood in or Wow Lord how did you do this how did you do this among us we need to be a church I finish with this we need to be a church that is passionately once again in love with the Savior and in love with our Father the only way that comes is you can't work love up love comes down the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts when the Holy Spirit comes John in his first letter chapter three verse one says the words these words see how great is the love the father has lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God for this is what we are how do we know how do we know this is what we are by the Spirit we cry Abba Father because the spirit witnesses in our spirits that we are the children of God the Holy Spirit breaks the power of the orphan spirit in our world and first in our church ask him today ask him to fill you again take time out be still in his presence and see what he does god bless you and see you soon [Music] you

Channel: Soul Survivor

Views: 3,910

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Pilavachi, TBN, God Speaks Today, Christianity, everyday Supernatural

Id: vLaqgXqtgWU

Length: 23min 46sec (1426 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 01 2017