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Five things about being filled with the spirit.

November 11, 2008

When was the last time you fed a baby oatmeal?, Peache pure or apple sauce? .Or how about my two all time favourites baked beans , Or chocolate?. My grandson baby Alfie can’t chew chocolate all that well at present but he can give it a ferocious sucking. Regardless of what you may be serving when your baby does not want to eat his or her entire body gets engaged in the struggle. The jaws become cast iron letting nothing enter the mouth. Any food that may miraculously make it past the lips is pushed out by an iron tongue. The baby develops great eye coordination at these times ,when you want it to finish the last few bites, but he or she has had enough. At this point the spoonful headed for the mouth hits the ear instead.Or a small hand pushes the spoonful into your lap. How many of you have ever been there? .Babies need to eat. Good nutrition is important for the growth and development of every infant. However, no matter how hard we may try, and regardless of how tasty the food may be, UNLESS THE BABY IS YIELDED AND WILLING TO EAT, WE CANNOT  FILL THE CHILD WITH FOOD. When that same baby is hungry or thirsty and is crying out making its desire known, then it is much easier to “fill” the baby.Similarly, the Holy Spirit does not force Himself to “FILL US.” In the same way that a baby needs to have a desire for food or drink to be willing to eat, we must also crave the presence of the Holy Sprit in our lives in order to be “filled with the Spirit.” If we are to receive the Spirit,  we must submit our minds, spirits and bodies to Jesus.

Five things about being filled with the spirit.

1) Jesus is the source of the experience

John 7:37-39 37 declares

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,
 ”If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

Also John the Baptist tells us in:

Matt 3: 11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
The foundational lesson to be learned here is that Jesus is the baptiser.We baptised a group of people a few weeks ago in water but only Jesus can baptise in the Holy Spirit.Whenever I pray for someone to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit I am simply seeking to be a facillitator for Jesus to move in that person’s life .

2)It is not a limited or a limiting experience

Baptise means to totally immerse and soak.It is therefore a powerful all encompassing experience.Some people refer to this as being filled with the Holy Spirit.I like to think of Baptism as the initial encounter and infilling as an ongoing activity. This is not a limited or a limiting experience. Every christian has the spirit but not every believer is filled with the spirit. When  a human being becomes a christian the holy spirit comes to live in and influence that person as an individual. He or she becomes the sacred dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!. God no longer is just “out there somewhere;” God designed you and me to be his address on earth. God wants to lives in you and  manifest his life through you. When you commit to God and yield to Jesus Christ,  God takes up residence in your life at that very moment. The Holy Spirit comes into a life and sets in motion a  transformation within us.In this way baptism in the spirit brings an added dimension that is potentially limitless.

3) It exposes us to the  limitless power of Love.

When people get  filled  with the spirit they experienced the love and power of God. The problem with human love is that it is often conditional and with limitations .It comes with a price tag attached.For example in the following letter,
Dear John,
I have been unable to sleep since I broke off our engagement. Won’t you forgive and forget. Your absence is breaking my heart, I was a fool,nobody can take your place. I love you.I love you,I love you-Marsha
P.S.Congratulations on winning the lottery.

God wants you to know that his love is unconditional. it accepts you as you are but in order to experience in a growing way his limitless love ,we need to learn obediance,this will necessitate going on being filled with the spirit.

4) It is a sign of empowerment.

Just as baptism in water is not a condition of salvation but an outward sign of an inward change.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a condition of empowerment but rather a sign of it.Baptism in the spirit is how Jesus chooses to empower us.What is the difference between someone who’s a christian and a christian who is full of the Holy Spirit? ,It’s a bit like the difference between the light from a tiny candle, and that produced by a gas lantern. The light in the tiny candle is like every Christian – all Christians have the Holy Spirit living within them. But some people are like a gas lantern – they are so full of the Spirit of God that the light they give off is bright and warm and much greater than the light from the tiny candle.One of the main purposes of being filled with the spirit is that it enables us to receive the necesary power to be Christs’ representatives or witnesses here on Earth.

5) It releases within us the power to live a productive life.
Being filled with the spirit  can  be reduced in our thinking to an experience when it is meant to be an ongoing process.One of the dangers in seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit is that we can emphasise the’experiential’ rather than the process which is meant to enable us  to accomplish  things for God. If there’s an infilling, there must be an out flowing! Every time someone in the New Testament was filled with the Holy Spirit, things happened.  Amazing healings took place. They had book burnings in the town square. Idol makers and pornographers went out of business. They didn’t just celebrate in church; they took it to the streets. There must be an outflow! The first picture we have of God in the Bible is of Him in His creative role. He makes us in His image, breathes life into us, then says, ‘Go out and become productive’ (See Genesis 1:28).

Are you hoping your life will ‘just change for the better?’ Are you praying for somebody with all the answers to come along and improve your circumstances?. No, what’s inside you will change what’s outside you, if you put it to work! This is not some glib, ‘can do’ self-help programme. ‘It is God who works in you’ (Philippians 2:13 NIV). The struggle in your life right now may be over what God wants to do through you! What’s within you is greater than the trouble you’ve been through, the situation you’re in or the obstacles that lie in your path. When everything around you is saying ‘no’ but something deep within you is saying ‘yes, that’s your God-given destiny. Acknowledge it, anchor your life to it and begin to work it out. Be filled with the spirit and God’s power  will work through you in the situations you face.

William

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Foundations

October 3, 2008

In building work there are many kinds of foundation.Differing situations,the proximity of trees ,varying land conditions can all combine to determine the shape and type of foundation required.Building on sand is often easier,cheaper and can be more comfortable than building upon solid rock.However it usually leaves the building exposed to the elements and when storms arise it is easy to see the kind of foundation upon which the construction was established.During the hurricane season in the USA it is not uncommon to see buildings literally ripped up from their foundations.

When Michael Eisner, head of the Disney Corporation, had plans drawn up for a house, one wall was so thin it almost buckled under its own weight. Another software billionaire’s house had pine panelling that rotted out before the house was even completed. Were they too busy to notice? No, most architects say, people find construction details boring; they’d rather spend their money on more cosmetic stuff. Yet  an important truth regarding any kind of building work needs to be remembered that it is the foundation that determines the height, the width, the strength, and ultimately the value of the house.

The same principle applies to  the church and even more significantly the lives of its members and those they are seeking to reach.Houses built on sand are quick, cheap and easy; they provide temporary comfort and instant gratification. But building on  a foundation of rock is hard: it takes time, effort, foresight and perseverance - but the results are worth it. Jesus says in MATTHEW 7:24 “Therefore if everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock”.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10 declares how important  the laying of good foundations  upon God’s word are to the long term effectiveness of what is being constructed;

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.” Successful Christian minstry is the result of commitment, consistency and building according to God?s Word. Similarly successful christian living  is the result of commitment, to the same things. When you make those things the foundation of your life, you can make it through life’s variable weather patterns.  Today there’s a lot of flaky stuff being pedalled in the name of truth. We need to be building upon a strong foundation of the truth of God’s word.

A recent prophetic word encouraged us in Life Church  to think foundationally and as a result we have put together our current Sunday series entitled not suprisingly Foundations.In this series it is our aim to cover often neglected but foundational topics such as Eternity,Heven and Hell,Salvation,Faith,God is Father,Son and Spirit,Water Baptism and being filled with the spirit.These biblical subjects and concepts give us our spiritual foundations.Without good foundations even the most expensive of buildings can fall.Our hope is that this church is here for the long haul and we want it to stand firm on the best of spirittual foundations.We also want the lives of those that we touch to be secured by the good basis of God’s word.

Written by william · Filed Under Articles | Leave a Comment 

Hope

April 26, 2008

When people attend weekend services at church I assume that they are looking for hope and not despair. John Johnson one of the wealthiest men in America said “men and women are limited not by their place of birth or the colour of their skin but by the size of their hope” What people in today’s world need is hope.

Hope empowers us to reach into the fears, disappointments and failings of the present in order to find something redemptive.

The message of the gospel is profoundly redemptive God entered deep into the darkness of the human condition in order to redeem it. And he did so through the sacrifice of his only Son whose resurrection brought us life: freedom from sin and sinfulness”.

Hope is a Greek word Elpis meaning joyful and confidant expectation. When we have Hope it means that we are looking for something good that we want to have happen in the future, or a confident feeling about the future: Hope is an emotional belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances within one’s personal life.

It’s a mental condition that’s essential to the life God wants you to live. It’s the fuel your heart runs on. It’s the single biggest difference between those who persevere and those who give up. It’s called - hope.

A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the affect hope had on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water, and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope! Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should its effect be upon human beings.

Whilst there are many factors that can diminish our hope there are a serious of hope builders that we can utilise in our lives.

A) Hope Builder One

- Look at the kingdom, not just your corner!

June 6th,1994 was the fiftieth anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy ,which began the battle to liberate continental Europe from Nazi rule. The event was covered extensively on television.

One of the programmes paired two contrasting interviews back-to back. One interview was with an American who landed on Omaha Beach .He recalled the horrors that sounded like scenes from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. The ageing veteran recalled looking around at the carnage and the casualties and he began to say “we’re going to lose”

The next interview was with an air force reconnaissance pilot who flew over the whole battle area .He saw the casualties and carnage on the beach but he also saw the penetrations being made by paratroopers, the effectiveness of aerial bombardment and he concluded “we’re going to win” Same battle different perspectives.

Today we need to remind ourselves that God’s kingdom is bigger than our particular section.

• In China it is estimated that 28,000 people become believers on a daily basis. In 1950 one million believers. Today in excess of 60 million.

• In Africa 20,000 become believers every day .In 1900 The continent was 3 percent Christian. I learned the other day of a conference in 1905 that concluded that if things continued as they were at that stage in history then by the end of the century Africa would be a muslim continent. The reality is that by the end of the century it was more than 40% Christian. Today African Christianity is at the forefront .God can take the wisdom of the wise and confound it.

• In the UK lots of negative stuff about the church being extinct by 2050.The reality is that despite continued decline in the main denominations. When you compile an aggregate of new churches and fresh expressions of church the picture is one of slight growth. Like the predictions about Africa God loves to confound the wisdom of the wise and fill that which appears hopeless with hope.

B) Hope Builder Two

- See Christ and not the circumstances!

Hope grows when we see Christ and not just the circumstances. Circumstances have great power over our emotions and feelings. One criticism, one setback, one nasty note or response, ingratitude when you expect gratitude, negativity when you expect something more positive.

At the root of diminished hope is unrealistic expectations. We expect everything to go so well and according to our agenda .

Romans 1: 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live (not by their emotions, not by their feelings, not by their circumstances but) by faith.”

We need to believe that Jesus is Lord of the World AND lord of the church and that the outcome is always subject to his sovereign control. However we need to recognise that yesterday’s faith cannot counteract today’s circumstances. We need today’s faith for current circumstances.

C) Hope Builder Three

- Remember the success stories and not just the problems!

Throughout the Old Testament the Hebrews were regularly exhorted to remember the success stories and not just the problems and failures. When they won battles, crossed rivers, experienced miracles, they piled up stones, so they wouldn’t forget. Annually they celebrated the Passover to remember how God had brought their ancestors out of Egypt. Every Harvest they celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles. Yes we have to face our problems to do otherwise is simply denial. But we need to come into a season where we disempower failure and empower success.

D) Hope Builder Four

- Hear your call and not just see your complaint!

You see we have got to learn the lesson that every problem and difficulty is really an opportunity. When someone comes to me and says this is not getting done, or that need is not getting met, I’m increasingly wanting to say well what can you do about it?. Kids causing trouble on the street is calling out for someone to come with a solution, it might be you, the gospel isn’t getting out there into the world you might have part of the answer.” You might have the solution” Allow the sense of divine dissatisfaction working on the inside of you to work creatively and positively to give hope of a solution. The fact that you are feeling it means God wants you to do something.

John Maxwell writes:

Hope shines brightest when the hour is darkest.
Hope motivates when discouragement comes.
Hope energizes when the body is tired.
Hope sweetens while bitterness bites.
Hope sings when all melodies are gone.
Hope believes when evidence is eliminated.
Hope listens for answers when no one is talking.
Hope climbs over obstacles when no one is helping.
Hope endures hardship when no on is caring.
Hope smiles confidently when no one is laughing.
Hope reaches for answers when no one is asking.

by William Prentice - Pastor

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