Fullness for Every Disciple 2

Acts 13. Please turn there this morning.

I started this sermon last Lord’s Day, so if you were not here last Lord’s Day, what wasn’t intended to be a sermon in multiple parts became one, and so you can listen to part one at some other occasion. I found myself just rushing near the end and realizing that I’m just not going to get to the end at all. So, we’re here again. Maybe that’s the Lord’s way of directing us to the particular subject for our day of prayer. It was hitting me as I was preaching: I’m not finishing this, and maybe that’s exactly what we’re to do.

This emphasis, this focus on the need for the Spirit, praying for the Spirit’s work, looking for the Spirit’s work—and as I said last week, really, I asked the question about potential. And we talk in that way, sometimes in a very carnal way, about meeting potential and whether you’d ever had anyone in your life that could see potential in you. Some of you may have had that; some of you, maybe not. Maybe lived your life without someone really investing in you, believing and pouring into you. And sadly, there’s too many that are in that place.

But to our encouragement, if there’s anyone who’s wanting to see us hit our potential and enable us to meet our potential, it’s the Lord. And I mean this in the spiritual sense: that Jesus Christ died on the cross, we might be forgiven our sins, and then promised the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the very life we’re called to live. And it is by that, it is by the Spirit, truly in His fullness in your life and in mine—and only by that, only by that—we actually live the Christian life as intended.

I want you to think about that. So the question really this morning isn’t so much, do I know Christ? I hope, I trust everyone here who understands what I’m saying can say you know Christ. The question then moves on to, do I know, do I seek for and depend upon the power of the Spirit to live the Christian life? Is it an intentional thing?

Acts 13, just turn your attention to the final verse again. We’ll look at some other verses in just a moment, but let’s read the final verse here as the Word of God comes to Antioch in Pisidia, and there’s a great move of the Spirit of God, and persecution comes to Paul and Barnabas, and they are driven out. But we’re told in verse 52, a summation of the ongoing life of this church: “and the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”

This, beloved, is the word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. Lord, we hardly know what we’re pleading for. All we know is that it has pleased Thee to bless Thy church in more extraordinary ways in certain seasons, and there’s an increasing hunger among many of us that such a season may dawn. Whatever needs to be said today, Lord, whatever needs to be communicated and however, give Thy people a message. We plead for the Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Yesterday, in the weekly email that I sent to the church, I included a quotation by Spurgeon. Now, it was taken from a sermon in which he was pressing the matter of the importance of the Spirit in the life of the church and the people of God. If you were to go and find that quotation and find the sermon, you’ll discover in that sermon that he is lamenting the apostasy of his day. This, of course, is the middle of the 19th century, so it seems like a long time ago. But he is lamenting the apostasy of his day, and he argues that the need for their own denomination to protect it was more of the Holy Spirit because, said Spurgeon, “men never go wrong with the Holy Spirit.”

Now he’s not—if you’re not—I don’t want you to take it out of context and say all we need is the Spirit. Obviously, fundamentally, the Spirit applies and teaches through the Word. And that’s really his point. His point is that it takes the Spirit for men to maintain an adherence to the truth, conviction about the truth. He makes mention there of denial of certain cardinal doctrines and so on. And so men are drifting from clear truths in the Word of God, and he says the need to maintain the fidelity of the churches was the Spirit. It’s the Spirit that gives backbone in upholding the truth.

Men never go wrong with the Holy Spirit. And he continues to argue that whether it is the need for preachers for the church, less worldliness in the church, more unity for the church, bringing that about is the Holy Spirit. The need is for the outpouring, the plenteousness of the Spirit of God.

And if he was right—and I believe he was—then it applies to this church in this day, and it applies to every individual in this church. That you can name the problems, the difficulties, the challenges, the fears; you can name the temptations, and you can bring all the specifics before God, and it’s not wrong. It’s not wrong that the Lord would raise up preachers. That’s not an incorrect prayer.

It’s not wrong to pray specifically against the worldliness or carnality that may exist within a believer or in a church. But the answer, the real fundamental answer, is the outpouring of the Spirit with power in individual Christian lives and in the church.

Last week, my objective was simple. I wanted you to know what a Spirit-filled life is and desire to live such.

We’re brought into Acts 13, in which we are faced with one of the more extended sermons by the Apostle Paul in terms of the record given. We’re given details about the church that is established, the persecution that rises up that is very intense, so much so that Paul and Barnabas cannot stay; they’re forced to leave. And how, despite the conniving, manipulating forces of darkness and the authorities of that region doing everything they could, first to silence the preachers—which in one sense they succeeded in doing, at least in that territory—but their effort to silence the preachers was, of course, to quench what was going on and to prevent that, and in that they failed.

Because despite the opposition, despite all the background machinery that’s going on—I mean, we get just little insight. It’s just, it’s so… it’s stated so quickly, isn’t it? Verse 45: “when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.”

This is an extended effort to undermine the truth that’s being preached. And verse 50: “the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women.” They go to specific people. They’re seeking to add credibility to their opposition. Go to the women of means and power and influence and credibility and get them to turn against them also. And the chief men of the city, in addition, get them also pushing back against these men. And by that, raising persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

But it didn’t stop what had begun. And God, by His Spirit, through the preaching of His Word, founded a congregation there, set apart in loyalty to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And I am sure the persecution continued. I am sure that difficulties were in their way, but I’m also sure that God helped them.

The final verse, as I say, summarizes the whole thing: “the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.” Yes, not just Paul and Barnabas, but all those who’d been influenced there. God continues His work in that city.

So I want to bring us then to consider the second part of the fullness every disciple needs—the fullness every disciple needs. And I’m going to quickly run through what we considered already. Just bear with me in case you weren’t there, but it helps sort of set up where we’re leading to.

We considered last week what they had. What they had. These disciples in verse 52, they were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. So the first thing they had was the person of the Spirit. God is in them. God by His Spirit is in there. Just thinking about that: God. God. Is God in me?

I was reading with the elders Friday morning. I just read it before I went to the prayer meeting with them, Acts chapter 6. And you get to the end, close of Acts chapter 6, and you have the arrest of Stephen. And it tells us that—well, you go and look at it. You’re in Acts; you might as well turn over and see it for yourself, what it says.

“All that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” And I was struck on Friday morning reading that before I headed out to the prayer meeting. They saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. It wasn’t that Stephen was—it wasn’t tied necessarily to his purity in an absolute sense, because if purity is the reason why you have the face that appears like an angel, then our Lord Jesus would have walked around continually looking this way, to an even greater degree.

So it’s something that God does. It’s a miracle. It’s a work of God, powerfully done in order to actually, I believe fundamentally, bring a visible opposition to the statement that’s made against Stephen in verse 11. They suborn men which said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.”

And you will remember that Moses came down from the mount and his face shone. He had been in the presence of God, and it changed his very countenance. And what God is doing as they try to say that Stephen is against God and against Moses, God comes to confirm, no, no, he’s just like Moses. And the favor of God is upon him.

But the thought I had—here’s my point—the thought I had is, what needs to be true of a man for this ever to take place? It can’t be sinless perfection. It’s not just that, but there must be some kind of purity in the life and divine activity upon the life. And I started thinking to myself, oh, that my life would be so that if it was ever necessary for God to so work and give me a face that appeared as if I was like an angel, that if that was ever necessary that I would be in such a frame and be such a man like Stephen: a man full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost, full of wisdom.

But you get that point? He was full of the Holy Ghost. It tells us that earlier in the chapter. He’s full of the Holy Ghost. That is a fundamental part of it. God is in his life. Now something heavenly appears on his life. The person of the Spirit. This is the need: that God—more of God in your life, not less and not satisfaction with some mundane, halfway living, but God in your life in greater fullness.

So they have the person of the Spirit. They have the plenteousness of the Spirit as well because they are filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. They’re filled with the Holy Ghost.

That’s the sense of it. There’s a fullness, and the verb, as I mentioned last time, is the idea that they were being filled. It wasn’t a one-off event. It didn’t happen just on one occasion, but these disciples, all those referred to here, they are continually being filled. They’re being upheld. They’re being strengthened. They’re being enabled. And this fullness is happening in an ongoing way.

It’s the same emphasis that’s made in Ephesians 5, verse 18: “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Constantly being filled. This life that is knowing this river of the divine in the heart and in the life continually. It’s not something they do themselves. It’s in the passive voice. It’s being done to them. God is working upon them.

And of course, it’s not referring to regeneration. It’s not even referring to the indwelling of the Spirit. This is distinct. Those things are true of every believer, but this continued experience, this infilling, is something else. It’s not regeneration. It’s not indwelling. It’s something that may be true or not true of believers.

We saw the pattern of the Spirit, in which the book of Acts gives emphasis to the various things the Spirit brings about: boldness, wisdom, joy, endurance, and so on and so forth. And we saw, of course, the pleasure of the Spirit. And I’ll be emphasizing that more tonight, God willing, the joy that comes when the Spirit comes into the life.

So this is what they had.

We also got to point two: what they got—or pardon me, how they got it. And they got it—and I want to emphasize this because I felt like I was really rushing last time in relation to these two points. I want to draw your attention to how they got to this point of being filled with the Spirit. Because my fear is that we just pray for the Holy Spirit, and we don’t recognize that there’s something more undergirding, the reason why the Spirit comes and fills particular lives.

The first key in how you get to this place of being filled with the Spirit is the proclamation of Christ. They got there because Christ was proclaimed.

Now look, I’m going to be very quick with you here. The sermon in verse 26, as it begins in Acts 13, I want you to notice the emphasis, even when He’s not named specifically, the emphasis that is continually directing to the person of God’s Son. Now, sometimes the translators have filled in words here and there just to give a sense of the context, but the meaning still stands.

So, verse 27, as he addresses them, he speaks of those who, “in condemning him,” right? It’s referring to Christ. Verse 28, “he should be slain.” Verse 29, the things that are fulfilled that were written of Him. Verse 30, God raised Him. Verse 31, He was seen. Verse 33, raised up Jesus again. Verse 34, raised Him up. Verse 35, when he’s quoting the psalm, “thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One.” And so He saw no corruption, verse 36. Verse 37: “But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.” Verse 38: “through this man.” Verse 39: “by him.” It’s all, all of that, like almost every single verse.

When Luke, under inspiration, gives a summation of the sermon that Paul preached, it is this condensed focus on Christ. And so there’s a man who is filled with a sense of his purpose to make much of Christ, to proclaim Christ, to be clear on who He is and what He has done. And as he stands there, the Spirit of God endues him because the Spirit is given to make much of Christ.

And the people who receive this message are drawn out, not in some ethereal way after the Holy Spirit, but after Christ. And the Spirit fills the lives of those who are seeking Christ, making much of Christ, longing for the glory to be given over to Christ. This is God’s revelation of Himself in His Son made flesh. Word made flesh dwelling among us, “and we beheld His glory,” says John. “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So it was in that environment. It’s in an environment not where men get up and talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. Now, that’s what I’m doing today. I’m putting emphasis there. But you understand that the bulk of my ministry is emphasizing, drawing your attention to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I want you to see that in some quarters of the church where there’s this constant emphasis on the Spirit and little mention or concern about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is not the environment in which the Spirit actually works. He works to infill those who want to make much of Jesus Christ. The question you should have in your heart is the question of the Greeks, that when you come here on the Lord’s Day, it is, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”

And there ought to be in us this longing just for more of Him. And when that is present, when that exists, when there is this commitment and love and appreciation, and not just in terms of dead orthodoxy, but hearts inflamed with affection for the One who saved us, died for us, He prays for us, He’s returning for us—when the heart is inflamed with that, the Spirit says, theirs will I be. I’ll be in that life. I’ll be in that heart.

Oh, there’s so much error. But they came to this place because there is this proclamation of Christ, and there is, in the second place, the principle of faith.

It is not by beating yourself up. It’s not by some spiritual pilgrimage. It is not by asceticism. It’s not by self-denial of various forms, though—though self-denial has its place. There’s a kind of self-denial there. It’s not wrong. What I want you to see is that God is not obligated to fill His disciples, His people, with Himself simply because we check boxes that look like or align with forms of self-sacrifice. It is the principle of faith.

We quoted last time, Galatians 3:2: “received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” And that gets to regeneration, that gets to the conversion—pardon me, conversion. They heard the Word and they responded, and it was not done—they didn’t come to the standing by some works of their own. It was the work of the Spirit. The Spirit came into them upon them believing. They believe, and the Spirit’s at work in them.

It’s this idea of this principle of faith, in which God gives of Himself as we believe what He has said. Now that begins when we believe the gospel, right? We hear the gospel and we respond, and we have the Spirit within us. But that’s also how it continues. The fullness of the Spirit comes by those who believe, who believe that God has given His Spirit to His people, for His people.

So let me ask you the question. You say you believe that Jesus died for you, and you prayed, and you sought pardon, and you believe you’re forgiven. Do you also believe just as firmly that Christ gave the Comforter, gave the Holy Spirit, in order for you to live a life full of God? You—a life full of God. I don’t think, I don’t think we’re there, most of us. I think we, we put very little into this.

And this is where the problem is then. This is not, this is not—it’s not proven. Let me just state, as I said last week, it’s not proven by a manifestation of speaking in tongues, and especially not by a manifestation of a form of speaking in tongues which is not an actual language that can be discerned at all. We don’t believe that.

We believe what happened in Acts 2 and Acts 10 was that people spoke actual languages. We do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. I believe the same is true in Corinthians as well. It’s not languages here and then a prayer language there.

Why? Why would that even be? Why? To what end would that be the case? I’m not going to get into it. I’m so tempted to go into the whole tongue thing, but I’m not. I’m not. I’m going to resist. Do all speak with tongues? Is the question of 1 Corinthians 12. Do all speak with tongues? The implied answer is no. No, they don’t all have that gift.

But all are meant to be filled with the Spirit. Moms, dads, children, grandparents, those in ministry, those who are raising their children in the home, every season of life, in the workplace, with child, on a bed of sickness, wherever, anywhere, anytime—full of the Holy Spirit.

And the key is believing God. It’s believing God for it. He has given of Himself, and Christ is pleased to send His Spirit. And so then there’s a prayer for fullness. There’s a proclamation of Christ, the principle of faith, and the prayer for fullness.

Must it be sought and prayed for? I believe so. I believe so. Paul prays for the church, and the language isn’t exactly the same, but I think it is involved in what he’s praying for. In Ephesians 3, verse 16, he prays, in that profound prayer of Ephesians 3, he prays for believers that they would be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

These are people who have the Spirit, so do not give to me the question or the response, as some good men believe. They’re good in the sense that, by and large, we would be in agreement with them. We might even let them preach in our pulpit. Such alignment there may be, may exist between us, and yet, and yet on this we disagree strongly. They think everything, everything you need to the full extent you need it in terms of the Spirit in your life happened upon your conversion.

And I say no. No. I say no because the Scripture proves it. I say no because church history proves it, that there ought to be this prayer for more of God in the life. And Paul, he prays for it. Strengthened with might by His Spirit. Fullness of His Spirit in the inner man. More fullness. As I quoted already in Ephesians 5:18: “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled”—ongoing, being filled—“with the Spirit.”

Luke 11:13: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” It really comes down—again, I think we think of this in some sense of power. We so associate with power, we forget the personality.

But really what this is, it’s more of God. It’s the request of the heart for more of God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is God. He has all the attributes, characteristics of the Father and the Son in the eternal and divine essence. They’re the same. And the Spirit’s function is to bring God and give a fullness of God in the life. One of His functions is to bring that to the life of the believer. So we should pray for it.

If we know how to give good gifts even though we be evil, and our children ask for things and we will give them them, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them? How much more your Father will give, give the Holy Spirit? The Father being God, but in the economy of the Trinity, it’s not the Father, as it were, who comes specifically. It’s not how it’s outlined in Scripture. The Holy Ghost is the one who brings God into the life from its commencement to its ongoing fullness.

If this be the case, why do we pray so little for it? Why do we face our days without asking? Our prayers are often filled with details of circumstances, requests for relief, burdens regarding health, challenges in making decisions and plans, difficulties relating to economics, and so little time given are requests presented for the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost. We ask Him at times to change the weather, but not to fill our own souls.

Why is that? Ask, ask. You say, I love the Lord Jesus, and I want to see more fullness of Him. I want to speak more plainly of Him. I want to communicate more powerfully of Him. Oh, Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

We go out on those Thursdays to witness in that community. What is the need, those of you involved? What is the need? You go to the boys’ home, minister to those boys. What is the need?

All the young men who preach the Word down there, you have to prepare and get the sermon all aligned and make sure you’re clear and keep it straightforward and simple. And all of these things, try to be coherent. But you’re dealing with people who are dead in trespasses and their sins, and you’re dealing with a spiritual deadness that only the Spirit of God can overcome. And you can be clear as crystal, and they will not get it at all.

And oh, for the blessed wind of the Spirit, and there you are trying to make much of their need to repent and believe the gospel, and the Spirit comes, and the scales fall off, and it all becomes clear.

So this is how they got it. These disciples were full of the Holy Ghost. It’s the context of the proclamation of Christ, the principle of faith, and the prayer for fullness.

Finally, the difference it made. What’s the difference it made? Some of these things we’ve touched on. As in, I didn’t get to the third point last week, but some of these things I made mention of, and I just want to outline them as well.

What’s the difference that it made? Well, obviously it made them joyful under pressure. They’re under pressure. Their lives are being threatened. There’s opposition. Key people are opposing them. Lies are being spread about them.

And so it’s not a kind of joy that depends upon the stilling of the storm. It’s a joy in the storm. It’s not a joy because God brought us out through the other end, or the other side. It’s a joy because you have God in the journey. He’s with you in the time of persecution.

So they’re joyful under pressure. We need this. The Christian life should be so full of God that we’re joyful not just in the relief from pressure, but in the pressure. The world out there can be joyful after the pressure disappears. You’ve got—you can be joyful in it. If you don’t want that, then I don’t know. You’re a lost cause. We live in this fallen world. We’re not gonna escape trial. At times, we’re going to be beaten up, driven from one trial to the next. Some of you are in it. Stop gasping for relief and start crying for God—the fullness of God in the trial.

Not only made them joyful under pressure, it made them stable without their teachers. Stable without their teachers. Paul and Barnabas, away from this church, they leave, they’re left to themselves, and yet the Holy Spirit is still there. God is still with the church. They’re not alone. Neither are you. I die tomorrow. Maybe some of you—I’m going to guess—some of you will panic. You’ll panic. What are we going to do? I want you to see this passage. They didn’t panic. They continued.

It made them distinct from their enemies. This fullness made them distinct. We noted this last time. They were filled with envy, verse 45. Disciples are filled with joy, with the Holy Ghost. What a difference. You choose. Choose what party you want to belong to. I want to be there. I want to be exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit: love and joy and peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I want to show these things. Distinct.

I mean, again, remember, these people who are opposing them, the Jews, are religious. Religious. Normally you would see them in their pious way heading to the synagogue for worship. These are men of renown and notoriety and a lineage of being in the synagogue and being known for wisdom and understanding and so on, and yet here they are. They show their true colors.

See, you never know a man until he doesn’t get his way. You never know a man until he doesn’t get his way. That is—I’ll tell you, that is when you really know a person, right? The same with marriage, too. You never know your spouse until they don’t get their way. Maybe you’ll soon see a different side to them, maybe. Or you’ll see a meekness come over them, a love, a gentleness, a joy.

Well, that’s what the disciples had.

It made them witnesses in the region. That’s the fourth thing. It made them witnesses in the region. Verse 49: “the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.” It’s tied into all this event. The Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

This church takes the Word and they learn to spread it, makes them witnesses through the region, get it out, right? Okay, so we’re—just, if the Spirit is at work in this congregation and He remains at work in this congregation, we will always be talking about things happening beyond the address of this church. Always. We’ll be talking about things in the local neighborhood, talking about things in our local area and how we are trying or doing and endeavoring to publish the Word. We’ll be talking about the missionaries that we support, the countries that we’re helping get the gospel into, and all of those things, the things that are in the prayer book, all of that, all of that, all of that as a function, as a fruit, is one of the evidences of the Spirit at work. Witnesses in the region, going beyond them.

Finally, it made them a fulfillment of Christ’s promise. It made them a fulfillment of Christ’s promise. The work of the Spirit here in this church—yes, it drives out Paul and Barnabas. Yes, it brings persecution, whatever. But Christ’s promise is fulfilled. The Lord Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

And one of the evidences that this church continues on is you go to the next chapter, Acts 14, and Paul returns, makes his return journey after they have engaged in their first missionary endeavor. They get to a certain point and they begin to make their way back, and we read in verse 21: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith,” and “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

Now, that’s a summation of the message. I’ve mentioned this before. I’m sure Paul had a lot to say, but that’s the summation, because everywhere where Paul had gone and where the gospel had taken root, persecution arose, and when he left, it didn’t get any better, right? I said this last week.

If you think Paul and Barnabas leaving the area takes away the persecution, you’re not understanding what’s going on here. The persecution would continue. And so when they make their way back, they see these disciples, and they start saying, Paul, Barnabas, you’ll never believe. Here’s what they tried to do. They did this, they did this, and so on and so forth. And I’m sure there were certain moments in the visit in which it was just a list of kind of complaining, maybe not complaining, but just like, here’s all the stuff that’s gone on.

And so Paul’s major thrust is, listen, it’s not going to change. We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of God. So we’re going to leave you again, and this is going to continue. You can count on it. It’s going to be hardship. But here’s the thing. Look at what it says, verse 23. Oh, they return.

And when they had ordained them elders in every church. And here are men now to be set apart to lead in the congregation, to spiritually superintend in a more specific or perhaps in a multiplied way. Yes, the church is being built according to Christ’s promise.

You pray, you pray for the little congregations related to your own denomination and all churches for which you may have concern. You pray, you pray not merely that a man gets sent there to preach the gospel, but elders are ordained in the church because it is a necessary, essential, crucial part of the fulfillment of Christ’s promise: I will build my church.

I’ll pull out from among that locality men who meet the criteria of 1 Timothy 3 and are there for the spiritual needs and the preservation of the truth and the fighting against error and the protecting of the flock and all the rest of it. We have good men in this church. I thank God for it.

But it’s a bit like the Spirit. If the Spirit dries up in the believer’s life, there’s nothing. You can’t replicate what the Spirit is accomplishing and what the Spirit’s doing. You need that constant flow of the Spirit of God in the life. And for men constantly to be raised up, men of caliber, men of character, men to be appointed elders in this congregation or any congregation, requires the fulfillment of Christ’s promise, which needs the Spirit. The Spirit needs to be at work.

It’s an awful thing when you come into—and I’ll close with this—when you come into a state of Dead Sea Christianity. Dead Sea, of course, is known because it’s all inflow and no outflow. And you can get to that place in your own life. You just sit here in the pew and just receive and receive and receive. It’s all truth, but it doesn’t go anywhere. Dead Sea Christianity.

And it can come to a church as well. The whole church is sort of, you know, distinguished by that. It’s just a, it’s just a Dead Sea church. Just like, just constant stuff, never sees, but never gives. Never moves beyond.

Where the Spirit is operating, where the Spirit is at work, there’s a constant flow of life. And there are indicators of it. Yes, the raising up of men. Yes, the raising up of elders within the local church, and so on and so forth. And see, when it’s not there—why?

I want you to live up to the calling of God upon your life. I am not asking you to live up to my standard. I don’t have a standard for you except with the Word of God. I’m called here to just put the Word before you.

And the standard of this book is that you might be, like the disciples mentioned, you might be full of God, full of the Spirit, live a Spirit-filled life, constantly being filled. And there are endless things that will try to stop that. They are endless. A friendship, a hobby, a sin, lack of discipline. You look at your life. If it was to be said that the reason today that you’re not more full of God is one thing in particular, is there something that by the work of the Spirit in your conscience you say, I know what that would be? I know what that would be. If that is the case, in God’s name, remove it, deal with it, whatever needs to be done. Time is short.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

If I could summarize the need this way: more heavenliness. More heavenliness. Are you satisfied with the heavenliness of your life? Or do you want a person of heaven to more fill you, empower you, lead you, and use you?

Lord, let it be so that today we come to terms with Thy purpose for us to live, not just with the Spirit, but full of the Spirit.

I look at the young people here, and you look at the young families. I think how much is at stake. A Spirit-filled young person’s not going to marry the wrong person. A Spirit-filled young person isn’t going to accept bad company. A Spirit-filled young person is going to know the hand of God preserving them.

As I think of fathers and mothers, some of them very new to this vital, crucial labor, oh, how they need the fullness of the Spirit. The souls of their children, the souls of our children need for the lives of the parents to be more full of God. May we love our children enough to love Thee more, and may our love for Christ inflame today.

Oh, God, hear us. We’re thankful for Thy Word. Please let what is of chaff fall to the ground; what is true, abide. Bless our fellowship and help us in the season of prayer. We thank Thee, Lord, for Thy love. We’re glad we’re not on our own. And our Lord Jesus, even now, as the Word has been heard, surely, Lord Jesus, Thou art praying and sending Thy Spirit for its right reception. Let it be so. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.