"The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God." (Psalm 14:2)

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."(Ephes. 5:18)

Introduction: These Sunday morning messages are being called "Seeking the Lord: Daring to Draw Near". Our purpose has been to provide a way to focus our inner life as we prepare for our Spiritual Renewal Weekend next Sunday. We have said that seeking the Lord means to give the absolute attention of my life both inwardly and outwardly to a unique awareness of the presence of God. We have looked at the how, why, when and benefits of our being involved in such a focus of our inner life.

This morning I want us to look again at the phrase from Jeremiah, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13) Notice that God assures us that He is the focus of our seeking. He says seek ME…find ME…seek ME …He is the object of all the longing of our life. Not what He can do for us, give us, provide for us but just seek ME! Week before last my wife and daughters spent time on the Redneck Riviera (aka- Destin, Fla.). Now whenever I go away the first thing my girls say to me after "Hi!" is "What did you bring me?" So when they got home my first question was, "What did you bring me?" The answer was, "Krispy Kremes"! Now while I did that in fun I wasn’t interested in what they could bring me. Because what I wanted more than anything else was their presence. In the Bob Dylan song "Boots of Spanish Leather" the girl longs for her lover to return from across the sea. He wants to send her things rather than come home himself. She tells him that the reason she wants him and not his gifts is because anything she would want today she would want again tomorrow.

God’s gifts and provisions are never designed to bring me ultimate satisfaction. They are designed to draw me to Him who is the source of all contentment. Seeking God means that my search is to be satisfied with Him. What does that look like? It looks like a man named Frank Laubach. Frank Laubach lived in the early part of the twentieth century. He went to seminary; he became a pastor; he went to the Philippines to become a missionary; but then things kind of fell apart in his life, and it looked like his life work was going to go for nothing. He and his wife lost three children to malaria... and then he was separated from his wife and their one remaining son for health reasons. Then this strange thing happened to him as he sat alone, isolated, looking at a life of nothing up to that point -- he was in his mid-forties. And that thing is -- he met God. He discovered that it was possible to live in intimate communion with God through the Holy Spirit. Truly a part of the world changed. He reached his part of the world for Christ, and then in the next season of his life, he developed a passion for world literacy, starting the world literacy movement. Our won ESL material has Lau Bach’s name on it.

In the moment when he felt the most deeply connected with God he said to God, "Fill up my mind with your mind to the last crevice. Catch me up in your arms, God, and make this as terribly glorious as any human being ever lived, if you will." He continues, "As for me, I had never lived. I was half-dead; I was a rotting tree... until I reached the place where I wholly, with utter honesty, resolved and re-resolved that I would find God's will, and I would do that will, though every fiber in me said, 'No.' It is as though some artesian well had been struck in my soul, and strength came forth. You and I shall soon blow away from our bodies -- money, praise, poverty, opposition -- these make no difference, for they will all alike be forgotten in a thousand years. But this Spirit comes to a mind set upon continuous surrender." The point is when he sought God he found himself released to the filling of God’s presence within him-the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Now I ask the question for all of us, "Do those words describe your connection with God?" Or do you find yourself more as someone who is spiritually spent, emotionally flat, mentally dull and physically exhausted. I have been there. There have been times more often than I’d like to admit that I find myself struggling to know that I am personally connected to God, that He’s really there. I am not a person who depends on feeling to sustain me spiritually. I "just do it" because that’s what I am to do with out any questions. I’ve found myself in those times longing for just a little bit of emotion to hold me over before the next down pour could come.

One occasion occurred in the summer of 1999. Julie Bishop had given me a new novel by the writer Frank Peritte called "The Visitation." The central plot revolves around a young man who looks and acts like Jesus, who moves to a small town in Washington state. The subplot is the story of a former pastor of a Pentecostal church who has quit the ministry due to the death of his wife and also because of spiritual and ministerial exhaustion. The book involves several flashbacks to happier times in his life and times with his wife.

One such occasion was when he began to fall in love with his wife when they were in Bible College. At a chapel service when his wife was singing with two other young women the speaker kept talking about "fresh oil, fresh oil, fresh oil." I chuckled when I read that one night because it was a phrase I had heard before and was typical of the Pentecostal tradition. I continued reading until I became sleepy. I put the book down but woke up about 1:00 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. I went to a spare bedroom and read a bit more but still couldn’t sleep so I got my Bible and turned to the Psalms. I had been reading devotionally in the high 80’s or low 90’s but I couldn’t remember which so I read in Psalms 92. I read down though verse 9 and then I read this verse "But Thou hast exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil." (Psalms 92:10) When I read that, there were no "tears running down my checks". What happened was that for the rest of the night that word "fresh oil", "fresh oil" "fresh oil" kept coming back to me. Each time I told the Lord, " I need that." No emotion, no feeling just the cry of my heart.

Oil was essential in ancient times. The oil was typically olive oil and was used for food, medicine, fuel, cosmetics, and in rituals. Here it is a symbol of fresh energy and renewed strength. It is a metaphor of a new vitality for spiritual life. It is a way of describing what happens to us when we are filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The reason I have used these two stories is so to describe this for you before we name it. I want you to contrast in your mind the overwhelming sense of fullness when we are connected to God and the depth of the consciousness of emptiness when we are disconnected from Him.

This morning I want us to talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Is the filling of the Spirit an experience truly taught in the New Testament? If it is taught, then why aren’t more believers encountering it? What difference will it make? What does it mean? We cannot answer all the questions about being filled with the Holy Spirit but this morning we want to understand that to seek the Lord involves being filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Paul say’s that we are to be filled with the Spirit. Who or what is "the Spirit"? Genesis 1:2 tells us God’s Spirit has always existed, " The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface."(Genesis 1:2). There has never been a moment in eternity where God’s Holy Spirit was not present. The Spirit of God, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is not created but eternal. In other words He is God! He has the same characteristics as God. He does only what God does and He is equal to God the Father and Jesus the Son.

Holy Spirit is also a person. He is not an impersonal force, vapor or ghost. He is not the junior member of the Trinity. He has the characteristics of a person, acts like a person and chooses to relate to us as a person. In John’s Gospel Jesus used terms like "counselor," "advocate" or "teacher" to describe both the role and personality of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the one who, like a counselor truly listens, understands and guides us. He is like an advocate who is always in our corner, standing by our side. He is like a teacher who does all they can to stimulate us to grow more and more mentally and emotionally. If you have been thinking of Holy Spirit as some type of vague impersonal force, the images of counselor, advocate and teacher can help you relate to Him as a person.

What does the Spirit do in our life? The New Testament records over twenty-three specific tasks that Holy Spirit does for us. He convinces us of our need of Christ. He places us into Christ’s spiritual body. He also lives or dwells within us. One primary thing, though, that He does is to make us truly alive spiritually. Titus 3:5 says that God "gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is intimately involved in the creation of life.

So this One who is eternal, fully God, fully personal, who is the source of all life—this one has come to live in me! Understand that this means that you and I have all of God living in us. There is not just a little bit of God in me and a little bit in you. I have in the person of Holy Spirit all of God in me and all of God in you. I do not need a portion of God’s presence but all of God’s presence. A flower needs all of the sun’s presence to give it life. We might think that one flower doesn’t require all the power of the sun. Yet if you take away any portion of the sun’s power, that plant along with all the others on the planet will die. It takes all of God—all of His Holy Spirit to give you life. This One who gives me life, the source of all life is to fill up my life with Himself!

If that is who the Spirit is then what does it mean to be filled with Him? How can I be filled with a person? I need you to understand that to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not a mechanical phrase. We have said that all that Holy Spirit is comes to live within me so I can’t "get" more or what already resides in me. To be filled does not mean that the Spirit is a kind of substance, vapor or liquid with which you fill a container, as if you were a "glass" and God needs to fill up your "glass" with more of Himself. It does not mean you have more of the Spirit or less of the Spirit. Remember the Spirit is not a force but a person.

It also does not mean that after you become a Christian that you then get the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not some type of second experience that completes an inadequate salvation. It is not something that is to never be repeated. It is also not necessarily emotional.

It’s easy to see that there are two commands in this verse. One is negative: "Do not get drunk with wine" and the other is positive: "but be filled with the Spirit". That contrast shows us that it is not an issue of a mechanical matter of volume but one of control. A person who is drunk is not in control. God controls a person filled with the Spirit. We are then commanded to be filled or controlled by the Spirit.

So what does it mean? Very simply to be filled with the Spirit is to be yielded to and controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is a metaphor of life in which the Spirit has total and full control. It’s a picture of what happens when a person allows the Spirit to guide my thoughts, my perceptions and my actions. To be full of the Spirit means to be in utter surrender to the Spirit—to be flowing and overflowing with the life of the Spirit.

The language of verse 18 also tells us that this is some thing that is repetitive-it is to be continually experienced. It is inclusive-it is for all believers. It is something in which we ourselves are not in control-God is the one who fills us. The question is who is in control of your life? Is it you or is it the Spirit?

There are no formulas for being filled with the Spirit found in the scripture. Let me give you some suggestions that could guide us: First, We need to admit we are not under the Spirit’s control. If I am going to allow God to be in control of my life then I must admit to myself that He is not in control. Second, for the Spirit to control my life then I will also need to be willing to let go of or abandon some things that hinder His control. The things that fill my life are the things that control me. So if there are places where what fills my life are obviously not pleasing to God then those things will need to be released. Thirdly, we need to choose to place our life under the absolute rule of Christ in our life. It is an acknowledgement or recognition of His right to tell me how to live my life. Then you simply ask or invite Him to be in control. Holy Spirit will never force His way into our lives but is anxious for the invitation to do so. Finally this is something we accept by faith regardless of the feelings or lack of feelings we may have. It’s not what you feel that matters it’s how you live. It will be obvious that I am living life under the influence, the control of the Spirit of God.

The New Testament guides us by telling us we will be more Christlike in our character. Paul said that, "when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit (results) in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). Acts 1:8 explains that we will posses a power we did not previously know, "But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power…"(Acts 1:8). In the passage we have been discussing this morning Paul says that our worship will be transformed, our attitude toward God gifts and our relationships will be changed, "Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Ephes. 5:19-21)

More like Jesus daily, having ability to meet all my challenges, worship like I’ve never known, gratitude overflowing and my relationships with others totally new. That is what it is like to be controlled by the Spirit!

Conclusion: So this brings us back to where we started, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13) It’s that little word "all" that is the issue. I will seek for that which controls me. I will not know the fullest experience of my relationship with God unless I desire it. I cannot desire it if there are competing issues of control in my life. I will find when I seek and I will seek when all of me is under the Spirit’s control. So who is controlling you? "As for me, I had never lived. I was half-dead; I was a rotting tree... until I reached the place where I wholly, with utter honesty, resolved and re-resolved that I would find God's will, and I would do that will, though every fiber in me said, 'No.'… It is as though some artesian well had been struck in my soul, and strength came forth…You and I shall soon blow away from our bodies -- money, praise, poverty, opposition -- these make no difference, for they will all alike be forgotten in a thousand years. This Spirit comes to a mind set upon continuous surrender …"

Are you ready for a life like that? Then "be filled with the Spirit’s control."

Sunday, August 19, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org