Are You Holy Spirit Filled?

The Filling of the Holy Spirit and the Proclamation of God’s Word

So I asked on Facebook the other day, what action is most immediately connected to the filling of the Holy Spirit in Luke and Acts? We got a lot of different answers, and some were correct. And no, it is not speaking in tongues specifically, though tongues is included under the answer.

Rather, the action most immediately connected to the filling of the Holy Spirit is the proclamation of the Word of God. We see this in the very first chapter of Luke's Gospel, in verse 15 and 16, John the Baptist will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and from there, the text immediately describes the nature of his preaching ministry.

The Spirit, the Incarnation, and Prophetic Speech in Luke 1–2

Again in Luke chapter 1, as the angel speaks to Mary, he says the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary, at which the Word is made flesh. The eternal Word is made flesh, becomes incarnate by whom God has spoken to us in these last.

Days.

Again in Luke chapter 1, when Mary visits Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, and, verse 42, she cried out with a loud voice. Again in Luke chapter 1, after John is born, in verse 67, his father, Zacharias, is filled with the Holy Spirit, and he prophesied.

In Luke chapter 2, the Holy Spirit is upon Simeon, who prophesies concerning the child Jesus. In Luke chapter 3, verse 22, the Spirit descends upon Jesus at his baptism, and the Word of God is proclaimed, this time the voice of the Father testifying to the identity of his.

Son.

Jesus’ Spirit-Anointed Ministry in Luke 4

In Luke 4, Jesus returns from his wilderness temptation in the power of the Spirit, beginning his public ministry by proclaiming the Word of God. This is confirmed further in Luke 4, when he reads from the Isaiah Scroll, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel.

In Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples that when they are brought before the authorities, the Holy Spirit will teach them what to speak. In Acts 1, verse 2, Jesus speaks to his apostles by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit, Witness, Tongues, and Bold Preaching in Acts

In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, the power of the Holy Spirit is directly linked to being a witness for Christ, which necessarily involves the bold proclamation of his Word. In Acts 1 .16, in the upper room, Peter says, Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David.

In Acts 2 .4, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And in those foreign languages, they were proclaiming the mighty deeds of God.

In Acts 2 .17, Peter quotes Joel, another connection between the Spirit and prophecy. In Acts 4, when Peter and John are arrested, the rulers ask, By what power or in what name have you healed the lame man?

And verse 8, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, He speaks. Acts 4 .31, one of my favorites, And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness.

We see Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit as he preaches in Acts 7. I'll leave it to you to search out the rest, but I think this is a fascinating observation that suggests that where the Holy Spirit is present, the Word of God will be proclaimed.

And if a church claims to be Spirit-filled, but does not preach the Word, or even decentralizes the proclamation of the Word, it might just be a holy n