Living the Spirit-Filled Life | Benny Ho

i'm excited to share with you uh what i've put together and we are still continuing our series on come holy spirit and today i want to talk to you about living that spirit-filled life so would you just bow your hearts with me and we're going to pray together lord i pray that today you come and you bring revelation knowledge to our spirit man so that god we will understand what it means to live not by the flesh but by the spirit lord we know that there's such a thin line to draw between living out of our own soulless powers and and but rather choosing to live by the spirit so we commit this time of sharing to you may you anoint your servant so that i may deliver your word with clarity with simplicity but also with the authority of the scriptures so that we all walk away from this place knowing that we have heard not just from a man but we have heard from your holy spirit so come and speak to us this morning in jesus name amen amen the great evangelist dr modi was actually due to speak in london and one of the pastors in the city actually did not quite welcome him so he actually approached the organizer and asked the organizer this question he says why do we need diamond he's uneducated he's unqualified who does he think he is anyway does he does it does he think that he has a monopoly of the holy spirit and then the organizer turned to him and replied no but the holy spirit has a monopoly of him does he think that he is a monopoly of the holy spirit no but the holy spirit has a monopoly of him and i think brothers and sisters this is the main point that we have been talking about over the last two months basically it is not about how much of the holy spirit we have but it is how much the holy spirit have us you see one of the common questions i've been asked in recent times is this you know why is there such a need to focus on the holy spirit since we already have the spirit when we were born again and that is true that is absolutely true our salvation is a work of the holy spirit romans chapter 8 verse 9 makes it absolutely clear you however paul says are not in the realm of the flesh but in the realm of the spirit if indeed the spirit of god lives in you okay the spirit of god lives in you and if anyone does not have the spirit of christ they do not belong to christ let me ask you how many of you belong to christ today then guess what the holy spirit is in you if you don't have the holy spirit you can't even call him father without the holy spirit we do not even belong to christ but if we belong to christ then we already have the holy spirit and the moment you you coming to god conversion the holy spirit is already in you then why do we need to emphasize about being empowered by the holy spirit and being baptized in the holy spirit now here's the thing the problem is that we have the holy spirit but how many of you agree we don't always walk in the spirit isn't that true we know we have the holy spirit but we don't always walk in the spirit and and this morning i want to talk to you about why it's so important to actually walk in the spirit and i think where we begin let's begin with our view of man what is our understanding of the nature of men now i'm aware that scholars have different views about uh the about men and the nature of men but fundamentally listen to me fundamentally we all believe that as when it comes to men there is the material part of man which is the physical that which you can touch that which is tangible and then there's the immaterial part of man okay that which is within us you know our soul spirit things like that and and some believe that man is two parts that means the soul and the body the material and the immaterial okay but others believe that man is three parts spirit soul and body now personally i actually found viewing men as tripartite that means spirit soul and body it's a very helpful framework okay it's just a great framework for us to to to decipher what goes on in in men like hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 the scripture says that for the word of god is alive and active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit right joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart so you see here how the hebrew the writer hebrews demarcate or distinguish between the spirit the soul and the spirit the word of god has the ability to divide between soul and spirit and then it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart okay so when then when when you take the soul and spirit you put it together you get the heart that's the heart of the person our thoughts our attitudes all come from there first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 may god himself the god of peace sanctify you true and true and may your whole spirit soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our lord jesus again you see the spirit the soul and the body so one easy way of viewing this that's a framework that i like to present to you the spirit the soul and the body right the spirit is where the holy spirit dwells okay and that's where we contact the spiritual realm okay the spirit is where we contact the spiritual realm the soul the soul is basically make up of our mind our will and our emotion and with that we contact the emotional or the intellectual realm and our with our body we contact the fiscal realm okay this is where we are we can touch base with what's going on around us what's going on in the world now the spirit is where we derive god consciousness okay our spirit connects with the with the spirit of god and that's where we derive our god consciousness but our soul is where we derive our self-consciousness we know what we think what we want how we feel okay and with the body it contacts the world then we know whether it's hot it's cold you know whether something tastes sweet or sour you know and our five senses outside our sound our touch our taste our smell they tell us what is happening around us in the world in the physical realm so all so the spirit the soul and the body one can almost say if i can put it this way that we have we are the spirit and we have a soul and we live in a body okay so you have the spirit we are spirit we have a soul and we live in the body now here's the thing the important thing to realize is this listen carefully all three parts spirit soul and body is integral to who we are here we've got to capture this all three parts spiritual and body are integral to who we are all three parts are integrated so you cannot try and break them up too much okay because whatever happens in one part affects the other are you with me we are so integrated that what happens to my body will affect my soul what happens to my soul will affect my spirit you see you cannot arbitrarily break them up we are so integrated okay that we are one okay and it's very important that we are not gnostics okay because agnostics believe that the body doesn't matter then you your body can do whatever and the gnostics believe that you can go and carry out you know sexual immorality but that's all in your body it doesn't matter as long as your spirit is okay as long as your your soul is okay no i think all three are affected for example if i am sick physically do you think it will affect my emotion of course right because we're so integrated and what happens my emotion will affect my spirit so we are one you are integral whole and you cannot break them up too much but it's important that we know how they interplay so what does the bible have to say about our body our soul and our spirit let me just walk you to that i need to do some teaching so we get the foundations right okay let's what does the bible have to say about our body first corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 and 20 tell us this do you not know that your bodies are temples of the holy spirit who is in you whom you have received from god you are not your own but you are bored of the price therefore what do we do honor god with your bodies the holy spirit dwells in our spirit through regeneration the day you come to christ the holy spirit comes into our spirit and regenerated it make you come alive okay and now the holy spirit is contained in this body which means what this body is now a temper of god i did realize that you are a temper you are a temple of the holy spirit and our body is only a is a vessel that god walks through now understand this in and of itself the body is not bad it is the means that god has given to us to which we can contact the physical world around us you see and of course we understand that our body can be used either to to do good to do as to to be used to do works of righteousness or it can be used to also carry out evil desires okay so the body is is it's that vehicle that god has given to us our body however is god-given it's an integral part of who we are thank god for your body hello okay although sometimes i wish my body is you know like arnold schwarzenegger or something but you know this is the body and i'm thankful to lord there's a body god has given to me and in and of itself it's nothing wrong it is a means through which we contact the physical world now what about the soul what about your soul your soul basically is made up of your mind your will and your emotion it is how i think it's how i decide things it's how i feel and then that in totality forms my personality it makes up who i am as an individual it makes up who you are as an individual your mind your will your emotion is what you think right how what you want and how you feel now in 3rd john verse 2 it says dear friends john john wrote i pray that you may enjoy good health and all that may go well with you even as your soul is getting along well or your soul is prospering god's desire is that our soul will prosper along with our body and our spirit and again in and of itself our personality is god-given you can hear me our personality is god-given our mind our will our emotions they are god-given if they are governed by god consecrated to god it can be used for god's glory the problem is when our mind our will our emotion is not always god directed sometimes he is sin directed and when that happens then we reap it can lead to destruction see and this is where the battle is fought that's why the mind is is the battleground that influence our emotion and then that in turn can influence the decisions that we make and sometimes we don't make discipleship decisions we end up making decisions that fulfill the desires of the flesh so that's why the apostle paul challenged us as believers he challenged us in colossians chapter 3 verse 1 and okay he says since then you have been raised with christ then what must you do set your hearts on things above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your minds on things above not on earthly things see and that's the soul my mind my view my emotion it needs to be surrendered to god okay here's the third thing the spirit then what is the spirit i think the spirit is what the bible refers to as our innermost being our innermost being and this is where the holy spirit dwells within men first corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 listen carefully to this one it's very important first corinthians 6 17 says but whoever is united with the lord is one with him in what in spirit whoever is united with the lord is one with him in spirit so when paul was ex the context of this verse is that paul was exhorting the corinthian christians to live lives of purity then he started by telling them how when a man is physically physically joined to a prostitute he becomes one with her physically that makes sense right when he's when a man is joined to the prostitute he becomes one with her physically then he went on further to say if one is joined with the lord then we become one with him in the spirit which means what it is in the spirit where man connects with god where do we become one with god it's not physical it is spiritual so it is in the realm of the spirit that we get connected with god and that's the reason why the apostle paul then says in first corinthians chapter 2 very importantly in verse 10 to 12 he says the spirit is the one that searches all things even the deep things of god for who knows the person's thoughts except their own spirit now within them in the same way no one knows the thoughts of god except the spirit of god and what we have received is not the spirit of this world but the spirit who is from god so that they may understand what god has freely given us who knows the deepest things in my life in me except the spirit my spirit within me is that true you wouldn't know what is going on deep inside me except the spirit within me okay in the same way who knows the deepest thoughts of god except the spirit of god so how can you and i know god except through the holy spirit who dwells within us we cannot know god apart from his spirit that's the only way we can truly know god so that's what the bible has to say about this the body the soul and the spirit now the important thing is how does the how do they all in interact how do the spirit the soul and the body interact and here's where i need you to listen carefully okay here's what happened when god first created man right spirit soul body god's original intent has always been that for the spirit to be the control center is almost like the spirit is supposed to be the master why because the holy spirit dwells here within our spirit am i right so that was meant to be the master the control center then whatever the lord wants the holy spirit whispers to the spirit and then we will then inform the soul what is the soul the soul is our mind our will our emotion right and this mind will the soul is meant to be like the chief servant if you like like a steward okay he's the steward of this house okay then whatever the holy spirit wants he whispers the spirit spirit tells the soul then what does the soul do he informs the body which are like the servants and then they will carry it out that's how we lift out everything the desires that are inside of us is lived out through physically okay so spirit informs goes this way and then it comes out and that's how we lived our life now it was all good until men fell into sin now when men fell into sin what happened to the spirit the spirit died now when i say the spirit died it doesn't mean that the spirit ceases to exist but what it simply means is that the spirit is now separated from god it is dead unto god are you with me we all know that sin is what separated us from a holy god and because that is what happened now the the control center is gone right so when the spirit is separated from god and is dead unto god then who took over who took over the soul took over and that is how mankind ended up living their life living we all live our life based on what it's all based on what i think what i want how i feel how do people make decisions it's all based on what i think what i want how i feel and when that happened now people begin to live out of the soulish energy instead of living according to the spirit and the body ends up carrying out whatever the soul desires whatever how hard the the the fallen nature of man now rules the game are you with me on this are you with me and i think that's how people live now think about it and once people begin to live like this based on just our own desires then what happened galatians chapter 6 verse 7 and 8 tell us this don't be deceived god cannot be mocked a man will reap what he sows whatever soul whoever souls to please the flesh will from the flesh reap destruction whoever souls to please the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life so if we live according to what our sinful nature desires then we will end up reaping destruction now let me ask you before you come to christ isn't that how we live is that true before we come to christ on what basis do you live your life it's all based on what i think what i want how i feel everything is just based on self and the apostle paul actually describes this for us in ephesians chapter two verse one to five now listen carefully to this once i lay this foundation i'm gonna just apply it for you and it it's a small shift but it's going to make a huge impact now listen to this one ephesians 2 verse 1 to 5. here is paul describing our life pre-christian now listen to this as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sin in which you used to live right that's just where we come from when you follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air the spirit who is at now at work in those who are disobedient referring to the spirit of satan now all of us also live amongst them at one time gratifying the cravings of our flesh following his desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature what deserving of god's wrath but because of his great love for us god who is rich in mercy made us alive with christ even when we were dead in transgression for by grace you have been saved you know before i come to christ my spirit was separated from god so how did i function i functioned totally out of the soul and the body that's how i function okay i live out of soulless power of my mind my will my emotion every decision i make prior to coming to christ is based on what i think what i want how i feel it's all based on that and what's the end of all that paul says it is deserving of wrath in other words we live like that we are destined for hell jesus put it this way in matthew 10 verse 28 he says don't be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell actually that's where our unredeemed soul and body were hated we were on our way to hell but the good news is this god in his mercy saved us so what happened was because we came to christ then what happened the holy spirit comes back into the spirit that's already separated from god right it's already dead unto god and the holy spirit comes in regenerated our spirit rekinded it and make it come alive hello and because our spirit come back to life now it can become the control center again the holy spirit is back here and now this has become again our control center and this whole process of the holy spirit coming back into our spirit and then giving us a regeneration that's what we call born again we have been born again in the spirit that's the doctrine of justification all of us have been justified now and then now what is happening now what is happening is the now that the spirit is again the control center we are now in the process of handing over control from the soul back to the spirit i am learning you are learning day by day to hand over control of our life back to the spirit instead of still going according to what we want we are saying i'm going to live my life based on what god wants are you with me and this whole process of handing back control to the spirit is what we call sanctification and all of us are going through sanctification right now see and if as day by day i am you know my spirit the day i'm born again is already made perfect in christ so in the sight of god i'm already holy righteous perfect in my spirit but how many of you know my soul is not there yet my my mind there are still areas in my mind that needs to be renewed how does it get renewed by the word of god so every day i'm learning to let the word of god renew my mind my will is not totally surrendered there are still areas in my life that i'm holding on to but i'm in that process of handing over control to the spirit more and more i want my spirit to be i want my will to be surrendered to god my emotions are not totally pure yet i'm still undergoing that consecration of taking my emotion and gearing it to to the purposes of god rather than the desires of my flesh and we are going through this whole process of sanctification right now and as our soul is being sanctified our bodies are slowly used to serve god's purposes rather than our own the the bible puts it this way and you'll find it in romans chapter 6 verse 11 to 14. in the same way paul says count yourself dead to sin but a life to god in christ jesus therefore do not let sin reign in your body my physical body so that you obey evil desires do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness but rather offer you pass your body to him as instruments of righteousness for sin shall not be your master anymore because you are not under law but under grace what is paul saying here he's saying that as your spirit is already made justified your soul is being sanctified then more and more offer the past your body what's it talking about it's my body my eyes my nose my mouth my hands you know these hands that use that was previously used for fighting and for stealing now i use it to serve right this eyes that used to to feast on pornography now i use it to feast on the word of god this feat that used to carry me to a nightclub now i let it carry me to a connect group on a friday night are you with me i'm off then what am i doing i'm offering to pass my body now to serve righteousness rather than wickedness this mouth they used to curse and swear now i use it to bless i use it to edify what am i doing i'm offering the past of my body no longer to serve wickedness but to serve righteousness then what now i'm learning to walk in the spirit rather than the flesh so you read first thessalonians 5 23 and 24 again may god himself the god of peace sanctify you sanctify me true and true may my whole spirit soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of my lord jesus the one who calls you is faithful and he will do it brothers and sisters i want you to know god wants to make sure that your spirit your soul your body will be totally kept blameless when he comes again and we are in that process right now and brothers and sisters this is the discipleship journey that every one of us are on are you with me hello you don't look very excited are you with me i think that's very critical this is what's going on every day in our life so in the light of all this now that we understand the interplay between the spirit the soul and the body what then should we do how then should we live and this is the point i need to have three volunteers just quickly come up to the stage for me okay i'm going to show you a simple illustration and then from there make the application for you it's so critical can i have the three volunteers please can you give them a good hand as they come i got three boys to come and just help me out on this thank you my brother you line up in a straight row here no need to be too far yeah come nearer to me don't be afraid i don't bite come okay wonderful billy all right come okay so line up in a straight row wherever you want okay very good so you'll be body you'll be so you'll be spirit you look like very spiritual okay great all right so you have the body the soul and the spirit now we all know the body is that which contacts the physical world everything that happening on the outside this is the first person to be impacted okay and then we have the soul the mind the will the emotion that's why people make their decision that's why they their emotions come etc and then the spirit this is where we connect with god this is where god the holy spirit dwells are you with me so far now we all know this in the play they are all linked up they're so integrated you can't separate them but here's the thing i find that a lot of times when we are living our living out our life what happened is we tend to be living this way we tend to take our bearings from what is happening on the outside our circumstances our situation and we tend to live our life just taking direction from what is happening here in the in the physical in what's happening our circumstances our situation the relationships we have you know what's going on on the outside and we take all bearings from here is that true like for example you know you think about it right let's say uh what's your name ben okay so ben for example he's been praying and waiting for a job a dream job that he's waiting for so he's been praying and praying and praying and then boom he gets the job then now i say to him hey ben god is good he will say what all the time now all the time god is good you know why because he got the job he wanted but what if he didn't get the job the child went to somebody else now he says i think i want to quit worship ministry i think i don't want to serve anymore you know this god didn't give me what i want so what is he what's happening here is he serving god or serving the job are you are you with me he's taking bearings from what is happening on the outside right there are some people say for example ben is after a girl in his connect group he really liked this girl you know and and when the girl if the girl just accepted him and said yeah let's go out together and then ben would say oh god it's awesome you know god is good and but what if the girl rejected him then what i don't want to go to sell anymore i think i go to kingdom city next week anymore why because he's deep he's totally dependent on what's happening around him he circumstances the situation rules everything are you with me then who is he serving is he after god or is he after girl you know so that's where it is when the market is up my investments are looking good then i feel really good i feel high i feel i can worship god with all my heart and soul but then market comes down now my my net worth is dwindling and then what i begin to feel that oh no i can't i better don't come to church anymore i better focus on my business then what is how is he living his life it's not taking reference from who god is and what god says he's taking reference from all the external things i'm serving in the church and then people appreciate me people affirm me people honor me and then you say i want to do even more and then somebody criticized him then now ben says i don't want to serve anymore i quit then who are we serving is it god or is it ourself are you with me and you know what's happening is that as we if you live life like that just based on all this then we will never we will our emotions will rule the day our decisions are decided by all the emotions if we feel good great if we don't feel good everything collapses then you know what your spiritual life is going to be up and down that's why people are so unstable we can't find stability we can't find a place of rootedness we ended up just taken right circumstances i hope you're capturing this you see and and if we live like that then we'll be forever unstable even though we have the spirit in us we never see the outworking of the spirit because we're not taking reference we're not living according to the spirit we're living according to the flesh and you know people are constantly waiting for some breakthrough to take place on the outside we're all waiting for our circumstance to change we think that if my business grow then i'll be fine you know if only you know if only my husband will change then we will have this perfect marriage we've been waiting for but is it you know we're all waiting for something a breakthrough on the outside when actually what we need really is a shift on the inside you know what the ship we need here's a ship we need to do this that's all that's the ship we're waiting for it's a ship that is not a lot it's a small ship but it has huge impact because now i'm not going to live according to what's happening around me now of course what happens around me can affect me it can affect me what's happening in outside can affect me on the inside but i'm not going to live based on this i'm going to live based on who god is and what god says i'm going to take reference from the word of god and the spirit of god not from the world not from my circumstances and situation are you with me people this is the shift that next take place inside us and the day we make this shift it will be a breakthrough moment for us we break free from here so that we can break through to here that's what we need it's a small shift but it makes a world of difference as long as we live facing this we will always be struggling we will be unstable you'll be up and down i need to make this shift so that i can now live by the spirit and not the flesh may the lord help us to do this amen may god bring you revelation today and set us free i need to this shift i cannot live my life just constantly what i think what i want how i feel taking direction from here then how i think how what i what i want how i feel is going to be governed by all this but i need to be governed by the spirit if we live like that that's when the holy spirit have mastery over us amen then it's not just me having the spirit now the spirit have me and that's what we are talking about amen thank you so much brothers give them a good hand and they help us you know i hope you see that clearly now thank you here here's the thing and and i want to challenge us here's what we need to do now where do we start if we want to make this shift when we make this shift and that's the reason why it's so important brother since this is for us to receive the empowering of the holy spirit because the day when you come to christ we all know i already have the spirit dwelling in me see the day you come to christ the holy spirit is already living in you but the day when you were baptized to the holy spirit the day when you're empowered by the holy spirit what happened is the spirit that is within us john chapter 7 verse 38 happened out of our belly out of our innermost being spirit out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water so what happened is this i already have the spirit in me but the day when i got empowered by the spirit the spirit is being released from within me to actually overflow into the soul and the body and begin to affect the way i live my life it begins to infiltrate my mind my will my emotion and the way i live my life and brothers and sisters this is what we are talking about the day when we were baptized if you like immerse i think that's a better word to use sometimes we get so caught up with terminologies but the day when we were immersed in the holy spirit then john 7 38 happens and the holy spirit was released from within our spirit our innermost being to overflow into our soul in our spirit listen after pentecost the holy spirit coming upon us is no longer rain from outside it's a release from the inside and it begins to overflow into my my soul my spirit martin lloyd jones used to call it the release of the spirit and now we are empowered to live in the fullness of the holy spirit there's a greater yielding to the spirit surrenderedness to the spirit now i'm taking reference on the spirit not the body i'm mastered by the holy spirit and this is when as we make this shift we begin to live in out of our oneness with god now i have the holy spirit and the holy spirit have me we learn to walk in the spirit and not according to the flesh so where do we start if we want to do this where do we start to begin to break out of how do you make this shift you know from this from depending on the soul and the body how do you make this shift to take reference on the spirit i believe the answer goes beyond just spiritual disciplines it go beyond an encounter in an event or at the altar it goes beyond all that you need to go back to the cross we go back to the cross matthew 16 verse 24 and 25 let me end with this jesus said to his disciples if anyone would come after me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever wants to save his life would lose it but whoever loses his life for me will find it the first step out of soulless christianity is to go back to the cross because the cross is where god dealt with our self-life this is the key to discipleship if anyone would in other words you have a choice if anyone is willing we choose to die to our self-life so that we may gain the life of the spirit we choose to make this shift you know away from from the world and then shift to to the spirit that's a choice you have to make today then he must deny himself okay we must decide to forsake the power of of the soul that i don't just depend on my mind my will my emotion but i take up my cross you know what the cross is the cross is an instrument of death the cross is where you die it's a place where we die to our self see and then you follow him ultimately this is the essence of christianity then we are no longer pursuing our own ways but we are running after jesus and that is where we can truly lift out galatians 2 20. it's no longer i that live but christ that liveth in me the life i live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and he gave himself for me brothers and sisters this is the pinnacle of the christian faith the highest peak anyone can climb if there is a peak to climb would be galatians 2 20. the peak that we that we can scale in christianity it's not the peak is not just being able to cast out a demon or heal the sick or even raising the dead but i think the peak is when we become so identified with christ in his death and resurrection there is no longer i that live but christ that liveth in me and the life i live i live by the spirit galatians 5 25 then say sins we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit dear modi let me finish with this have this beautiful saying say i believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to god's law the holy spirit will fill every corner of our hearts and if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition in the world there is no room for the spirit of god we must be emptied before we can be filled god help me to make this shift is so small a step but it has huge implications for our life god help me that i no longer depend on what i see circumstances situation my mind my will my emotion it must be consecrated to god and i take reference from who god is and what god says rather than to live according to what my what i see around me may god help us to do that would you stand with me please let's stand together and take a few moments this this this afternoon just to allow god to take these words that are spoken in simplicity and let it sink into our spirit thank you lord i want to invite the worship team just to come and allow him to allow them to just minister to us lead us in a few moments i'm going to invite you to do justice that right wherever you are you make that decision to just make this shift it's a simple shift i turn away from living my life just based on what i see based on what i feel and just what i want what i think it's because sometimes god's ways are higher than our ways his thoughts are way above our thoughts and then we make this shift to say i live by the spirit i let the spirit govern me it's what he is what the spirit wants is what god says and this whole god is that's where i take reference from not just the circumstances situations around me and that's where we find our rootedness in our anchor not in the affairs of a world that can go up and down but the only one that never changed is our lord jesus he never changed and we anchor ourselves in him and a few moments i'm going to invite you to make that decision and you are watching online you can also make that decision and i'm going to invite the worship team just to lead us to sing and those of you who you know as i'm speaking you know that's me i always live my life just based on things around me and maybe it's time you make that shift and you make that your decision today thank you lord

Channel: Faith Community Church Perth

Views: 4,192

Rating: 4.7777777 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: __CmK6Fmt4U

Length: 43min 1sec (2581 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 23 2021