Spirit Filled words both Wound & Heal

 

 

Sunday 08/26/18 

Series: For edification

Message – Spirit Filled words both Wound & Heal

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Spirit Filled words both Wound & Heal

Every so often I like to take us back to remind us of our focus…

Since the beginning of the year our focus has been growth in maturity and going beyond ourselves through edification and the expression of the gifts.

This purpose and goal has led us to these topics which work in us towards maturity, being good-stewards, edifying our brethren and doing the work of the Kingdom… 

• Purpose of the gifts is maturity
• Taught a lot on the do’s and don’t of the gifts
• Everything in the Christian life is about the Kingdom – so kingdom work is everything
• Authority (including gender) – it’s purpose & function and how it illustrates the Godhead
• Edification – is our stewardship & responsibility
• The mothering heart of the Holy Spirit
• The Spirit influences us towards growth
• Being diligent
• Examine yourself – CHRIST IS IN YOU!
• The urgency of the times
• Being the friends of God through obedience
• Be ANGRY about lies and evil!
• Walking and living in the light > not in the darkness
• Expose evil!
• Being filled with the Spirit

Things we’ve learned about ‘Being Filled with the Spirit’

1. Being Filled is to be influence and under the control of (led by, guided by, driven and motivated by…the Holy Spirit)
2. Being Filled “THEY SPOKE HIS WORDS”
3. Being Filled “They felt and responded with His Heart”
   1. Baby leaped
   2. Elizabeth rejoiced
4. Being Filled “they were led”
   1. Jesus was led into the wilderness – Luke 4:1-2 “(1) Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, (2) being tempted for forty days by the devil…”
5. ..and so, being filled is a potential sign of maturity or at least an action of maturity. Romans 8:14,

“For as many as are habitually led by the Spirit of God, these are the mature sons of God.”

1. In all of our examples so far, everyone had been in a heart attitude of reverence for God, love for Him and surrender to His will on some level. This is significant!
2. If one is “filled” their driving focus will be JESUS!
3. If one is confronted by someone “filled” with the Spirit, they will be placed in a position to make a decision regarding their commitment to Jesus.

———————–

Being Filled with the Spirit is to be…

• Controlled, led, guided by
• Entirely surrendered to

Last week we ended with the example of Peter and John healing the blind man on the way to the temple to pray. The Jewish counsel had detained them – questioned them and attempted to intimidate them from preaching in the name of Jesus.

It was then that Peter was filled with the Spirit and answered them.

We had determined that:

• Peter & John did not prepare a speech beforehand – even though they could have since they spent the night in jail awaiting further interrogation.
• The Counsel addressed Peter and James, but the Holy Spirit is the One Who answered. We are in this together as co-partners with Him. Let the full meaning and weight of that leave its indelible bruise on your soul! Emmanuel – God With us is a reality!

Mark 13:9-11 HCSB “But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to sanhedrins, and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of Me, as a witness to them. (10) And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. (11) So when they arrest you and hand you over, don’t worry beforehand what you will say. On the contrary, whatever is given to you in that hour–say it. For it isn’t you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”

Then, after their ordeal with the counsel they returned to their fellow believers and told them all that happened.

Then they all prayed in this way…

• • Honoring God as God.

• Honoring the Spirit’s role as revelator and speaker.
• Extolling God’s power as supreme.
• Pointed out the earthly threats against them.
• Submitted themselves to God – acknowledging. themselves as His servants.
• Prayed not for protection – but boldness to follow through with what the counsel threatened them NOT to do – which was the work of the Kingdom.

Then the Holy Spirit filled them ALL!

Ask yourself…

Whether in regular day to day life or when the enemy comes against me do I…

• Honor God as God
• Honor the Holy Spirit’s role as revelator and speaker by acknowledging Him & A role in my life.
• Extol God’s power as supreme – capable of completely eclipsing any earthly problem without even breaking a sweat!?
• Bring the earthly threats against you to God in prayer.
• Submit yourself to God – acknowledging yourself as His servant.
• Pray not for personal protection – but the opposite of what the enemy is threatening – which will work for the Kingdom!
• Do not lose the all important purpose of your life which is kingdom focused!

Turn to Acts 6.

Act 6:1-15 NKJV “(1) Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. (2) Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. (3) Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; (4) but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (5) And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, (6) whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. (7) Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. (8) And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.”

NOTICE: Stephen was NOT an Apostle, nor an Elder/Pastor, so far as we know he was not a Prophet…he was just a common believer who had just been anointed as a deacon. So great wonders and signs are not necessarily always signs which follow a person who is a GIFT to the body, but it ALWAYS follows Faith and Power.

Now let’s look at these words…The word “full of” is NOT the same as “filled with” but they essentially mean the same thing.

The word power here is not so much talking about supernatural miracle power, but the opposite of cowardice – a spirit of strength and vigor under oppression.

Rom. 8:15, NKJV “(15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

2Tim. 1:6-7, NKJV “(6) Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (7) For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

(9) Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. (10) And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

(11) Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” (12) And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. (13) They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; (14) for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” (15) And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.”

This is an example of letting your light shine before men. These men hated the light because their hearts and deeds were evil so they sought to extinguish the light. JUST like they did with Jesus and with our former example of Peter and John.

Acts 7:1-60, NKJV “(1) Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” (2) And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, (3) and said to him, ‘GET OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY AND FROM YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO A LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’ (4) Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. (5) And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. (6) But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. (7) ‘AND THE NATION TO WHOM THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY SHALL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’ (8) Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. (9) “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him (10) and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. (11) Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. (12) But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. (13) And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. (14) Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. (15) So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. (16) And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. (17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt (18) till another king arose who did not know Joseph. (19) This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. (20) At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. (21) But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. (22) And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. (23) “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. (24) And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. (26) And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE OVER US? (28) DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME AS YOU DID THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY?’ (29) Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. (30) “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. (31) When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, (32) saying, ‘I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS–THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. (33) ‘Then the LORD said to him, “TAKE YOUR SANDALS OFF YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE WHERE YOU STAND IS HOLY GROUND. (34) I HAVE SURELY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE IN EGYPT; I HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANING AND HAVE COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM. AND NOW COME, I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.” ‘ (35) “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. (36) He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. (37) “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN. HIM YOU SHALL HEAR.’ (38) “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, (39) whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, (40) saying to Aaron, ‘MAKE US GODS TO GO BEFORE US; AS FOR THIS MOSES WHO BROUGHT US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAS BECOME OF HIM.’ (41) And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. (42) Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘DID YOU OFFER ME SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS AND SACRIFICES DURING FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? (43) YOU ALSO TOOK UP THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH, AND THE STAR OF YOUR GOD REMPHAN, IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP; AND I WILL CARRY YOU AWAY BEYOND BABYLON.’ (44) “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, (45) which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, (46) who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. (47) But Solomon built Him a house. (48) “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: (49) ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS MY FOOTSTOOL. WHAT HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME? SAYS THE LORD, OR WHAT IS THE PLACE OF MY REST? (50) HAS MY HAND NOT MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’ (51) “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. (52) Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, (53) who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

(54) When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. (55) But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, (56) and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (57) Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; (58) and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. (59) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (60) Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Here we see Stephen referred to as a man full of faith, power and the Holy Spirit.

Relational trust filled Stephen’s heart controlling the direction of his heart towards reliance upon the working of the Holy Spirit in him. The result was Stephen being filled with the Holy Spirit in the sense that Stephen was now controlled by Him.

Therefore, the fullness of the Spirit has reference to His control over the believer yielded to Him.

OUR verse in Ephesians which tells us to not be drunk with wine in which is prodigal excess and waste but be FILLED (The verb being in the present imperative) meaning “Be constantly being filled with the Spirit.” The interpretation is, “Constantly, moment by moment, be controlled by the Spirit.”

Stephen’s trust controlled the direction of his expectations towards the Holy Spirit Who responded by filling Stephen – taking control of his words and actions.

Look at the back of your hands outs and spend a few minutes thinking through it. It is about time to stop making excuses for our lack of spirituality.

The book of James provides a key to this. It tells us that the Spirit Who dwells within us – yearns over our hearts and it’s affections with jealousy – but He still gives more grace. But we must stop being drawn away by the deception that ANY good gift can be found outside of God – the giver of EVERY good gift!

 

 
This service had content that is NOT written out here, so I would encourage you to listen to it WHILE you read…Blessings! 

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

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Blessings!