HOW CAN I BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT?
(adapted from the alpha talk of the same name)
“if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him.” (Rom.8:9)
“Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Eph.5:17)
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”” (Acts 10:44-47)
i) “liberal Christians.”
ii) cessationists.
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” (1Cor.13:8-10)
1) I experience the love of God in a new way.
“The love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)
Paul prays that the Christians in Ephesus would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—”that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18)
2. I AM RELEASED IN PRAISE
“For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.” (Acts 10:46)
`The chief danger in the Anglican Church is not delirious emotionalism.’ Our danger is that we’re a little bit cold” (Cuthbert Barnsley, former Bishop of Coventry)
“I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer…” (1Tim.2:18)
3. I MAY SPEAK IN TONGUES
(i) you don’t have to speak in tongues to be a Christian.
“I would like every one of you to speak in tongues” (1Cor.14:5) – implication – not all of the Corinthians Christians did!
(ii) speaking in tongues is not the only mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
” Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert” (Luke 4:1)
(iii) The Bible distinguishes 2 types of tongues
” If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1Cor.13:1)
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” (Acts2:4-8)
(iv) What’s going on when someone speaks in tongues?
“anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.” (1Cor.14:2).
“If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.”(1Cor.14:28)
“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” (1Cor.14:14)
(v) Are tongues for public worship?
” If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at the most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God..” (1Cor.14:27-28).
4) What about prophecy?
“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. ” (1Thess.5:19-21)
5) I am filled with the Holy Spirit by asking
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)
(1) Doubt
(2) Fear
(3) Inadequacy
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I want to know more:
- Read: Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit
- Read: Ian Garrett, Especially Prophecy, http://www.church.org.uk/resources/sermondetailpf.asp?serId=121