All Christians have the Spirit of God dwelling within them. But how do we access the Spirit’s power in our daily, mundane tasks? Pastor Lutzer unpacks the requirements for being filled by the Holy Spirit, resulting in the transformation of our character. Imagine a movement of Christians praying every day for God’s Spirit to renovate our priorities and our lives.
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined us today because we’re going to be speaking about the filling of the Holy Spirit.
In previous episodes, we emphasized that all Christians do have the Holy Spirit of God living within them. Jesus promised that the Spirit would come, He would indwell believers, and He would stay forever. But the question is how do we experience the Spirit’s power? We know that He is resident; we also know that He desires to be president. But how do we access the power of the Spirit?
The reason I believe so deeply about this is that for years you know I read books that said in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit you have to do this, this, this, this, and you’re never sure whether or not you’ve done it all, and how much more is there to do, and how often do you have to do it, and it almost becomes an impossible task. And that’s why there are many people, many Christians who actually think that the filling of the Spirit is for missionaries and for pastors, but it’s not for somebody who cleans rooms in a hotel. I mentioned that because when Rebecca and I stay in a hotel we are often amazed at the hard work that those people have to do as they clean many many rooms and I’ve often thought to myself, “Imagine doing that for the glory of God.” How can you possibly do that for the glory of God, unless you’ve experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit? And I believe that God desires to fill every believer with the Spirit. The word “filling,” of course, means a sense of control. The control, the overflow of the Holy Spirit of God from our lives. That’s what we’re talking about.
Now, what does this text tell us? We’re in the seventh chapter the Book of John and Jesus is at the feast. He says, “Come to Me. You’ll receive living water. From within you there will flow rivers of living water.” And then we have this: “This he spoke of the Holy Spirit whom they would receive, that those who believe on Him would receive. For the Spirit was not yet given for Jesus was not yet glorified.” What’s going on in the text?
Here is what I want you to understand. How did you get saved (assuming that you are)? You got saved by looking at the crucified Christ and receiving from the crucified Christ the gift of forgiveness and the gift of righteousness. How do you receive the filling of the Holy Spirit? You look to the ascended Christ, who poured forth the gift of the Holy Spirit and by faith you receive from Him the blessing of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”
What am I trying to say? You’d be surprised at the number of Christians who believe that the Holy Spirit’s fullness is given to those who’ve got it all together. No! The fullness of the Spirit is given to us to help us to get it all together.
What we have to do is to receive the Spirit’s power and blessing by faith. You say, “Well, Pastor Lutzer, of course the Holy Spirit can’t feel free in our lives if our lives are full of sin and so forth.” Correct, but that’s the ministry of the Spirit. When we receive the Spirit’s fullness, we suddenly become convicted of our sins. We suddenly realize that the Holy Spirit of God wants to really seriously renovate our priorities and our whole lives but that is His power doing that. If we had to meet all of those requirements up front, we’d never know where we are at.
Well, let me bring this down to a very practical way I think for you to understand it. When I got out of bed this morning, I prayed and I said, “I need today, based on the ascension, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And I’m going to depend upon the Spirit to fill me.” Now, after I walked into this studio, I prayed the same prayer. You see, the filling of the Spirit is a repeated experience.
D.L Moody, who founded the Moody Church—he was asked, “Why is it that you have to be filled with the Spirit so often?” And he said, “Because I leak.” That’s why the Bible says in Ephesians 5:18 “Be filled with the Spirit.” How often? All the time.
We look to the ascended Christ, who won a victory and who poured forth the gift of the Holy Spirit. And we depend upon the Spirit, no matter where we are in our spiritual lives, and we discover that the Spirit begins to do His work within us, because by faith we’re trusting Him for all that He has for us.
Would you do that today? And would you tell your friends about this series because next time we’re going to be speaking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and after that we’re going to be talking about the doctrine of tongues but today just enjoy the Spirit. Just go with God.