Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Amen. My name is Brad. I'm one of the pastors at Redemption Hill. If, if you are new to Redemption Hill, would love the opportunity to get to meet you today and see if you do live in Fort Worth, if this may be the place that the Lord Jesus has.
[00:00:32] We believe with all of our heart that God created us for community, community relationship with him and relationship with one another.
[00:00:41] So at the end of the service today, we are going to. I'm going to ask a few of our community group leaders.
[00:00:48] So community groups are groups that meet in homes throughout the course of the week. We do Sunday morning gatherings here. You're here, obviously, because you know that we do this. So we do this and then we meet in homes throughout the week. We call those community groups. Those are smaller pockets of Christians who meet in homes to talk about the sermon, to pray together, to love one another, to live on mission together. That's really where we desire relationships to happen and we want you to be a part of that. So if you're not currently involved in a community group or if you have, if you're here and you're like, man, I just want friends, this is a great opportunity for that. And so we're going to have some of our community group leaders at the end of the service, hanging out at the back where the connect table is, where those brown paper bags are. You can go back there and meet with them and interact with them and give them the opportunity to get to know you a little bit in more of a personal way.
[00:01:39] We'd love to get you involved in a community group.
[00:01:42] So we're spending five weeks talking about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
[00:01:46] And we're doing this in preparation for 2026. In 2026, we're gonna be starting a walk through the Book of Acts. So a slow walk through the talking about this theme. What does it look like to be and to live as the people of God amidst a dark culture? As we await the return of Jesus, what is the Lord? Who does the Lord?
[00:02:08] Not just who does the Lord want us to be, but who has Christ through his perfect life, death on the cross for sin, resurrection, defeating sin, death and Satan forever. Like, who has he redeemed us to be?
[00:02:23] Well, a part of, not a part of. The impetus of answering that question lies in the person of the Holy Spirit. And so last week we talked about this kind of fundamental question of who is the Holy Spirit? Well, the Holy Spirit, according to the word of God, is God, the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit is Not a thing. The Holy Spirit is not an entity.
[00:02:45] The Holy Spirit is God. He is, as the Old Testament says, the ruach.
[00:02:51] Okay? He's the breath of God. He's the energy of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who not only energizes us to put our faith in Jesus in the first place, but he's the one who energizes us to live the Christian life. You and I, trying to live the Christian life on our own is kind of like being a sailboat in the middle of the sea without wind.
[00:03:10] Okay? So you can pull your oar out and you can try really hard to get yourself back to shore or whatever destination you're going to. And at the end of the day, you're gonna end up just exhausted and burnt out. You know, you need the wind.
[00:03:22] And in the same way, you and I need the person of the Holy Spirit for all of life and godliness. And so we talked last week about who is the person of the Holy Spirit. And today I want to talk about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the language that Paul uses in Ephesians, chapter five. He says, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:03:50] So one of my favorite pastors, Taylor, showed me this last week. But one of my favorite pastors in his office has a sign that hangs above the door that says, no one leaves sober.
[00:04:01] And I was like, I love that.
[00:04:03] That's awesome. No one leaves sober. Okay, so here's what Paul's saying, and we'll get into this more in just a moment. But there's a reason he uses wine as a means to illustrate what it looks like to be filled with the spirit, because it has a similar effect when you and I are inebriated with wine or whatever alcoholic beverage of your choice you prefer. When we're inebriated, when we're made drunk with that substance, it controls everything that we do.
[00:04:32] And the juxtaposition of that is when you and I are filled with the person of the Holy Spirit, he controls everything that we do.
[00:04:40] And so he says, don't get drunk with wine, for that's debauchery. Rather, get drunk on the spirit. No one leaves sober.
[00:04:48] That's my prayer for us. None of us would leave sober this morning. We'd all leave drunk with the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:55] You could have laughed at that. But that's all right. It's fine. It's fine. That's what I was hoping for. But that's why I don't make jokes. That's why I don't make jokes. Okay, all right, all right.
[00:05:09] Every moment in the Christian life is a moment of holy significance and purpose.
[00:05:13] Every single moment that you live and I live has holy significance and purpose, meaning that none of it is meaningless, not the most menial thing that happens in your life. All of it is purposeful. Isn't that an amazing thought to think about?
[00:05:26] Every single moment in your life is purposeful. There are some moments in life that it seems as if God, the Celtic Christians used to call these thin places where it seems like heaven and earth kind of mesh into one and you and I are caught up into something greater than ourself.
[00:05:44] These aren't ordinary moments. These aren't even everyday moments. They're not even every season moments. But they are occasional moments when it's like God in his grace tells you that he loves you in a very specific way. It's almost like Paul talks about being caught up into the third heaven. I don't know what that means, and neither do you. Being caught up into the third heaven, we don't know what that means.
[00:06:04] But there are people throughout history who have had a moment like this, and I just want to read one to you. This is actually a moment from Jonathan Edwards life.
[00:06:13] And here's what Edwards says about this kind of thin place moment. He says, as I rode out into the woods for my health, which I love, that in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was for me, extraordinary.
[00:06:38] This view, he says, was of the glory of the Son of God as mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension.
[00:06:56] This grace that appeared so calm and sweet appeared also great above the heavens.
[00:07:04] The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thoughts and conceptions.
[00:07:14] So in other words, it's like the old hymn that says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth, all of them will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. This is what Edwards is experiencing, and this is not necessarily an everyday moment. But this is something I believe God does in individuals. I think he does it in communities and churches and countries. I would call this revival.
[00:07:46] Ephesians 5 isn't so much talking about moments like that as talking about something that you and I, with the person of the Holy Spirit, actually participate in being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is something that you and I are called and commanded by God. For those of us who are believers in Jesus to do every day not to get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. These moments of being caught up in this kind of otherworldly moment with God, these thin places usually induce more hungering and thirsting for God. We want more of them.
[00:08:26] When you experience the best thing, you want more of that best thing.
[00:08:31] And so the call to be filled with the Holy Spirit is in essence, I think, one of the things that helps speak into the hungering and thirsting that our souls have.
[00:08:44] All of us in the room hunger and thirst for something. It's not a matter of are you hungry, are you thirsty? It's what are you hungering and thirsting for, and how are you meeting that need?
[00:08:55] Hungering and thirsting in the Bible is not coming from a place of strength. If you don't eat for three to five days, you feel really weak.
[00:09:05] If you don't drink water for three to five days, you feel exceptionally weak.
[00:09:09] Right? This is what it means for our souls to hunger and thirst after God. And so what we need, friends, is to be filled with the Spirit, we need to be filled with the person of the Holy Spirit. Are you hungry for this?
[00:09:31] Do you thirst for the presence of God?
[00:09:35] Do I thirst for the presence of God?
[00:09:39] Or are you and I pretty content to show up on Sunday morning to come to community group to do the Christian things, and that kind of be your life?
[00:09:48] Are you hungry for God?
[00:09:51] God made you to be hungry for him, to desire him, to want more of him, to never get enough of him.
[00:10:04] So I just want to talk about three questions today.
[00:10:08] I want to talk about why are we to be filled with the Spirit?
[00:10:13] So Paul talks about being filled with the Spirit. Why are we to be filled with the Spirit? The second thing I want to talk about is what does a life filled with the Spirit look like?
[00:10:22] So why are we to be filled with the Spirit? What does a life that is filled with the Spirit look like? And then the third question is, how are we to be filled with the Spirit? All right, so let's look at the first question, and we're just going to walk through the text together. So the first question, why?
[00:10:37] Why are we to be filled with the Spirit? It's because the Apostle Paul, who is filled with the Spirit when he writes the book of Ephesians, the letter to The Ephesians says that the days are evil.
[00:10:50] Why are we to be filled with the spirit? He says that the days are evil.
[00:10:57] This was true for the Apostle Paul's time in the first century, and this is true for our time today.
[00:11:03] That the days are evil.
[00:11:07] It speaks into how you and I think about our current cultural moment.
[00:11:12] I believe that we're called by God to think about our current cultural moment Biblically, honestly, not denying the darkness of it.
[00:11:22] And. And I think this might be the most important one opportunistically.
[00:11:28] The current cultural moment of our life should not lead you, though. I know it's tempting to want to recluse, to want to kind of go off and become a monk and just kind of pray all day, okay? That's not what we're called to do. That's not what we're called to be the current cultural moment of our day. Looking across the landscape of our culture and seeing both the beauty, because that's there too, right? And the darkness in the midst of all of it ought to lead to great, profound opportunity.
[00:12:04] That's why in 2026, we want to devote all of our energy that we can to. To talk about what it looks like to live as the people of God now.
[00:12:13] I mean, I heard a pastor say this last week, and it kind of just blew my mind. He's like, jonathan Edwards is not living today. You are.
[00:12:21] Isn't that amazing?
[00:12:23] Like, we look at a person like that, we're like, dude, he would have killed it today, and he probably would have. And we look at ourself, and we're like, who am I? You're here today.
[00:12:32] God put you here today.
[00:12:35] He put you in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your family, in this church today. Isn't that amazing?
[00:12:43] You and me, who are we?
[00:12:47] Like, he put us here today. What an opportunity, man. If you want your mind to continue to be blown.
[00:12:56] I read a couple of articles from the Barna group. I don't always agree with everything that the Barna group says, but they put out these helpful statistical analysis of. Of the cultural moment and where the church is in the midst of all of that. And for years and years and years, the state of the church has looked just exceptionally bleak.
[00:13:14] Less people going to church, less people interested, less people involved. Right? The culture of nones.
[00:13:21] I was about to say we have none religion. That's West Texas coming out. We have no religion.
[00:13:25] Right? Like, that was kind of the thing. But it's not the case today.
[00:13:30] And specifically, it's not the case with Young men, okay. For years and decades in the United States, young men have been the demographic who have gone to church the least, who have showed the least amount of interest in the things of God and the least amount of interest in the Bible. And it's not the case anymore.
[00:13:49] That's amazing.
[00:13:51] That's mind blowing. Like, what is God doing?
[00:13:56] Opportunity.
[00:13:58] Seize the opportunity. And you know what young men want?
[00:14:03] They want truth.
[00:14:05] Clear, unapologetic truth.
[00:14:09] That's what young men are craving. Seize the opportunity.
[00:14:14] In a.
[00:14:15] On the negative side of things, young women, specifically young single women, young single mothers are going to church less than they've gone in a long time. Seize the opportunity.
[00:14:26] Enter in, engage.
[00:14:29] The days are evil in the sense of. The days are fallen, the days are broken. People, people don't need abstract stuff. They need help.
[00:14:45] I was 21 when I came to faith in Jesus. I needed help.
[00:14:49] I didn't know what the heck I was doing.
[00:14:52] I needed help.
[00:14:53] I needed Jesus. The people in your workplace need help. They're hurting.
[00:14:59] They're hungering and thirsting for God and they don't even know that they're hungering and thirsting for God. They need help.
[00:15:05] Seize the opportunity.
[00:15:08] And in order to seize the opportunity, we need the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:13] Why are we to be filled with the person of the Holy Spirit? Because we can't do it apart from him.
[00:15:19] Jesus said. And we talked about this last week when Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. I don't believe he was talking about his return. I think he was talking about sending the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:32] So Jesus is telling those disciples in their lifetime, I'm going to come to you.
[00:15:38] The Spirit of Christ will indwell you.
[00:15:42] He tells them. He goes as far as to say, don't go off and try to do this ministry, this life on your own. You need to wait for the person of the Holy Spirit whom the Father is going to send.
[00:15:56] We need the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:59] The world needs Christians who don't just know things, but who are empowered.
[00:16:08] The world doesn't need Christians infighting on X. That is, it's. I'm not even on it.
[00:16:15] Taylor will text me sometimes and be like, man, did you read about so and so? And I'm like, man, I wish I wouldn't have like, that's not what the world needs.
[00:16:24] The world needs a church filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, loving the word of God, obeying the word of God, being quick to repent, humble Engaging them with truth and grace. That's what the world needs. Christians filled with, with the Holy Spirit, we're called, to engage the culture and make disciples. This is why you're here.
[00:16:50] You're here to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself and make disciples.
[00:16:58] That's why you're here.
[00:17:00] What a glorious thing.
[00:17:02] It's not like I'm so off my notes. It's not like this is not going to happen if you don't participate. Did you know that?
[00:17:13] That if you choose to not participate, if I choose to not participate, God's going to do what God's going to do. And that's a glorious reality. He is relentless on his pursuit to glorify his name.
[00:17:25] The whole earth will be covered with his glory as the waters cover the seas. With or without our help.
[00:17:35] We get to go to work with dad.
[00:17:38] You get to participate in what he's already doing. And so if you're contemplating in your mind, should I engage my neighbor? Should I have this conversation? Should I pray for this person? Should I reconcile with my brother or sister in the church?
[00:17:49] We'll talk about urgency of time in a moment. But if you're contemplating those things, here's what I want you to assume. I want you to assume that God's already at work in that thing and in that person. He's already doing it.
[00:18:02] That's probably why they came to mind for you.
[00:18:06] He's already doing it. Just get in on it.
[00:18:10] Experience the joy that comes in getting to see the Holy Spirit bring a dead heart to life or reconcile a relationship or lead somebody to repentance or turn around a family like. Experience the joy that comes in all of that and getting to see God work and then glorify his name because of it. It wasn't because of you, it was because of Him. He let you participate.
[00:18:31] The days are evil.
[00:18:33] The world needs spirit filled, spirit empowered Jesus loving Bible, believing God, glorifying Christians.
[00:18:42] That's what the world needs. And so Paul says in light of this, don't get drunk with wine.
[00:18:50] He's not making a moral statement on alcohol. It's not what he's doing. And we're not going to go into that. That's not what he's doing.
[00:18:57] But in the first century, alcohol was much more diluted than it is today. That doesn't mean that Jesus turned water into Welch's grape juice. But it does mean that the alcohol content in that day was way less. Meaning this. And this is why this is important for somebody to get drunk with wine in the first century, they had to really be intent on getting drunk with wine in the first century.
[00:19:15] It had to be premeditated. It had to be thought out. I mean, it was like, I'm going to get drunk today, okay?
[00:19:21] And so Paul's saying, instead of doing that, which is debauchery, be filled with the Spirit. Be that intent on being filled with the person of the Holy Spirit, on getting drunk in the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:36] Don't get drunk with wine. Be filled with the Spirit.
[00:19:40] What does a life filled with the Spirit look like? Well, as we talked about last week, it looks like the person of Jesus.
[00:19:47] And so when you read the Gospels and you see everything that Jesus did.
[00:19:53] Jesus was conceived in the Spirit.
[00:19:58] The Spirit descended upon him, sent by the Father from heaven. At his baptism, he was filled with the Spirit. The Spirit led him into the wilderness. The Spirit sustained him and strengthened him in the wilderness as he was being tempted. Jesus was dependent on the Holy Spirit in the Garden of Gethsemane as he was anticipating the wrath of God being poured out on him for our sake, once for all, he was able to endure the cross through. Through the person and the power of the Holy Spirit. And he was raised into newness of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything about Jesus shows us what it looks like to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. But in this particular context, in Ephesians 5, Paul's going to give us three things that a life, the life of a Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit looks like. The first one is wisdom. They all start with a wife. The first one is wisdom. Okay, look at verses 15 through 17.
[00:20:53] He says, look carefully then how you walk.
[00:20:56] Not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
[00:21:06] Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is being filled with the Spirit produces in the life of a Christian. Wisdom.
[00:21:19] A growth in wisdom.
[00:21:21] Wisdom is knowledge applied.
[00:21:26] Okay?
[00:21:27] You can have knowledge about the Bible and it not be applied.
[00:21:32] And that's not wisdom, that's knowledge. They're two different things. Knowledge is necessary for wisdom, but wisdom goes a step further. Wisdom is knowledge applied by the person and the power of the Holy Spirit. The ability to live in the midst of the evil days that Paul lived, that you and I live, and to live as a person who's not foolish, but a person who's growing in wisdom. What is foolishness? Foolishness. According to Psalm chapter 14, is saying there is no God.
[00:22:02] It's living as if there is no God. It's living as if I am God.
[00:22:08] I know what's best. I know what's right. So I'm going to wake up today and I'm going to do what I want to do. That's foolishness.
[00:22:17] Wisdom, on the other hand, is living in the fear of God.
[00:22:21] Living in delight of God, knowing that there is a God and it's not me. He's not me.
[00:22:28] And that's a wonderfully liberating place to be. So being filled with the spirit leads to growth in wisdom. Wisdom is not merely knowing the will of God through scripture, but applying it in everyday life.
[00:22:41] Wisdom in the midst of evil days means not wasting our life on ourselves, but seizing the opportunity in front of us for the good of others and the glory of God. And this leads to joy.
[00:22:54] A life not lived for yourself. A life not lived for myself.
[00:22:58] Friends, it leads to joy.
[00:23:01] There's not. Tim Keller said this. There's nothing as joyful. There are few things in life as joyful as self forgetfulness.
[00:23:09] It leads to joy. Richard Baxter, Puritan, says this.
[00:23:14] He says, spend your time in nothing which you must. I'm sorry, let me start over. Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of.
[00:23:25] Just read that again.
[00:23:26] Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of.
[00:23:34] In nothing on which you might not pray for the blessing of God.
[00:23:39] In nothing which you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed.
[00:23:46] In nothing which you might not safely and properly be found doing if death should surprise you in the act.
[00:23:55] Does this make sense?
[00:23:58] This is wisdom.
[00:23:59] This is leveraging and utilizing the precious and fleeting moments that God gives us purposefully.
[00:24:12] Are you making the most of your time?
[00:24:16] You don't know how much of it you have.
[00:24:20] Are you making the most. Are you aware of it? Or is it just. Is it passing like a Christopher Nolan movie? Okay.
[00:24:27] Is it just passing?
[00:24:30] Are you making the most of your time?
[00:24:37] He says that being filled, being filled with the spirit, produces in us wisdom of the will of God.
[00:24:47] What is the will of God? On one hand, God's general will, as revealed in Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 4, is that you and I are conformed into the image of Jesus. That's God's will on a general level in all things. He's conforming us more and more into the person of Jesus.
[00:25:07] His will is revealed in his word all over the place. It's the commands of Scripture.
[00:25:15] Are we.
[00:25:16] Are we Utilizing.
[00:25:18] Are we utilizing the time?
[00:25:20] So being filled with the Spirit results in a life of growing in wisdom.
[00:25:26] The second thing, this is verses 19 through 21 is being filled with the Spirit results in a life of worship.
[00:25:32] So in a life of wisdom and in a life of worship, verses 19 through 21 says, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:25:56] Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
[00:26:02] So Paul is reminding us that the worship of God is not merely a vertical thing, but it has horizontal implications.
[00:26:13] Worship is not something that's just relegated to our 30 minutes of singing on a Sunday morning.
[00:26:19] Worship is all of life, okay? And as the late author, who was not a Christian, said during one of his commencement speeches, and I'm being vague on his name because I don't remember it at the moment, maybe you do.
[00:26:33] Stood in front of a group of college students and he said, as a non Christian, everybody worships.
[00:26:39] Everybody worships, okay? You worship the thing that if it were taken away from you, would leave you devastated. That's the thing.
[00:26:47] That's the thing that you worship.
[00:26:49] We all worship. Worship is all of life. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on human flesh.
[00:26:57] He became a man. He lived the life that you could not and I could not live.
[00:27:02] He died on the cross for our sin.
[00:27:04] He stretched his arms out. He breathed his last. He died on the cross for our sin. In love for you and in love for me. In part, to redeem our worship, to turn us away from worship, to rescue us from the idols that we worshiped, to worship the one true God.
[00:27:25] And that worship of God always translates itself in how you and I treat one another, how you and I engage with one another. Paul says, address one another or speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, talks about meaning. We address one another through the word of God.
[00:27:48] That's what Christians do. That's one of the things that ought to be so otherworldly. When a non Christian steps into one of our gatherings, we speak the word of God to one another.
[00:28:00] We don't just speak the word of God to one another. We sing.
[00:28:03] Christians, do you ever wonder why, like every church gathering ever has the same components?
[00:28:09] We pray, we sing, we preach.
[00:28:13] Church has been doing this forever.
[00:28:17] Says we sing, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Christ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. I was at a.
[00:28:33] Because I came to faith in Jesus late in life. I was not like, I would say indoctrinated. I was not indoctrinated into the life of youth church subculture. And maybe some of you were.
[00:28:46] But when I became a Christian, I started serving as a counselor at a youth camp called Super Summer. And when I went to Super Summer for the first time, I was like, this is a cult.
[00:28:57] Absolutely a cult.
[00:28:59] But by the end of the week, I was totally submersed into that cult. It was like face was painted, I had chacos on. It was like the whole thing.
[00:29:09] And one particular day in the middle of the week, one of our youth leaders, who was an older man, he was probably in his early 50s, not an old man, an older man than me, in his early 50s, had just like a month before, lost his son to suicide. 16 year old son.
[00:29:27] And so he, you know, he still shows up to Super Summer and he's like ready to counsel and pastor kids, youth, kids.
[00:29:35] And he led worship one night, he led the singing one night. So we gather together in a room and there's probably 500 of us or so counselors, not 500, about 500 people in the room. And he comes on the stage with a piano. He's got nothing but a piano. And so he sits at the piano and he leads us in the song 10,000 Reasons.
[00:29:57] And the spirit of God fell on that place.
[00:30:01] Okay, if you're a Christian, you have the spirit of God living in you.
[00:30:08] But there are other worldly moments that throughout our life God allows us to experience that gives us a little taste of what heaven's going to be like forever.
[00:30:18] And it was like we were all weighted down.
[00:30:24] Singing.
[00:30:26] Singing is warfare.
[00:30:29] When we come together on a Sunday morning and we sing to God, making melody to the Lord with our hearts, we're engaging in warfare.
[00:30:41] I want us to sing on Sunday in a way that makes the enemy tremble.
[00:30:46] And that's not hyperbole. You've been a part of those, I hope moments where when the people of God are gathered and we're singing and listen and we've said this before, you and I don't always sing from a place of joy.
[00:31:01] Sometimes you don't feel like singing because life is really hard.
[00:31:05] You feel weighted down by your circumstances.
[00:31:08] You don't want to sing, you don't feel like singing.
[00:31:12] You should sing because as we've said before, we don't just sing from joy, we sing for joy.
[00:31:20] We Sing the truth of the word of God because it's true and it supersedes how we feel.
[00:31:27] And when we do it, we pray that the Spirit of God would use that moment to lift up our souls and that we be built up in a way that the Apostle Paul is talking about here. That when the people of God are filled with the Spirit, that they sing.
[00:31:42] And as they sing together, we're led. We're. We're led along by the Spirit in that we build up one another. God is glorified and the enemy trembles where he stands. That that's what the singing of the church ought to be.
[00:31:59] So being filled with the Spirit means that we grow in wisdom in a way that we live with intentionality in the days that are evil. Gospel intentionality. See it as an opportunity. The world out there and as broken as it is, friends, it's an opportunity.
[00:32:14] Don't be afraid of it.
[00:32:16] You might lose your life in the process.
[00:32:18] Jesus is worth it.
[00:32:22] We grow in wisdom and we grow in worship as we're filled with the Spirit. And then the final one, and this is not a part of the Ephesians 5 text, but it's in the New Testament. I'm going to give you three verses is witness.
[00:32:37] So we're filled with the Spirit. And a result of being filled with the Spirit is that we grow in wisdom, applying the word of God.
[00:32:45] We grow in worship, worshiping God and worshiping God together, and we grow in witness.
[00:32:54] The Holy Spirit is a spirit of witness.
[00:33:00] God, the Holy Spirit empowered God the Son Jesus Christ, for the purpose of witness.
[00:33:08] It's why Jesus told the disciples when he sent them out, don't be afraid of what you are to say when they persecute you, the Holy Spirit will speak on your behalf. This goes all the way back into the Old Testament when God tells Moses in the book of Deuteronomy that nobody should be prosecuted on the evidence of only one witness, but on the evidence of two to three witnesses, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the helper, the advocate is, was witness with Jesus, and he is ours. He empowers us for the sake of witness. Acts 2, verse 4 says, they, the apostles were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. We'll talk about that in a few weeks.
[00:34:02] Acts 4, 8, 11 says, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, let Peter encourage you, all right? Because I resonate a lot with Peter on his worst moments.
[00:34:22] Speak too soon. Speak Too quickly say stuff that you shouldn't say.
[00:34:25] Just kind of fumble like that is usually in a variety of ways. And look at what happens when Peter is filled with the Spirit.
[00:34:36] Think about Peter then, and look at Peter now. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers, people and elders, this, Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has now become the cornerstone. Listen to Peter preach as a man filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:56] This is something only God can do in a person.
[00:35:00] And then Acts chapter 4, verse 31 says, and when they had prayed, this is the disciples. When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
[00:35:16] It's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit empowers us for witness.
[00:35:22] You can't do it on your own. I can't do it on my own. We need the person and the power of the Holy Spirit to breathe wind into our sails for the purpose of witness.
[00:35:33] So I just. I want to close by answering this final question. How are we to be filled with the Spirit?
[00:35:40] We're to be filled with the Spirit because the days are evil, okay? In the sense that the days are precious and fleeting.
[00:35:48] We're one step closer to the return of Jesus right now, right now, right now, than we were when we first came. This is how time works. And we can't do anything to stop it.
[00:36:00] And so we want to leverage the time.
[00:36:04] The days are evil. We're to be filled with the Spirit. And when Christians are filled with the Spirit, we grow in wisdom, we grow in worship, and we grow in witness. He empowers us. He energizes us for these things. How are we to be filled with the Spirit? I just want to give two things.
[00:36:18] One is for the folks in the room who are not yet Christians.
[00:36:25] So if you're in the room today and you're not yet a Christian, and we're having conversations around the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit, and hey, if you are a Christian, don't tune me out until I get to you.
[00:36:37] Here's what I would encourage you to do. If you're a Christian in the room, pray right now.
[00:36:44] Stop what you're doing and pray right now.
[00:36:46] And remember, you at one time were lost.
[00:36:52] Somebody prayed for you.
[00:36:55] Somebody somewhere prayed for you.
[00:36:57] Your parents, your friends, somebody at the church.
[00:37:02] And God answered that prayer for you.
[00:37:06] He awakened your heart to life. He saved you. He forgave you. He redeemed you just pray.
[00:37:15] And if you're not a Christian, here's what I want you to hear me. Read the words of Jesus From John, chapter 7, verses 37 to 39. Jesus says this. This is the invitation for you. Today, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
[00:37:39] There's an open well of eternal life and forgiveness of sin and relationship with God and a future in heaven that no matter what you've done, no matter who you are today, is available to you.
[00:38:01] Isn't that good news?
[00:38:05] If anyone thirsts, are you thirsty?
[00:38:09] Are you hungry?
[00:38:12] Do you want to be forgiven of your sin?
[00:38:15] Do you want to know that heaven is your future?
[00:38:17] Do you want God to be your Father?
[00:38:21] Do you desire to be made new?
[00:38:24] If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
[00:38:32] Whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
[00:38:43] John says, he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.
[00:38:52] For as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
[00:38:56] Jesus says this, if you believe in me, then out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.
[00:39:05] How? How do you receive the Spirit? By receiving the Son.
[00:39:11] That's how you receive the Spirit.
[00:39:14] You receive the Spirit by receiving Jesus. Come to him and drink today. Are you burdened by your sin? Come to him and drink from him.
[00:39:24] Are you burdened by your circumstances? Come to him and drink from him. Are you contemplating like you don't know who I am. You don't know what I've done. You don't know how far I am. You don't know how bad I am. You don't know these kinds of things. I will assure you of this because I believe the Bible, that your worst moments are the very things that qualify you most. To come to him and drink.
[00:39:46] That's what the cross is for.
[00:39:49] The cross is for sin, like actual sin, not fake religious sin.
[00:39:56] The bad stuff. That's what the cross is for.
[00:39:59] Come to him and drink today.
[00:40:04] And for the Christian, if you're a believer in Jesus and you're wondering, how do I? How can I be filled with the Spirit? What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Well, the answer to that is similar, and it's feast on Jesus.
[00:40:21] Contemplate Jesus.
[00:40:23] That's how you and I are filled with the Spirit. Philippians 3, 18 and 19 says, for many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.
[00:40:43] Romans 8:5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. So if you want to know what it means to be filled with the spirit, you have to ask yourself the question, what are you setting your mind on?
[00:41:03] Because Paul makes this.
[00:41:04] When you set your mind on the things of the spirit, you'll be filled with the Spirit.
[00:41:10] When you set your mind on the things of the flesh, the flesh will rule you. So what are you setting your mind on?
[00:41:17] What are the things of the Spirit? Well, the things of the Spirit are the apostles teaching. It's the word of God. That's the things of the Spirit that Paul's talking about. And what did the apostles teaching testify to?
[00:41:28] Christ.
[00:41:32] So what are you setting your mind on? You know, this is where I'm going to take us over time for a minute, like every single one of us in the room are being discipled by, you know what, your algorithm.
[00:41:49] That's what's discipling you.
[00:41:52] That's what's discipling me.
[00:41:55] I heard a commentator say this, and I thought it was a fascinating argument that culture, we don't really have a culture today, not in the centralized way that we used to have culture back in the 90s.
[00:42:10] Okay. We don't have that kind of a culture because everything is decentralized and specified for you.
[00:42:20] What videos come up on your YouTube feed.
[00:42:22] It's stuff that you like.
[00:42:26] It's stuff that you're interested in. It's totally different from the stuff I'm interested in.
[00:42:32] We live in a totally fragmented world, and it's only becoming more fragmented over time, more individualistic over time. It is discipling you and it is discipling me. This is what it means to set our mind on earthly things. And we wonder why we know very little of what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
[00:42:57] And so the invitation for you Christians is not to feel guilt and shame and condemnation over these things. It's to turn your eyes to the cross. This is what the cross is for.
[00:43:10] The cross of Jesus is not just for the non Christian.
[00:43:15] The cross of Jesus is sufficient for the Christian who's being discipled by an algorithm, who, though you know God, your heart feels far from God, or you feel discouraged under the weight of indwelling sin or bad habits or difficult circumstances that Jesus. Jesus came for you. And the only way for you and I to have hearts melted by the person of the Holy Spirit is to turn our eyes back to the cross.
[00:43:46] And as we fix our eyes on Christ and on the cross and what Christ accomplished on the cross through His Word, as we set our mind on heavenly things, then the Spirit of God will move and work and grow and cultivate our affections for him again.
[00:44:01] Does this make sense?
[00:44:03] Alright, let's pray together toward that end.
