- Hi Saddleback Church. How are you today? - [Audience] Good. - Yeah, good. I'm glad you're good you wanna
take out your message notes? As Pastor Rick said, I am following up with where He took us last week in talking about the
anointing of God in your life, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to live the anointed life, to live in the Spirit? So we're gonna look at that today. It raises a lot of questions
for a lot of people. What does it mean to be
anointed, how can that happen? What does it look like when that happens? I know right now, just lookin' at you that for some people when you hear okay we're gonna talk about what it means to live a Spirit-filled life, you're thinkin' okay
this is gonna get weird. I can tell who you are,
remember I can see you. (audience laughs) And you're the ones who still have your car keys in your
hand and your wonderin' if you're wanna run for the exit. Let me assure you, it's
not gonna get weird. I think it's gonna get clear. That's my hope, that's my prayer today. It's gonna get clear at
we look at the scripture and we talk about what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit and why do I need to be filled with the Spirit? What does it mean to walk in the Spirit or to live in the Spirit? How can I tell if I'm full of the Spirit and how can I be filled with the Spirit? That's what I wanna talk about. Because for far too many
of us we live with only a an occasional victory with just a, an every now and then vague
sense of God's presence with us. Sometimes it's just in
the emotion of a moment. But I believe that it is God's desire that we would live all of
life, every moment of life, in everything we do, a constant
awareness of God's presence, a continual, continual
assurance, a certainty that God is present, He's
with you, He's in you, He's active, He's moving on your behalf. That it's not just every
now and then or maybe when you come to church or
something wonderful happens. But that no matter what you face, no matter what you go through,
that you are always aware that God is with you, that
He is moving in your life, that's He's active in your life. He wants you to live an
anointed, Spirit-filled life. It's not just for a select few people who happen to behave themselves
well enough and long enough. It's not just for a select
few religious people. But life in the Spirit is
available to anyone and everyone who follows Christ, who
names the name of Jesus as their savior, as their Lord. So that's what I wanna talk about. How does it happen? How does, how can I be filled? Where does it start? Well it begins, quite simply
with being born again, with coming spiritually alive in Christ. That's what it is to be born again, become spiritually alive. The bible says that before you, before you give your life to Christ that you are spiritually dead. Jesus said you have to be born again, to be born of the Spirit. And when that happens,
when you receive Christ as your savior, it is the Holy Spirit who takes up residence, who
moves in and lives in you. Opening your life to Jesus is, as we'll hear the phrase so many times, asking Jesus to come into my heart, you've heard people say that. That doesn't mean that now there's this little Jewish man
living inside of you. (audience laughs) It's the Holy Spirit, one of the names of the Holy Spirit is
the Spirit of Christ. And by His Spirit, He dwells in you. Jesus said this in John 14. He said "I will ask the
Father to send the Holy Spirit who will help you and who
will keep living in you." He said "It's the Holy
Spirit who will live in you." It's the Holy Spirit who empowers you and who enables you to
live the Christian life, to live the life of Christ, the life that He wants you to live. So if it's by the Holy Spirit well how can I then be
filled with the Spirit? Now for some of you this is the first time you've ever even heard that phrase. For others of you you may have formed very strong opinions about what that means depending on your church
tradition or background. There are some church
traditions that believe that the fullness of the
Spirit happens one time. It is a once for all experience when you give your life to Christ. There are other church traditions who would say well it's
actually a second experience that follows the moment of salvation. Let me just give you an
idea of my background so you can see where
I'm comin' from on this. So I, when I was, I was
born into a Christian home, went to church all my life. When I was a little kid we went to a Christian Missionary Alliance church in Northern California and then moved to Southern California and got into a little community bible church. And then we spent about a
year in a Pentecostal church. Then after that we were back in some little community bible churches again and then I spent 14 years
in a four-square church, which is charismatic church,
up in the valley in Van Nuys. 14 years in a four-square
church and then moved again and let's see then I
was in a Calvary Chapel for a little while, I was
part of a Willow Creek Association church, I
moved around a lot, okay. Willow Creek Association Church,
I was in Assemblies of God for several years, I was
an ordained elder in a very, very traditional
Presbyterian church, and now I'm a Southern Baptist pastor. (audience laughs) So you can imagine the
arguments I can have with myself in the car
over these kinds of issues. But it also means that regardless of your background or where you came from, I know what you're thinking. (audience laughs) I wanna talk about what
the bible teaches us. Because I believe it is the case, and we're about to see in scripture that the fullness of the Holy Spirit is not just a one time
event or a second event. The fullness of the Holy
Spirit is a daily experience. Here's what the bible says about that in Ephesians chapter five verse 18. It says "Do not be drunk with
wine, in which is dissipation, but be being filled with the Holy Spirit." Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. I added that word being
it's there in the bracket, for all of us grammar
geeks, I'm a grammar geek because the word be filed is actually what's called a present participle, it's something that is happening
and continuing to happen. It's a continuous present tense. He's saying don't just be filled once, be continually filled. You might even actually
right this in your notes, to be filled with the
Spirit, He's referring to a continual availability,
continual availability to a constant flow of the
Spirit's power in your life. To be continually available
to an ongoing flow of the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit in your life. To be being filled with the Holy Spirit. You see you're not meant
to just be a reservoir. You're meant to be a river where the life of the Spirit of God flows
in you and through you to change the world around you. God wants to do something in your life and what God does in you
He's gonna do through you. So we are to be being filled. Now, I'm not talking, be very clear, I'm not talking about getting saved again, that's not what that means, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation. What I'm talking about
is a continual connection with God, a continual openness
to whatever God wants to do. For the presence of God to be made more and more available,
more and more powerful, so that He is there to fill you for any challenge that you face, no matter what you are
going through in life, that the power of God is there, available, active, immediate, for you. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now why do so many people not
live in this kind of power? I think there's several reasons. I think for some people is
they just don't know about it. They've never been told about it. So there's a lack of information. They don't know that it
is available to them. Or if they have heard of
it, maybe some people, say as I joked a moment ago, they just, that sounds kinda weird, I'm
not sure I want anything weird. Other people think that
they just don't need it. They think well, you know,
that's only for weak people but I've got my life
together, everything's fine. Yeah I got God in my life,
course I have God in my life, and He's in a cage over there where He can behave Himself and stay outta my way. They think they got their life organized they don't need the power
of God in their life. Some people don't walk in
the power of the Spirit because there might be
some un-confessed sin or something that they're not
willing to stop or let go of. They become so, so preoccupied
with the things of the world that they never actually really give thought to the things of the Spirit. Other people might think well you know if I really were to do that, if I were filled with the Spirit, God's gonna require too much of me and I'm not willing to
give Him everything. And so then we miss out on the
fullness of life in Christ. Because we are not
available to the fullness of the Spirit of Christ in us. So there are many reasons
I think that people don't fill themselves or don't wanna be filled with the Spirit of God. But why is it important, anyway? Let's look at that question. Why is it important? Why do I need to be filled
with the Holy Spirit and what does the bible say about that? Well let me give you five
reasons from the scripture of why it's important to
be filled with the Spirit. Here's the first one, is
because God's Word commands it. God's Word commands that I be
filled with the Holy Spirit. The verse that I read a
moment ago, Ephesians 5 be filled, be being filled
with the Holy Spirit. That's not an option. It's not a suggestion. It is a command, it is not only in the continuous present, be being filled, it is also an imperative, it's an order. And it's, it's to all of us, if I were talkin' to my
cousins in Mississippi, they would read it this way it would be "All ya'll, be continually
being filled with the Spirit." My cousins in Mississippi,
they're so much fun to talk to 'cause you know everybody
in the south says ya'll and then when they start
gettin' excited it's all ya'll. And when they get really
excited, it's all ya'll all. (audience laughs) All ya'll all. And that's what this verse is sayin', Hey all ya'll all, all
of you, be continually being filled up with the
Spirit of God in your life. Now He begins the verse by saying Hey don't get drunk with wine because it leads to dissipation. Now, He's not just talking about alcohol. He's talkin' about dissipation. He says don't be drunk 'cause
it leads to dissipation. Now what is dissipation? What does it mean to dissipate? Well to dissipate means to waste or to squander or to cause
something to disappear. You can think of the fog that
dissipates in the morning sun. It just burns off and disappears. And He's saying look, don't fill your life with things that just waste you away, that waste away the resource and the life that God has for you. It's not just alcohol, it
can be all kinds of things that cause us to waste and to cause to disappear what God wants to do in us. He says don't fill your
life with the wrong stuff, fill your life continually being filled, keep filling up with the Spirit of God. Now why do we have to be filled? Well as Rick said last week
when He was talkin' about it he said "I need to keep
being filled because I leak." Any of you leak, I leak. There are times you just
feel like you're empty, you're lookin' for God
in you and you can't see anything 'cause you're just leakin'. He says I leak. Just as I need daily bread from God and just as I need
God's daily forgiveness, I need a daily fill up
of the presence and power of the Spirit of God in my life so that I can face whatever challenges or whatever opportunities
are coming my way today. Being filled every day reminds me of my continual daily dependence on God. That I don't have it all together, that He is my source and actually that leads now to the second point. Not only must I be filled
because he, God commands it but number two, the Holy
Spirit is my power source. That's what the bible teaches us. The Holy Spirit is my power source. Did you know that Jesus did not begin his ministry until He had been baptized in water and
anointed by the Holy Spirit. He didn't do any preaching, no miracles, none of his public ministry
started until He had been baptized in water and
anointed by the Holy Spirit. He's giving us an example to follow. Have you been baptized in water? If not, why not? It's like the first
step, we'll baptize you right after this service
right out there on the patio. But it wasn't until he'd
been baptized and anointed by the Spirit, He's giving
us an example to follow that the work of Christ must be done in the Spirit of Christ. That it is only through the
power of the Holy Spirit that we can amount to anything
of eternal value and use. It is only through the Spirit
of God working in our life. In fact Jesus said this about
living the Christian life. He said in John 15:5 He said "Apart from me, you can do nothing." It is impossible to
live the Christian life apart from the Spirit of Christ. He says "Apart from me
you can do nothing." He didn't say "You know apart from me, you can get along okay
but there's a few things you're gonna have a hard time with." He said "No, apart from
me you can do nothing." But there's a flip side to that coin. And it's a verse that many of
us have on the refrigerator, Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." So with Him I can do all things, apart from Him I can do nothing. It's all things or it's nothing. There's no in between ground. It's all or nothing. A more literal translation of
that would say it this way. It's one of those present
participles again, for us grammar geeks. It would say "I can do
all things through Christ who continually infuses strength into me." It's a continual process, a
being filled with the Spirit. So how does He do it? How does Jesus give me strength? How does Christ give me strength? Well He does it through the Holy Spirit. In fact Jesus said this is Ephesians 3:16. He said, or excuse me,
Paul wrote this, He said "I pray that out of his glorious riches that He may strengthen you" how? "With power through his Spirit" So the power is through the spirit. "In your inner being." Now what kind of strength does He give us? Well let me give you a few ideas here, what kind of strength
does the lord give to us. First of all, He gives me
strength to accomplish my goals. He gives me strength
to accomplish my goals. The tasks ahead of me, the
challenges that I face, the opportunities that come my way. He gives me strength to
accomplish those things. In the old testament, we read about the time when God's people had come back to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity. They come back to
Jerusalem, the city has been destroyed, the temple has been torn down. And it was their
opportunity and their task was to rebuild that temple. And it was enormous, daunting task. And they were feeling like
this is never gonna happen, it's never gonna get done
no matter how hard we work. This is just beyond our capacity. And it's in that context that God sent the prophet Zechariah, and
He said this to his people. Look here in Zechariah chapter four. God said "'You will not succeed by your own strength or power, but by my Spirit' says
the Lord All-Powerful." The work of God must be accomplished by the power of God,
it is not by strength, not by power but by my
Spirit, says the Lord. It's in that context of
accomplishing a task. Now He also gives me strength to influence the world around me. To make a difference, to
change people's lives. To show them what life
in Christ can look like. Here's what Jesus said in Acts 1:8. He said "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." It is the Holy Spirit who gives you the power to be an effective witness to make a difference in people's lives. Number three, He gives you
strength to resist temptation. Strength to resist temptation. I cannot beat temptation on my own. I might succeed for a little while, but in a moment of weakness,
I'm gonna trip up and fall. I'm just tellin' you the
truth about me, I know me, I'm a knucklehead, I mess up. I can't do it and the devil is too smart, and He's too persistent, I need a power other than my own to overcome temptation. But here's what the bible promises to us in 1 Cornthians 14. It says "When you are
tempted, He will also give you the ability" that's the power. "The ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape." That power comes from the Lord Himself. And number four, He gives me
strength to endure trials. Strength to endure trials. If anybody ever knew
what trial and hardship and struggle was all
about, it was King David in the old testament, the
man who wrote the Psalms. And in the middle of one
of his toughest trials, here's what He wrote in Psalm 118. He said "Their attacks were so fierce that I nearly fell,
but the Lord helped me. My power and my strength come from the Lord, and He has saved me." It's strength to accomplish,
strength to influence, strength to resist, strength to endure. I can do all things through
Christ who gives me strength. Look here on the screen at
this next verse from Romans 8. The bible says "Once the Spirit" now listen to this carefully. "Once the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead lives in you" me read it again. "Once the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being
new strength and vitality." I must be filled with the Holy Spirit because that is my source of power. It is the person of the Spirit of God. The third reason that I must
be filled with the Spirit is because it's the only
way that I can please God. It's the only way I can please Him. Ultimately it comes down to a question of who's gonna be in charge,
who's gonna rule my life? By what power source, by
whose authority will I live? Am I going to be controlled
by my old sinful nature or will I be controlled by the new nature of the Spirit of God that is in me? In Romans chapter 8 it says this "Those who live according
to the sinful nature have their minds set on
what that nature desires." They've already decided,
that's their focus. They have their mind set on
what that nature desires. "But those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on
what the Spirit desires." So what is my mind set on? What's the focus of my attention? What's directing my life? He says "Those who are controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." The fourth reason I need to
be filled with the Spirit is that is my purpose for living. It's my purpose for living. It's why God created you. You were created to be the home, the container of the Spirit of God. That's what the bible teaches us. We see it in 1 Corinthians chapter three and chapter six, among other places. Let's look at a couple of verses. In chapter three of 1
Corinthians the bible says "Don't you know that you yourselves" He's talking to believers,
followers of Christ. "Don't you know that you
yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" And then in chapter six He
goes on with this same thought. He says "Don't you know
that your body, your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" Your body is, that whole idea that we hear people talk about, that's
not some new-age thought that your body is a temple,
it's in the scripture. Your body is a temple and it's meant to house the Spirit of God. I believe that if you had
looked over God's shoulder when He was forming Adam out
of the dust of the ground. And if you had said "God
what are you making?" What are you doin'? He woulda said "I'm making a temple." It was a temple that He would not occupy for thousands of years, not
until the coming of Christ who tore that curtain,
who opened the door, who made it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us, it was God's plan from the moment of
creation that you would be the temple of the Holy Spirit. When He says "Your body is a temple" He's not just talking about
your mind, your heart. He's sayin' your flesh and blood. Think about this. Your body is the, is the place of God's presence on the earth. He lives in us, He lives in
his people, through his Spirit, that can be a hard truth to get ahold of. But that's why God created us, to live in us, to dwell in
us, to move in and through us. To touch the world through us. And He does it not just
through us as individuals, he does it through us as the
corporate body of Christ. God does not live in buildings. God doesn't live in this building. Would you live in this building? I wouldn't live in this buildig. He lives in his people. He lives in the person
sittin' next to you. He lives in the person who's looking back at you in the mirror. That's where the Spirit of
God dwells on the earth, in his people. Here's what the bible says about that. Ephesians 2:22 says "And in Him you too" all of you, He's sayin',
that's an all ya'll. "In Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which
God lives by his Spirit." He moves and touches the world through us individually and as the body of Christ. That's why the Spirit filled life must be lived out in
the community of faith. We can't live it out alone,
we're not meant to do it alone. We're supposed to be, we're called to be a part of a local body,
a local church body, a community of faith. We need to surround ourself
with other men and women who are following Christ,
to be in the small group, to grow in Christ together so that God can work through us individually and He can work through us together. It's in fellowship, the
fellowship of God's people. The fifth reason that I need to be filled with the Spirit is
this, without the Spirit I cannot understand God's word. I can't understand God's word. The bible was inspired
by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit when it was written. And it is inspired by the
Holy Spirit when it is read. These are spiritual
truths and they require a spiritual eye and a spiritual mind in order to understand them. The bible teaches us
this in 1 Corinthians 2. It says "The man without
the Spirit does not accept the things that come
from the Spirit of God" Why? 'Cause they're foolishness to Him. "And He cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned." If you are spiritually
dead you cannot understand the things of the Spirit, He's saying. "But we have the mind of Christ." We have been given the mind of Christ so that we can understand the
thoughts, the words of Christ. And Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit. It's here on the screen. He said "I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be
with you forever, the Spirit of truth" that's one of the
names of the Holy Spirit. I mentioned that one of his
hames is the Spirit of Christ, another name is the Spirit of truth. It says "I will give you this counselor to be with you forever,
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and He will be in you." So the Spirit of truth lives in you. And then Jesus went on
to say this about the Spirit of truth, about the Holy Spirit. In John 16 He said "But when
He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will bring glory to me
by taking from what is mine" That's his teachings "and
making it known to you." It is the Spirit of God who brings the Word of God alive in your heart. I need to be filled with the
Spirit because God commands it, because it is the source
of power for my life, and because without the
Spirit I cannot please God and I cannot understand what
the Word of God is even saying. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So we've looked at what
it means to be filled and why we need to be
filled, now what does it mean when you hear people say
walking in the Spirit? They talk about walking or living in the Spirit, what does that mean? Well oftentimes in scripture
when you, you see this idea of walking what He's
actually talking about is a lifestyle, how you live your life. Does walking in the spirit mean that I'm just gonna sort of
float around in a trance, all blurry eyed and actin' funny and talkin' weird and
speaking in hushed tones, using on special religious language? No, that's not what it means. I got news for you, God does
not want you to be weird. (audience laughs) Tell the person next to you, God doesn't want you to be weird, go ahead, tell 'em. He doesn't want you to be weird. And here's another piece of news for you, God does not want you to be religious. He wants you to be real. He wants you to be real. What He does in you He
wants to do through you. He wants you to be able to show the world what life is really all about, what freedom really looks like. He wants you to be real, He doesn't want you to be religious. So when it talks about
walking in the Spirit it's talking about your lifestyle, the choices you make, your code of ethics, the values that you live by, the character that is being developed in you. You might write this down,
to walk in the Spirit very simply means to live God's way. It's to live God's way, to live by His power, living God's way. Here's where we see
that phrase in the bible it's in Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 says "Walk in the Spirit" there
it is "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh." Now He's sayin' now that
you're filled with the Spirit, walk in the spirit, let your
life reflect on the outside what's goin' on on the inside. I want us to keep lookin' at this verse 'cause I want us to
notice a couple of things that the verse does not say. When I study the scripture I often have to pause and think
well what does it not say? Because that can bring clarity
to what it actually does say. So here's one thing it doesn't say. It does not say walk in the Spirit and you shall not have the lust of the flesh. That's an important distinction. It doesn't say you won't
have the lust of the, doesn't say you'll never be tempted. It says you won't fulfill it. There will never come a time
when you are beyond temptation. If you ever think that
you have finally reached some level of spiritual maturity that you can no longer be tempted, that's when you're really in trouble. Remember, Jesus Himself was tempted. He didn't sin, but even Jesus was tempted. So it's not that you won't
have the lust of the flesh. It says that when you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. There will never be a time in your life when you are sinless in this life. But you can sin less if you will just do what we're talkin' about
and walk in the Spirit. If you're continually be
filled with the Holy Spirit. Now here's another thing
that that verse doesn't say. It does not say "Do not
fulfill the lust of the flesh, and then you'll walk in the Spirit." That's an important distinction because I think many of us
read that verse backwards. We think if I just behave myself and if I don't do anything wrong, then I'll be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's not what it says. You see you can only go one of two ways. You can only go right or left. You can only go forwards or backwards. You can only go up or down. You cannot go both ways at the same time. It all has to do with your focus. Where are you headed? He says if you walk in the Spirit, then you will not be fulfilling
the lust of the flesh. What are you focused on? For so many of us who read it backwards, life is all about don't. Don't do this, don't do
that, stop doing that, behave yourself, quit, don't
don't don't don't don't don't. That's what Adam and
Eve had a problem with. In creation Adam and Eve are in a garden, God has given them everything that they could possibly ask for, everything is theirs to enjoy except
just this one thing. It's this one tree, and what did they do? Their focus was on the one thing
they're not supposed to do. Stay away from that tree,
don't touch that tree, don't eat from that tree. I wonder why we're not
supposed to eat from that tree, you know that really looks pretty good. Did God really say we're not supposed, their whole attention
is given to the thing they're not supposed to
do, so what happened? They did what they're not supposed to do, because you're gonna do
what you're drawn to. It doesn't say don't fulfill
the lust of the flesh and then you walk in the Spirit. It says just walk in the Spirit. Follow the ways of the Lord and as you go in the ways of the Spirit you will not be fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. Let me make a true confession to you. I told you a while ago I'm a knucklehead. I sin, I sin. I'm confessin' that, I sin. I'm messed up, I don't want to, but I do. Don't look at me like you don't
know what I'm talkin' about. (audience laughs) You know why I sin, you know why we sin? I'll come back to me, why I sin? If I'm really gonna be
fully honest about it, if I'm really gonna get down
to the, down to the root of it, the reason I sin is because I like to. We do things out of passion. We're driven by our passions. And the only way to get
rid of an old passion is to get a new passion. Let me give you an example of this. When I was a sophomore in high school I had a passion for a
girl in my math class. She did not have a passion for me. How did I get rid of my passion for the girl in my math class? I got a passion for a
girl in my english class. (audience laughs) The only way to get rid of an old passion is to feed a new passion. When you feed a new passion you starve the old passion to death. When you walk in the Spirit,
the old ways of the flesh, the old nature, the old temptations begin to lose their grip, they
begin to lose their allure because your focus is
on the things of God, on your love for the Lord. He says just walk this
way, just do the things that God asks you to do. And as you do that, moment by moment, step by step, day by day,
as you are being filled with the Spirit of God and
pursing the things of God, it's not that suddenly you become sinless and perfect and you never
do anything wrong again. He's saying you'll no longer
be fulfilling those old things. You'll be able to look back and go wow that hasn't happened in a long time. Something's changed. And it all has to do with the focus of your mind and of your heart, where you're headed, what you're pursing, what you're following after. That's what it means
to walk in the Spirit, to just walk according to the ways of God, to follow after His ways. Which means that you've
got a role to play in this because you're the one doing the walking. It's your decision. How will you live your life? What will you pursue with your life? Temporary things that are
really meaningless in the end or things of eternal value and the life that God wants you to live. Look here at verse 25 of Galatians 5. It says "Since we live by
the Spirit" I love this "Let us keep in step with the Spirit." He's sayin' look just follow Jesus. Stay sensitive to His leading. Stay in the Word. Surrender your life to Him daily. Ask Him to point out
things that need to be addressed or corrected in your life. Is there anything that
He wants me to let go of so that I can get ahold
of the fullness of life that He wants me to have? So that's what it is
to walk in the Spirit. It's to live according to
His power, to live His way. And to walk in the Spirit you have to be filled with the Spirit. Look here on the screen
we're gonna look again at Galatians 5:16, this time
in the living translation. I love the way it says it. It says "I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit's instructions. He will tell you where
to go and what to do and then you won't always
be doin' the wrong things that your evil nature wants you to." Now let me just pause for a minute and address something else,
it's not in your notes. But oftentimes you'll hear people talking about quenching the Spirit. What does it mean to quench the Spirit? One of the images or pictures
of the Holy Spirit is fire. And the bible says this
about quenching the Spirit. It's in 1 Thessalonians five,
in the New King James it says "Do not quench the spirit" and in the NIV it says "Do not put
out the Spirit's fire." The way that we quench
the Spirit quite simply is by making deliberate
choices that break God's heart. We can either smother
a fire and put it out with the wrong things
or we can put a fire out by just refusing to feed it. It says don't quench
what God is doin' in you. Don't put the fire out, stir it up. Later on he says to Timothy
"Fan it into flames, the things that God wants
to do in your life." So how do I know if I am
filled with the Holy Spirit? What do I look for, what
kinda sign is gonna tell me that I really am filled
with the Holy Spirit? Many people look for
particular signs or gifts of the Holy Spirit, the bible says that the Holy Spirit gives
spiritual gifts to God's people. And the gifts of the Spirit are mentioned in at least three places
in the New Testament. We're gonna look at just one of 'em today. I'm not gonna take the time to explain every single one of the
gifts of the Spirit, we don't have time for that today, and it really isn't my purpose. Message is not about
the gifts of the Spirit, it's about the fullness
of the Holy Spirit. But let's just look at one passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about
these spiritual gifts. Paul is writing, he says "Now to each one" He's talking about all of
us as followers of Christ, each of us "To each one the
manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." He gives gifts to individuals for the benefit of the body of Christ. He says "To one there is
given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to
another the message of knowledge, to another faith, to
another gifts of healing, to another miraculous
powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits" or discernment it's called. "To another speaking in
different kinds of tongues, and to still another the
interpretation of tongues. All of these are the work
of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each
one, just as He determines." So that's in 1 Corinthians 12. And you'll notice in
your notes I also listed that you can see a passage from Romans 12 and another one in Ephesians 4 that tells more about the
gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now there are some people who look for a specific gift of the Holy Spirit as proof that a person is
filled with the Holy Spirit. And as important and as holy as the gifts of the Holy Spirit are, the bible teaches that it isn't any one specific gift that proves that a person
is filled with the Spirit. Instead, and I want
you to write this down, the primary sign that a person
is filled with the Spirit, the primary sign is the
fruit of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Because fruit is the natural
outgrowth of character. The fruit that grows on the outside tells you what's going on on the inside. You can see what's goin'
on in a person's life in their innermost
being, in their character by the fruit that is
manifest in their life. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Here's what the bible says about the fruit of the Spirit, here's what it is. It's also in Galatians chapter five. It says "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control." That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And Paul, when he's teaching
about the gifts of the Spirit and how they are
distributed to the church, how they are used in
the community of faith, in the life of a believer
in 1 Corinthians 12-14, right in the middle of
all of that discussion of the gifts is chapter
13 of 1 Corinthians, and in that chapter he says even if I have all of these gifts, if
the fruit isn't there, they're all pretty meaningless in my life. Let's look at what he
says, we'll just look at the first two verses of chapter 13. He says "Even though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but if I don't have love, I have become sounding
brass or a clanging cymbal." In other words, I'm just makin' noise. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith,
so that I could move mountains, if I don't have love, I am nothing." In essence he is saying no matter how many gifts God has given
me, if the fruit isn't there, I'm just makin' noise, it's just for show. It is the fruit of the Spirit that reflects the character,
the inner dwelling of the Spirit of God in a person's life. Fruit is the natural
outgrowth of character. So I have to ask myself what
is the fruit of my life? No matter how many gifts
of the Spirit I might have, how am I doin' with my in-laws? Am I at peace, am I patient and kind? Am I a gentle person, am I faithful? Is the fruit of the
Spirit growing in my life? Is it evident? He's saying that as
wonderful and as helpful and as powerful and as necessary as all of the gifts of the Spirit are, it is the fruit of the Spirit
that is the most important. He calls it the most excellent way. So seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us to. It says eagerly desire the gifts but above all look for the fruit
of the Spirit in your life. That'll tell you. It's the fruit that'll tell
you what you're really full of. I think you heard me. (audience laughs) So how can I be filled
with the Holy Spirit? I've read about why I need it and what it looks like, what it
means, how to do it, but how can I be filled
with the Holy Spirit? Let me give you a very simple
answer, write this down. Ask and keep on asking. Ask and keep on asking. If it is a continual
availability to a continual flow of the presence of power of God in my life then ask and keep on asking. When Jesus taught us to pray
He said ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking,
knock and keep knocking. You ask with your words,
you seek with your heart and you knock with your
actions, with the way you live. You just keep asking over and over. It's like saying Lord
I'm so thirsty today, can I have another drink? Lord I'm thirsty again,
can I have another drink? Lord I haven't had a sip of water all day, can I have another drink? That last drink was so sweet,
can I have another drink? Lord I've been going
through some tough times and it seems like my cup is gettin' empty, talk about leaking, can
I have another drink? You ask and you keep on asking. But when you ask, you ask
with your whole heart, not half-heartedly, it's not something we, well you know either
way it doesn't matter. No you ask with your whole heart. Here's what God said about seeking Him with your whole heart in Jeremiah 29. He said "You will seek
me and you'll find me." You will, you'll find me. "When you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you." God is looking for people
who are looking for God. He wants to fill you with the Spirit. He wants you to live an anointed life. He wants to fill your
life with His presence. He wants to fill your life with His power. He wants to see the fruit of the Spirit growing out of your life. You were created to be His
dwelling place on the earth. Look here on the screen at this verse. In 2 Chronicles it says
"The eyes of the Lord search the whole Earth"
so the Lord is looking. "Search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts
are fully committed to Him." The Lord is looking for
people who are looking for Him so that He can strengthen them. And Jesus promised that
if you seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life, that you will receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life. And you will receive it to overflowing. Remember I said a moment
ago we're not meant to be a reservoir, you're
meant to be a river, a flow, a source of the life of the Spirit into the world around you. Here's what Jesus said
about that in John 7. He said "If anyone thirsts"
is anybody thirsty today? He says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as
the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water. And this He spoke concerning
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, whom those believing
in Him would receive." God wants you to live
a victorious, anointed, Spirit-filled, Spirit empowered life. A life that is marked by
His presence and power. A life where the fruit of the Spirit is not only evident, it is
abundant and overflowing. And this isn't just
somethin' that I'm makin' up. The bible tells us this
has been God's plan from the very beginning, all along. Look at this passage on
the screen from Romans 8. "From the very beginning" as I said, if you look over His shoulder
and say "What are ya makin?" He says "I'm buildin' a temple." From the very beginning, from the moment of creation and even before that, "From the very beginning God decided that those who came to
Him and all along He knew who would should become like His son." And ultimately that's
what it means to live the anointed life, to
live the Christian life. Remember Pastor Rick said last week that the meaning of the word Christ, Christ is not Jesus' last name. You wouldn't look at His driver's license and say Christ, Jesus,
it's not His last name. Christ is a title. And it is the Greek word
for the Hebrew word Messiah, in Greek it's the word
Christ and what it means is Anointed One, that's
the, what Christ means. It means Anointed One. And Christian means Little Christ. God wants us to be like His son, to be anointed ones who
live out the life of Christ in the world around us, that's
what it is to be a Christian. It's to live an anointed
life and it is God's plan, it has been all along for you, that The Holy Spirit would dwell in you, that rivers of living water
would pour out of you, that you would live a life that is empowered by the Spirit of God. Let me finish with this last verse from 2 Corinthians 3:18. It says "We can be mirror that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the
Lord works within us" so it's ongoing "As the Spirit
of the Lord works within us we become more and more like Him." We become more and more like Him in the way we think, in the way we speak, the way we act, the way
we live, the way we love, the way we see the world, we
become more and more like Him as we walk in the Spirit
and follow after God, pursue Him and daily open ourselves to the availability of the Spirit's presence and power in our lives. Where we're no longer controlled by old habits and old ways of thinking, no longer victims to those things, but we see victory happening in our lives. And it is all through the anointing, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. You can have it every day. You need it every day. I ask for it every day, every single day I ask the Lord for a fresh
filling of His Spirit in my life. It only takes a moment, I
usually do it in the morning, sometimes I do it on my knees. I like to pray on my knees because it's a demonstration of the
posture of my heart, it's a surrendered heart
when we pray on our knees. I don't always do it on my knees. Sometimes I'm sitting down,
sometimes I'm drivin' in my car. You don't wanna be on your
knees when you're drivin' a car. Sometimes it's at my
office, but it's every day just a simple prayer to the Lord. Say "Lord, would you fill
me in a fresh way today?" Just top me off, just come and inhabit me in a new and a fresh
way today so that I can accomplish whatever it is you
wanna do in my life today. And then in faith, it's not that I feel some overwhelmed emotion,
but just in faith, now I just walk in that, I do what I can to follow the Lord, to
be a man of the Word, to be a man of my word
and to walk in the Spirit. And you can do that every day. In fact we're gonna do that now. I wanna lead you in a moment of prayer as we invite the Lord,
Lord would you fill us all? Would you fill me with your Spirit? Let me ask you, do you even want it? Do you want an anointed life? Do you want the power of God in your life? Do you want His strength
to accomplish the things that you're faced with,
opportunities or challenges. Do you want His strength? To make a difference in the
world, to influence the world. Do you want His strength to resist the temptations that are
so strong in your life? Do you want His strength to endure whatever trial you might be going through? Do you wanna see more of the
fruit of the Spirit in you? Do you want more love in your life? Joy? How about peace, anybody need peace today? Anybody need patience, anybody got kids? (audience laughs) They're lookin'. How about kindness? Or gentleness? Or faithfulness? Self-control. You want more fruit of
the Spirit in your life. If you do all you have to do
is ask and keep on asking. Do you wanna know that wherever you go, you carry the presence of God with you. To live with that certainty
and assurance and awareness. That's what I'm talkin' about, and I want us to pray that way. So why don't you bow your heads. And I'm gonna lead you in prayer and I'm gonna pray aloud you can just pray this silently in your heart. But as I pray, let this
be your prayer too. This is how I would often pray in the day. It's not a prayer that I've memorized, I'm just gonna talk to the Lord about it. But as I pray this prayer, just say these words in your own heart. Father thank you. Thank you for another
day, thank you for life. Thank you for your love. I thank you for your grace in my life. I thank you that you love me,
that you have forgiven me. And I thank you for your promise to fill me with your presence. Lord your Word says that apart
from you I can do nothing, and I confess that that's true. But you've also said
that I can do all things when you give me strength. So Lord I'm asking today, once more, would you fill me in a fresh way with the presence and the
power of you Holy Spirit? Lord come and inhabit me. Come put me on like a garment. Walk around in my skin today. Lord you said that I'm a
temple of the Holy Spirit so would you just move in, open the doors, open the windows, turn on the lights, sweep out all the dust
and the cobwebs today. And make yourself at
home in my life today. Give me the strength today to do the things that you want me to do. The strength to say no
to the things I need to stay away from, the
strength to move forward and to endure the hardships that I face. Lord give me the strength, the ability to influence the world for you,
to touch the world for you. Lord I want people to hear
your voice in the things I say. So I'm lookin' to you and
asking you once again, for a fresh anointing, a fresh
filling of your Spirit today. And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Now let me just say one last thing here. As I said you can do that every day. It's not complicated, doesn't take long. But every day you can come to the Lord with that kind of a prayer. So here's a suggestion for you. Tonight when you get home, when
you're gettin' ready for bed kick one of your shoes underneath the bed. And then tomorrow morning
when you're down on your knees lookin' for your shoe, just take a minute and say "Lord I'm lookin'
for you today, too. Would you come and fill
me, just fill me up, fill me with your Holy Spirit today. Come live in me, help me to
walk in the Spirit today." And then walk in faith for that day. (audience applauds) (bright music) - Thanks for checkin' out this
week's message on YouTube. We would love to get you connected with our online community. There's three easy ways
to get you involved. First, learn about belonging
to our church family by taking class 101 online. Second, you can join an online small group or a local home group in your area. And third, check out our facebook group to engage with our online
community throughout the week. To take these next steps
visit saddleback.com/online or shoot me an email at
online@saddleback.com. I hope to hear from you soon.
