Experiencing the Spirit (Acts 8:14-40, Jeff Kliewer)

But when she got home, she began to weep. And as she wept, she woke her husband and told her husband what she saw, and together they wept through the night.

And out of that experience of weeping and suffering was birthed Plur Life Ministry.

This woman, having seen what she saw, but being a believer in Christ, was filled with the spirit to do something about the rave scene.

She began a ministry called Plur Life. Now Plur, P -L -U -R, stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect.

The goal of the rave is to experience what they call Plur. They are looking for a place where they can be accepted, where they can experience peace in their hearts, where they can feel love and respect and unity.

But it's built around a demonic thing rather than the truth. They're in search of Plur at these raves.

But this woman understood that she had the real thing. Something that's not drug -induced, something that's not synthetic and fake, but something that's genuine and real and that can last for a lifetime.

She had the Holy Spirit. She began to pray with her husband and a ministry was born. And now whenever a rave happens here in the

United States, Plur Life Ministry is there with a camper. And there are a group of mothers who join with this woman to minister to the people who are there.

Many of them escape. And it's probably not a high percentage, but some of them find life through this ministry and escape from this rave scene.

That says something to me, and I hope you understand where I'm going with this. As Christians, we are called to be separate from the world.

To not participate in the works of darkness, but that doesn't mean that we become Amish and go live in Lancaster County.

We are called to be in the world. In fact, we are called to be salt and light in the world. We can run to the darkness and change the darkness through the light of Christ and rescue some.

Now that rave scene will continue to go on and the works of darkness will continue, but the light of Christ is able to rescue some people out of it.

In our passage today, we're looking at Acts chapter 8. We're in the 14th verse and we'll take it through the end of the chapter.

But the main idea that I want us to see is that there is something called the

Spirit of the Living God. The Spirit of God is alive and He is able to fill us in such a way that we are transformed and we are given spiritual gifts.

We're given power to run into the darkness and bring light. It's one thing to be born again and rescued from our sin.

It's another thing to be empowered to take the gospel to others. So we look now at Acts chapter 8 verse 14 and following.

The reality of spirit -filling should not be assumed. Many people assume they're filled with the

Spirit because they're born again. If that were the case, then why does Ephesians 5 18 says be being filled with the

Holy Spirit? If we're being commanded to remain filled with the Holy Spirit, it's possible that there's times when we're not filled with the

Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

So it's possible that you could be sealed with the Holy Spirit. You could have the Spirit. You could be born again, but you're in a season of life where you're not filled with the

Holy Spirit. He's not controlling you. You're not yielded walking in the

Spirit. So let's look now. We left off last week with the scattering of the believers out of Jerusalem.

Most of the Christian movement was in Jerusalem until the killing of Stephen. When Stephen was killed and this persecution against Christians broke out,

Christians were forced to scatter to escape the persecution of Saul. But as a result of that, the seed of the gospel scattered wherever they went.

And the commissioning of Acts 1 8 came true through that persecution. Recently this spring,

I've been trying to grow some flowers and tomatoes and all kinds of plants, and most of what

I've planted has wilted and died already. But wouldn't you know that when we put it out on the lawn,

I don't know why we did that, but somehow so the scattering of seed entrusts that seed to the wind.

And God is able to do with the sowing of seed what he intends to do. Sometimes our best efforts to make and what we try to manufacture, what we try to do, doesn't accomplish much.

And yet what God can do in his sovereignty is greater than what we can do in our strength. So the scattering of the seed that happens in Acts chapter 8 happened because of persecution, a bad thing.

Stephen was killed and yet God used that to take the gospel out. And that's what's happening in Samaria.

Most of the Samaritans are believing. I think the reason for that is that the seed was thrown on a soil that was ready.

How was the Samaritan soil ready? Well, there was a woman at a well that Jesus visited with in Samaria, and she went and told the whole town about this

Jesus. And he hadn't yet died and risen from the dead, but the preparation for that message had already been made in the

Samaritan hearts. And so when Philip shows up, oh, yeah, we've heard about Jesus. We heard from this woman that he told her everything that she ever did.

And the people were open to the gospel message and the seed fell on good hearts. So the gospel is exploding in Samaria.

But there's a problem. Before we get to the 14th verse, there's something missing.

Now people are believing and they're being baptized and yet, let's read 14 to 17.

Now when the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the

Word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the

Holy Spirit. Here's the problem. For he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the

Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the

Holy Spirit. Very interesting passage.

So interesting, in fact, that it's pretty much divided the body of Christ worldwide around this issue.

The largest and fastest growing movement in in the world, speaking of Christianity, within Christianity, is

Pentecostalism. And Pentecostalism will look at this passage primarily, but some others, and say that what's happening here is that some

Christians are only born again, but there's a second work of grace. The baptism of the

Holy Spirit. Either you have it or you don't, and some Christians have the new birth, but not the baptism of the

Holy Spirit. And in effect, that theology divides the body of Christ into two tiers.

You have the ordinary folk, the church going, believing Christians, and then you have the super spiritual.

You have the super saints who are on a higher level, who have experienced the baptism of the

Holy Spirit. I understand from the text and from observing

Christianity, how Pentecostals have come to that conclusion. I understand that.

Because the difference between a spirit -filled Christian who's only going through the motions is stark.

Some Christians are experiencing the Holy Spirit. Others appear not to be. And so I understand the impulse of the

Pentecostal, which would say, well, that's because there's two tiers. There's the spirit baptized, and there's the not.

I think that there's error in the Pentecostal view. According to Romans 8 verse 9, he who has the

Spirit, if you do not have the Spirit, you are not belonging to Christ. Even more importantly, 1st

Corinthians chapter 12, 13, in the context of showing that all Christians have at least some spiritual gifts, to be baptized into the body of Christ is a spiritual baptism that Spirit then is in every believer.

And here's the point. If you have the Spirit, you have been baptized into the body of Christ, and you have every spiritual gift within you that the

Holy Spirit would will to give you. Now, here's the problem. Many of us are not walking in those giftings.

You have the spiritual gifts in you. You have the Holy Spirit himself filling you.

But there's something that's blocking the experience of that. There's some grieving of the

Holy Spirit in your life that's keeping you from experiencing the fullness of what God has for you.

So there's not two tiers. There's not the super saint Christians who have been baptized in the Spirit and then the ordinary.

No, we all partake of the same Spirit. We all drink of him. We all have the

Spirit, all of us who believe in Christ. But there are differences in how we experience him.

And that's the language of Acts that I want to show you. So in verses 14 to 17, the confusion,

I believe, comes from this word received. Received. Received.

In verse 14, they heard that Samaria had received the word they sent to them

Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the

Holy Spirit. In verse 17, when they lay hands on them, they received the

Holy Spirit. Now, we need to understand the language of Luke. How Luke is using this expression received.

Does it mean that they did not have the Spirit at all and then they received him?

As in, not possessing him and then possessing him after they received him. Is that the case?

I don't think so. I think this is speaking experientially. The experience of the

Holy Spirit, look at verse 16, he had not yet fallen on any of them.

Now, where do I get that from? If you look through the book of Acts, notice in chapter 1 verse 5, you can look these up later, they're in your notes, but in chapter 1 verse 5, we're told that believers would be baptized with.

In chapter 8, chapter 1 verse 8, the Spirit would come upon the believer.

Chapter 19 verse 6, filled with the Spirit. We have being, the

Spirit being poured out chapter 2 verse 17. And then this language of receiving, falling on, was given in 8 .18.

Notice that this is all experiential language. Luke is teaching us that there is an experience of the

Holy Spirit that's discernible. Because in each case, when someone experiences the

Holy Spirit, it is discernible to people looking at them, and especially to themselves. The disciples knew, in Acts chapter 1, that they had not yet experienced

Pentecost. They were waiting on being baptized with the Spirit. They were waiting on the

Spirit being poured out, according to Joel's promise of Joel chapter 2. They had not experienced it, and then they had.

And the demonstration of that was that they were speaking in languages, speaking in tongues, that they did not know.

And people were hearing that and noticed that this was some discernible, remarkable movement that was observable to them.

What we have here in our text today is the Samaritan Pentecost. What happened to the Jews in Jerusalem was a

Jewish Pentecost, and it was called Pentecost because it was on that holiday, the Feast of the 50s, 50 days after Passover.

Right? But the Samaritans now are experiencing a Pentecost of their own, and I want you to notice in chapter 8 verse 18,

Simon saw something happen. Don't miss that.

Simon saw something happen that was so profound, he wanted to buy it.

So it was not merely a theological understanding that, having believed, you are marked in him with the seal, the promised

Holy Spirit. It was not simply a theological understanding, almost a tautology, to say, because I believe,

I'm spirit baptized. Because I have faith, therefore

I have the Spirit, and that's all that's being said. I'll prove this again from Acts chapter 19, verses 1 and 2.

The question that Paul asks in chapter 19, verse 2, does not assume spirit filling.

Rather, it assumes that spirit filling is something that's recognizable. Spirit filling is discernible.

You can know whether you're filled with the Spirit or you're not, and it's not merely a theological statement. Look at chapter 19, verse 2.

Paul arrives at Corinth. He finds some disciples, and he asks them this pointed and telling question.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

You see that? It's not a theological question, because if it was a theological question, the answer would be within the question itself.

It would just be a statement. You received the Holy Spirit when you believed.

Ephesians 1 .13. Yes, we get that. Romans 8 .9. Yes, we get that. First Corinthians 12 .13. You drink of the

Spirit because you believe. But that's not what Paul says. He asks a question and says, did you receive the

Holy Spirit when you believed? And now the problem is revealed in Acts chapter 19. No, they didn't even know there was a spirit, because all they had was

John's baptism. And these were not even yet believers in Christ. They had heard

John say to follow the one that comes after him, but these are not yet born -again believers. And so they haven't yet experienced the

Holy Spirit. In verse 4, Paul says John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him.

That is Jesus. Verse 5. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

What do you do when you theologically believe the gospel? You make a public declaration of that by being baptized in water.

And you make an outward demonstration in the water of something that's happened inwardly, something that's invisible.

You can't see it. But look at verse 6. And when

Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on.

So, believing and being baptized, happens, first of all, inwardly, and then demonstrated outwardly.

But this is an experience of the Spirit that happens sometimes subsequent to it, perhaps at the time of regeneration.

But it's a separate reality that we're talking about here. Turn back to Acts 8, 14 to 17.

So from this passage, I want to teach and to make the argument that the experience of the

Spirit is what Luke has in view in the telling of this story. And based on this passage, we need that.

Even if you and I have been born again, and we've trusted in Christ for salvation, we need this kind of experience.

We need Peter and John to show up today and lay hands on each one of us. That's how it happens, right?

In this passage, it does. Before Peter and John come, they're not experiencing the

Holy Spirit. After the hands of Peter and John are laid upon them, they begin demonstrably, probably speaking in tongues, because that's the case in Acts 2,

Acts 10, and Acts 19. But there's some demonstration that the Spirit has come upon them.

Okay, so we need an experience of God, but we don't have Peter and John. What are we to do?

Well, it's not Peter and John that we need. It's the Spirit that we need.

In fact, it's not even any one particular gift that we need. It's the giver of the gift that we need.

If we chase after spiritual gifts, and we make that our pursuit, we run in vain.

But if we go for the Spirit of God, to worship Him in spirit and in truth, the gift comes from the giver.

We need to take some time. At some point, we'll continue to do this study. It's something we've looked at for a couple years now, at different times in university classes, in Sunday school classes.

We've talked about spiritual gifts. But it's a study that needs to be continued.

Make a note of 1 Corinthians 12 through 14. Romans 12, 1

Peter 4, and Ephesians 4. Those passages describe the spiritual gifts.

One of those spiritual gifts is speaking in tongues. But another is interpreting what those tongues mean, so that we don't just sound like a clanging gong and a symbol that makes no sense to anybody.

There needs to be an interpretation of that. There's also a word of wisdom, where somebody has the ability to speak into the situations of life with the knowledge and the wisdom of God, to know what to do.

There's a word of knowledge, where someone has so studied the scriptures that they're able to correlate scripture with scripture, and bring teachings from the

Word of God. It's a gift of knowledge. There's gifts of prophecy. There's many speaking gifts.

1 Peter 4 says there are these speaking gifts, but there's also service gifts. There are people who clean.

There's others who help and contribute. There's some who have gifts of contribution, that through their work in industry, they are able to make generous contributions to the church, and therefore support the life of the church financially.

That's a spiritual gift. There's gifts of administration. There's gifts of evangelism, where God will choose certain people regularly to share the gospel and bring others to faith.

Speaking in tongues is not mentioned in Acts chapter 8, and I think that's important, because it's not any one particular gift that's in view.

Rather, it's an experience of the Spirit. The spiritual gifts are now operating in God's people.

Now, let's look at the contrast, verse 18 through 24. There's a big debate whether Simon is saved, or if he's a false convert.

I lean towards the false convert view, and we can see that in the text, especially verse 20 and 21.

But the point is, this is a counterexample. He sees what happens to other believers, but he's not experiencing that.

He, in fact, sees the gift being given to others, and he tries to buy that gift for himself.

So, let's read it. 18 through 24. Now, when Simon saw that the

Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, give me this power also, so that anyone on whom

I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him,

May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

Now, that last statement of Simon is hopeful, because he's asking for prayer, but he's still looking to the apostles to be a conduit for him.

He's still looking almost as if they have some magical power in their hands that can help him.

He's not evidently relating personally to the God of his salvation. What's Simon's problem?

He wants to buy a gift of God with money. In verse 20,

Peter rebukes him for that. May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God.

The word is dereia in the Greek. It refers to an unmerited gift, something that comes from God, without any entitlement to anybody.

God does not owe this gift to anybody, and yet you want to buy it with money.

A brand of giving that highlights the beneficent desire of the giver.

This is a kind of gift that comes from the kind heart of God.

Can't be manipulated, can't be demanded, can't be entitled from someone, even offering money for it.

Peter is astounded that he would even suggest such a thing. Look at verse 21. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

So big picture here. Simon stands as a warning for us about false conversion.

One of the ways that you know that you are a child of God is that you have the

Spirit of God. And you know you have the Spirit of God, because the Word of God tells you that if you believe you have the

Spirit, right? That's part of how you know you have the Spirit. So you might not be a very emotive person, you might not be a real outgoing person, you might not tend toward emotion.

And so you can rest on the Word of God, that if you genuinely believe, you've repented of your sin, you believe in Christ, you have the

Spirit. But if you have the Spirit of the living

God, you will experience the Spirit of God. That means when you hear the music on Sunday morning, there will be something in your heart that rises up with praise to the name of Jesus.

That means there'll be something in your hands that that want to rise up. And we'll study it another time, the words for praise in the

Hebrew Bible we recently learned from Chris Tomlin's pastor. There's, I think, seven words for praise in the

Old Testament. Each Hebrew word is very expressive. Some of them mean lifting the hands.

But it's a heart that rejoices and delights. Here's how you know that you have the

Spirit of God. You experience the Spirit of God. You have joy in your praise.

It's not something you do just to go through the motions, not because you have to be there on Sunday, but because your heart delights to worship

God. Prayer is a natural impulse of your heart, because your heart is filled with the

Holy Spirit. And the Spirit has a prayer language, meaning

He prompts you to pray with your mind, but a dryness where you have no desire to pray is a bad sign.

Simon stands in the text as a warning against false conversion. It's possible to be in the midst.

It's said before this passage in verse 13 that he believed, but James tells us there's a kind of belief that's only intellectual.

The demons believe in shudder, but they have no works that flow from that. Simon stands as an example of a person who does not have the

Spirit of God. He's trying to buy something that he doesn't have. Be warned by this.

Be warned by what is warned to Simon. Repent therefore of this wickedness and pray to the

Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. No experience of the

Holy Spirit. One other thing I'd like to say about Simon. Simon was a sorcerer.

He loved power. He loved to be able to manipulate and control things using powers not ordinary, not within Newton's laws of physics.

He liked to go beyond those and use supernatural powers to manipulate and control things, and that's what he's trying to do here.

He wants to buy the ability to lay hands on people, and they'll speak in tongues of their prophecy, or they'll cry out in joyful worship.

He wants the ability to do that because he loves power. The essence of sorcery is the controlling of supernatural powers at your disposal.

According to Deuteronomy 18 verse 10, sorcery and witchcraft and all forms of divination are an abomination to God, and yet our culture promotes them like their child's play.

I went to the library. It was Cherry Hill Library. We're trying to get a book for our kids, and I looked around and I would say that a vast majority of the books in the children's department at Cherry Hill Library deal with sorcery and witchcraft.

It's almost as if the executives at Disney or Nickelodeon or whatever the children's stations are, it's almost as if when they're planning the next show, they sit around and they say, well, this sounds exciting.

You know, it's about space, or it's about some other fun thing for kids, and somebody sitting around the table says, you know what we need.

We need to throw some sorcery in there. We need to throw some witchcraft in there, and before long, watch the television stations that are being promoted to our kids.

Almost every TV show has sorcery and witchcraft in it. It's all through our culture.

But according to the Word of God, Deuteronomy 18 10 and this passage, this is wickedness in the heart.

To be repented of and pray that it might be forgiven you.

Acts 8 22. So here's our counterexample, and now we have one more positive example.

In 8 25, when they had testified and spoken the word of the

Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages and Samaritans.

Notice now that Peter and John are more than happy to preach to Samaritans. Why? They've seen the

Samaritan Pentecost. They saw that God welcomes Samaritans too. That's a large reason why there was a delay in chapter 8 verses 14 to 17.

They had believed, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. God was waiting for Peter and John to come up to Samaria and see that God welcomes

Samaritans just like he welcomed Jews. Peter and John saw that with their own eyes, and it transformed their thinking.

Now they recognize that God is the God of the Samaritans too. And this divide which had existed for hundreds of years.

The Samaritans worship on this mountain, Mount Gerizim. The Jews worshipped in Jerusalem. But Jesus said he's looking for those who worship in spirit and in truth.

Now Peter and John get that, and I think we get that too. That our part is not to look at race or ethnicity or age or ability or wealth or any other thing, but our part leaving this building after we gather is to go scatter and to preach the gospel indiscriminately to whoever we come across.

Preach the gospel and let the Spirit of the Living God draw those who would believe.

That's what Peter and John are doing now. They're not skipping Samaria anyway anymore, right? Remember how the the

Apostles were shocked that Jesus wanted to go through Samaria? Because the Jewish pattern was to go around Samaria.

And Jesus went right through the heart of it and met the woman at the well. Now that's what the Apostles are doing.

They're going with the gospel. Like that woman who founded Pluralife Ministries. She went right into the rave and preaches the gospel there.

There's no Jew or Gentile, Samaritan, slave or free. The gospel is for all.

Now verse 26 and following. Here's that positive example of what a spirit -filled believer does.

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place. And he rose and went. Pause there.

God can call you or tell you to go somewhere specific to evangelize.

I want to be really careful here because when I'm listening to other preachers, I always hate it when they tell stories about themselves.

It's like self -aggrandizing. Like don't brag in the pulpit. I'm gonna share quick stories about myself not to brag but to say that I know that this is real.

And I know the God who does this. On multiple occasions in my life, He has said leave whatever

I was doing to go to a specific location to share the gospel. One time in Dallas, it was a certain corner to meet a specific person.

Another time at a wedding, he said leave the wedding and go meet Mormons. And when I got outside, I found

Mormons on the side of the road and shared the gospel with them for an hour. And just recently this happened again with the young man to go meet him at a place

I had no idea that God was going to do. I experience that sometimes and I think you can and do also.

Will you listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when he tells you go here.

Go here. Now the prerequisite for this happening is that you need to be being filled with the

Spirit. It's almost always in a time of worship. When you've been spending time with God, when you're right with God, when you're experiencing the

Spirit, then you begin to hear these promptings. In this case, God sent an actual angel.

So Philip couldn't miss it. You know, I think sometimes those promptings that we have by the

Spirit, we miss that it's the voice of God. God wanted to send Philip here to leave a city to go reach a continent.

It's very important that he went. So he leaves. Verse 29 tells us later the

Spirit is the one who's talking to him, the Holy Spirit. But let's read what happens. He rose and went, verse 27, and there was an

Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet

Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, and asked, do you understand what you are reading?

Now this is like the perfect tee -up for the gospel right here. It's just like dropped in his lap.

He said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this?

About himself or about someone else? Don't you wish it was always that easy?

Don't you wish they would open with the question that way? Who is this talking about? Pray tell. It's about Jesus.

It's the most amazing Messianic prophecy of the whole Bible. It's Isaiah chapter 53.

All 13 verses are about Jesus. Let me show you how he fulfills it all. It's teed up for him, and of course

Philip knocks it out. I don't know how you say it with golf, not out of the park, knocks it down the fairway.

Verse 35, then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

Guys, that's what you got to go tell people about. You need the Spirit to prompt you to do this. You need the courage that comes from the

Spirit, the desire that comes from the Spirit. But all you need to do is just go tell someone about Jesus.

That's what a Spirit -filled man does. Break into that conversation. Talking about sports, you're talking about the weather, but you need to talk about Jesus.

You need the Spirit to help you do this, and we all do. Verse 36, and as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized? Man, this is easy. This is going great, and he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water.

Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. At this point in the story, do you call

Peter and John? Because you need Peter and John's hands to give him the

Holy Spirit, right? No. Verse 39, they came to the water, the

Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. Just sends him on to the next place. Now, some people think that's like a supernatural transportation.

I lean towards the view that this is speaking of Philip just being gone. He no longer is going to disciple him.

He's not going to invest any longer in him. He's just getting taken to the next place to evangelize. The eunuch saw him no more, went on his way, rejoicing.

He is filled with the Spirit. He has the joy of the Lord. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

As we continue reading in the book of Acts, 21st chapter, the 8th verse, you see that Philip is still there in Caesarea.

Now he's got four daughters. So evidently, Philip has a wife, and they've raised this young family, and all four daughters are prophesying.

They all know the Lord. They all walk with the Lord. Philip's wife, Philip, this family, this is a picture of a spirit -filled family.

This is what we need. We're going to close now, and I want to close with this thought. For mothers, what is it that you need?

What is it that your kids need from you? Be filled with the

Spirit, and you will give them everything they need. The thing that your children most need is a mom who so loves

Jesus Christ that they're seeking Jesus. You're seeking Jesus day in and day out, and the

Spirit is filling you to do what God tells you to do. Your greatest need is to be filled with the

Spirit. Maybe you're a child. I don't think any of the children are still in here, but even adult children.

You have a mom. You're grown, but you still have a mom. What does she need from you?

She needs to see you filled with the Holy Spirit. You will make your mom happy if you're filled with the

Spirit. Your life will be a crown to her head. The Proverbs 31 woman, she will delight if she sees you walking in the

Spirit. Now, if she's not a believer, she won't have the same kind of delight, but she'll be glad that you're not into other things like raves.

Mothers, what you need most is the Spirit. Each one of us, what we need most is the Spirit, and you say, yes, yes, we have the

Spirit. Right. Everybody here who calls on the name of the Lord, you have the Spirit. There's not two tiers, but there is a whole wealth of experience of the

Spirit that is available to you if you'll call on Him. You don't need Peter and John. You need the

Spirit. So in closing, this is where I want us to end. Calling on God.

Seeking the face of Jesus for a fullness of the Holy Spirit that goes beyond anything that we've experienced before.

No matter what experiences you've had, there is still something more and something greater.

There's more victory over sin. There's more courage in evangelism. There's more joy in the

Lord, where worship becomes the center of your life, where you love to come to church, where you love to raise your hands, where you love to delight in the living