Lesson # 7 - The Person & Ministry of The Holy Spirt

All right, so this will be lesson number seven on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. John 14 verse 16 says, Jesus speaking, "'I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper "'that he may be with you forever.'".

And of course, that's a reference to the giving of the Holy Spirit. So before we go through the book, I just wanna give some of the basic information up front. Number one, every believer has the Holy Spirit.

Every true believer, everyone who's saved has the Holy Spirit within them. And the job of the Holy Spirit, it's in the name. The purpose, job description of the Holy Spirit is to make believers holy. So he makes us more like Christ.

And then there's a difference between the indwelling of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit. You've heard this, you know these terms, the indwelling and the filling. It's not the same thing. Someone can be indwelt, but not filled.

But you can't be filled and not indwelt. So every believer is indwelt by the Spirit. Not every believer is filled with the Spirit, although every believer should be. We'll get into all this. And let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

I'm sure this will come up again in our study, but I just want to mention this up front because this is so important. I think this is the biggest misunderstanding about the Holy Spirit, at least one of them, concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

If you ask a group of people, what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? You're likely gonna get some differing answers. So what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Here's my definition. The baptism of the Spirit is when a person is saved, they call upon the name of the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes in to indwell them.

And at that moment of indwelling, when a person is first redeemed, they are placed or baptized into the body of Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13. It says, for by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body.

So Paul is writing to the church and he's talking about we all, so all believers are baptized into the body of Christ. So if you're saved, you have had and experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because as most of you know, there are people that teach the baptism of the Spirit is when you speak in tongues or have some experience or these other things happen.

Well, that did happen in scripture, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when you get saved and you're placed into the universal church, the body of Christ worldwide. All right, any questions or comments on those basic pieces of information?

All right. All right, amen, we have agreement. So let's look at the book. John MacArthur writes, the Holy Spirit is God. The Bible identifies him as one of three persons existing as one God. That is God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit.

In this lesson, we will study who the Holy Spirit is and what his presence and ministry are in the believer's life. So the Holy Spirit, he starts out, the Holy Spirit is a person. So personal pronouns such as he or him are used to refer to the Holy Spirit rather than an it.

So he or him, the Holy Spirit is not a she. Of course, the Holy Spirit isn't male or female because it's a spirit, or he is a spirit. But there's some people that will teach the Holy Spirit is feminine.

There's all sorts of false doctrine about the Holy Ghost. And I think because of all this, the Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood person of the Trinity. So we wanna understand who he is. So he's recognized as a person.

B, the attributes of personality. What do we mean by a person? When you think of a person, a lot of people think a human being. Well, is the Holy Spirit a human being? No, he is a spirit. So what do we mean that he is a person?

Without going through this, how would you answer that?

Marcus. He has attributes of personality, a mind, emotions, and a will. Good.

Yeah, it says, number one, he has an intellect. He possesses the ability to know and understand reality. Romans 8 .27, the Holy Spirit has a what? Mind. 1 Corinthians 2 .10, the Holy Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

See, if the Holy Spirit is God's impersonal force, like some people say, the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, they say the Holy Spirit is not a person. Of course, they deny the Trinity. They say the Spirit is God's impersonal force.

Well, an impersonal force doesn't have a mind. An impersonal force doesn't have emotions. Look at number two. He possesses the ability to experience emotion. Record the emotion attributed to the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4 .30.

What does the Spirit experience? Grief. Can something impersonal, can this table experience grief? No, only something with, or someone with personality can experience that. All right, the Holy Spirit has volition.

It's just a fancy word for he has the ability to make decisions, to make choices. He possesses the ability to determine or act decisively. It says, list the decision or judgment in which the Holy Spirit demonstrates his attribute of volition.

1 Corinthians 12, seven through 11 says, as he will. So he has a will. Acts 13 .2, what did the Holy Spirit do? He chose and he set apart Barnabas and Saul, or the Apostle Paul, for the work of ministry.

Does anyone have any other examples, something that you thought of that, yeah, remember the one the Holy Spirit did this and it demonstrates?

Yes, Mark. I was thinking of Ananias and Sapphira. Right.

What did the Holy Spirit tell him to do? Oh, he spoke to him and told him that he had to, oh, Ananias and Sapphira. I was thinking of, who am I thinking of that baptized Paul? Help me out here. Ananias, yeah, it was Ananias, the different Ananias.

Okay, so yeah, Ananias and Sapphira, they lied to the Holy Spirit. And what happened to them? Yeah, well, did the Holy Spirit kill them? I don't know. God did it. God struck them down. So yeah, the Holy Spirit is definitely a person.

He has the attributes of God. The number two says the Holy Spirit is God. So the following attributes are given to the Spirit. He is omniscient. In Isaiah 40, 13 and 14, he knows all things. The Spirit of God is omnipresent.

Psalm 139, verse seven, where can I flee from your Spirit? He's present everywhere. The Holy Spirit is eternal. Hebrews 9, 14 says he's without beginning or end. And then the Holy Spirit has the attribute of truth.

1 John 5, 7 and John 16, 13. All right, any comments so far?

Yes. It just occurred to me that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life also. Just, of course, saying how similar they are in that version.

Right. What's a good illustration for the Holy Spirit and his place in the Trinity? Is he Jesus, just in a different form? No. Or you've heard these illustrations of the Trinity. The Trinity is like an egg.

There's the shell, there's the white, and there's the yolk. Or the Holy Spirit and God, the Trinity, it's like water, H2O. It can be like liquid form. It can be vapor, and it can be ice. And that's how you need to understand the Trinity.

And so the Holy Spirit is like the vapor. Is that true? Is that a good illustration? Well, it might be helpful for a four-year-old. It might be helpful for a 40-year-old, but it's not accurate. God is not like that.

God is not made up of three different parts. God does not change forms. So even though the Holy Spirit is called the Holy Spirit of God, and he is the Spirit of Christ, he is not Christ in a different form.

The two are distinct persons. So if you say, well, I don't know if I totally grasp all this. Good, I'm glad you don't. Because it means you're not heretical. Because if you can put God in a box and understand him perfectly, that just proves that you don't understand.

All right, yes.

Well, you said it, the point I was going to make is the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Spirit of God, and sometimes called the Spirit of Christ. Right. And again, it's just doing that. I'll just throw this, another one in.

Sure. The water and the egg were churned. Right, but when we were created, he created us in his image. And at the moment, those of us that are believers have a body, a physical body, and we have a soul, which is our personality, our mind, our emotions, our will.

And we have a spirit that is alive. So there's kind of three things in one.

It's been said that God the Father differentiates theists from atheists. And God the Son differentiates Christians from the cults, because cults don't believe Jesus is divine. So, all right, it's that God the Father divides atheists from theists.

God the Son divides Christianity from the cults. And then the saying is the Holy Spirit just divides. Because there's some Denominations. Yeah, there's something about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

And I think it's just misunderstandings about him that the subject is so divisive. It's really amazing because the Holy Spirit is the one that should give us our unity. There's passages we could look at, and there's the unity of the Spirit, and yet you talk about the Spirit, you teach on the Spirit, and it just causes great division.

Why is that? Does anyone wanna Have you noticed that? Have you ever experienced that? Yeah, well, we'll get into some of the subject. Once we get into the spiritual gifts, what's that, lesson number 10 or 11, whatever it is.

I mean, great division when it comes to the spiritual gifts, but even the work of the Spirit, great division. And yes.

It seems to me that the, I'm not even sure of the word, but the Holy Spirit is always seeking to exalt Christ, not himself. Right. And I guess because Christ was and is, you know, God, and was a human being, that's the way we can understand God best.

And the Holy Spirit is always just trying to help us figure it out.

You know what else is really divisive? The Bible. The Bible is very divisive, and the Bible is the book written by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit inspired the scriptures. So this really shouldn't come as any surprise because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth, it's going to be dividing everywhere, truth from error.

I think that's the real issue of why the subject of the Spirit is so divisive, because He is the Spirit of truth, and everything that's not in line with the truth, there's going to be a division. Okay.

The next part, B, statements of deity. It says, write the key statement that shows that the Holy Spirit is God. 2 Corinthians 3, 17. What does it say?

Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Okay, so the Lord is what? The Lord is Spirit. He is that Spirit. And then according to Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4, this is what Mark referenced with Ananias and Sapphira, lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as what?

Lying to God. So if you lie to the Holy Spirit, which Ananias and Sapphira did, lying to the Spirit is the same as lying to God, because the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit of God. All right, number three, the work of the Holy Spirit.

So we saw the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is God. Now the work of the Holy Spirit, according to Psalm 104, verse 30, the Holy Spirit is active in what? Creation. Creation. All right, so who was involved in the creation?

The Father, the Son, or the Spirit? Yes. Yes, right, okay, good. I knew I'd get that answer. Yes, all three, because if you look at John 1, 1, it talks about Jesus creating. So yes, God, the Father created, the Son created, the Holy Spirit created.

All three are involved in our salvation as well, right? So according to Psalm 104, verse 30, the Holy Spirit is active in creation. B, 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21 tells us that the Holy Spirit was also active in what?

Prophecy and the inspiration of Scripture. So here's another question. Who wrote the Bible? Did the prophets and the apostles write the Bible, or did the Holy Spirit write the Bible? Yes. Yes, right, same answer.

Well, it's gonna be one or the other. Says who? No, it doesn't. The Holy Spirit, men of God spoke, or they wrote it down as they were what? Moved by the Holy Spirit. See, there's no way you can really wrap your mind around some of these truths, the Trinity, the writing and inspiration of Scripture, because yeah, obviously men wrote it down.

And this is what a lot of people say. Well, the Bible is just a book written by men. Well, no kidding. Yes, men wrote it down, but they were inspired and moved by God, the Holy Spirit. So yes, both are true.

The Holy Spirit bears witness of Christ. So the Holy Spirit doesn't draw attention to himself. The Holy Spirit doesn't seek to exalt himself. The Holy Spirit seeks to exalt Christ. He bears witness of Christ.

This would be one red flag I would look for, for churches and ministries that exalt the Holy Spirit. And they're talking about the Holy Spirit all the time. It's not the Holy Spirit. Now there's some ministries that hardly ever mentioned the Spirit.

That would be bad too. But the Spirit should not be the focus. Who should be the focus? Jesus. Jesus should be the focus because at the cross, the Father glorified the Son. And the Holy Spirit's job now is to point to...

So in this age, it really is all about Christ. Okay, so the Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ. John 15, verse 26, he attests that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah. John 16, verse 14, will disclose or reveal Christ.

That's what he does. And he will not speak of himself. John 16, verse 13. What does that mean that he will not speak of himself? How would you understand that?

He speaks what God is telling him to speak, not of his own will or of his own initiative.

Yeah, the Holy Spirit, it's not like he has his own separate message that's different from God. He's doing his own thing. Like you wouldn't want a pastor of a church to speak of himself, not like talk about himself, but you wouldn't want the pastor just to be giving his message.

This is what a lot of sermons, and obviously anytime you're talking, it's you and you're talking about things that you think are important, but the message has to be who's the source. God has to be the source of the message.

So the Holy Spirit doesn't come up with his own message. He speaks what God wants him to speak. Just like as Christians, when we talk to people about the Lord, we want to tell them the information that we created in our own mind.

No, we should give the information that God gave us in his word. Very basic stuff, but to a degree, I think it's ignored. All right, so next, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation. Says one of the most important areas of the Spirit's work is with respect to God's plan of salvation.

So what special work does the Holy Spirit do? In John 16, seven and eight, what does he do? He convicts the world of sin. Okay, he convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. Then it says, by whom are sinners born into God's kingdom?

John five, or excuse me, John three, five through eight. By whom are sinners born into God's kingdom? Who gives us the new birth, right? John three is the passage about being born again. You're born again because you did something?

Well, yeah, you believe, that's true. You have to believe, but why do you believe? It's because of what the Spirit does, right? So we are, by whom are sinners born into God's kingdom, the Holy Spirit.

What work does the Spirit do when a person is saved? Titus three, five, and six.

Washes them and renews.

Right, regeneration and renewing. Think about that word, regeneration. How would you define that? You can say that, okay, yes. Regeneration, you say, well, what does that mean? Renewing of the mind. Okay, renewing of the mind.

Marcus? Well, it's not changing what's already there. It's creating something new.

Right, let's turn to Ephesians chapter two for a moment.

It's not revising life, life that wasn't there.

Giving new life, okay, let's.

Renewing, again, the human spirit is dead, that birth, it's stillborn, the Spirit is. Right. So it has to be regenerated.

So spiritual life cannot be possible without the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit regenerates us. Why do we need to be regenerated? Because we're dead. Yeah. All right, so every person born into this world because of whatever, original sin or the sin nature, people are born into this world, born in darkness, born with a bent towards sin.

Their spirit is dead. We have a soul, little babies have a soul, they're alive, but their spirit, as far as their, you describe it, their inclination towards God, they don't want anything to do with God.

They're spiritually dead. All people are before they're saved. So Ephesians two, verse one, this is what it says. And you, he made what? Alive. He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

So you once walked this way in the world, and a lot of Christians can give this testimony. They were living their life, doing what they wanted to do, living life on their own terms. And then all of a sudden, maybe they remember the moment, the day, maybe they don't remember the day, but they know there was a time in their life, or maybe even a specific moment where they, all of a sudden, they felt differently about things.

They felt that conviction. And it's not because they were seeking God and God was hiding from them. No, they were going their own way, and God met them where they were at. What did God do? He regenerated their spirit.

All of a sudden, they became alive, or you became alive towards the things of God. You remember that? Does anyone remember? I remember when that happened to me. Some people, it happened when they were so young, maybe they can't really discern an exact time.

I think that is possible. But this is what he does. He gives us spiritual life, and that's his work, not ours. Yes, Larry.

Heard an illustration a while back of a pastor when he was in seminary, going through theological training and whatnot. Their professor took them, all of his comrades, to a cemetery. And they went out into the cemetery, and the professor said, all right, preach your sermon.

And they were like, these people are dead. Yes, exactly, that's like your congregation. When you stand before them, many of them in your congregation are dead spiritually.

Yeah, I mean, hopefully it doesn't describe the congregation, but obviously, you get the point. There will be people in churches in all congregations. There will be those people that, yeah, they are spiritually dead.

And it's similar. So that's, yeah, I think it was Erwin Lutzer, I think, heard him say that. He brought his students. I'm sure it's been used by many preachers, but yeah, he brought his students to a cemetery and had them preach at the gravestones.

This is what it's gonna be like. Okay, 1 Corinthians 12, 13. So what work does the spirit do when a person is saved? We talked about this at the beginning. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body.

So we would classify this as the one body, as the one true church. Sometimes people call it the universal church or the invisible church. This is basically the body of believers worldwide. So every Christian who's ever lived is part of the body of Christ.

And you become a member of the body of Christ by doing what? Signing an application form and getting it approved by the deacon board and you get installed as a member of the New Testament. Is that how you become part of the body of Christ?

Well, that is how you become a member of a local church. Okay, that's true. But people can be a member of a local church technically and not be redeemed. Like there are church members in all sorts of evangelical and Baptist churches.

They have membership, they're part of that local church, but they're not part of the true church because they haven't truly been born again. So to be born again, to be part of the true body of Christ, and we are the body of Christ, but I think you get the point.

You have to be baptized by the spirit. So when we baptize with water, to become a member of this church, you have to be baptized, right? So you have to be dumped to be a member of Morse Corner Church.

Why do we do that? Well, because the scripture teaches it, but that water baptism is a picture of what has already happened spiritually. And we believe the person, not to get off on this, but we believe the person has to be under the water and submerged because that's what happens when you're born again.

You are immersed by the Holy, the spirit is indwelling your body. He doesn't come in part of you and just, no, he's all around you. He's in you. And he's supposed to fill you, which we'll get into that in a moment.

All right, any questions on that? The distinction between the local and universal church. I guess there's a lesson on that. Is that lesson eight or nine? We'll get to it. All right, if everyone understands that, then we'll move on.

So the baptism by the spirit occurs how many times? Once. Well, what about this second blessing that people teach? Has anyone heard of the second blessing? Yeah, there will be some people who teach that you can be saved.

And then maybe 20 years later, that's when you get the baptism of the spirit. They call it the second blessing. And that's when you speak in tongues and have an experience, and then you're really spirit-filled.

We are not Pentecostal and charismatic. We do not believe that. We believe the Bible teaches that the baptism of the spirit occurs only once. When does it occur? When you're saved. Now, why are people, when they first get saved, why are they maybe carnal and they're not really exercising the gifts of the spirit?

Yeah, they're babes in Christ. Yeah, 20 years later, they might, wow, you're really seeing the fruit. But that's not another act of God, the Holy Spirit. That's just, whatever, they got more committed.

Something happened. They got the sin out of their life, whatever it is, but it's not the baptism.

All right, yes, Larry. So do we get slain in the spirit at our death?

Yeah, I don't think that is, well, at our death, no. I don't think being slain in the spirit is in this lesson. I don't know where that came from exactly, but that is a false doctrine that if I can appeal to you and say, for the love of God, stay away from stuff like that, because I know people who have been slain in the spirit and they've suffered with mental illness, but they told me demonic possession.

This is not something you want to mess around with. I think a lot of people fake it and just kind of go along and it's nothing like that going on, but that's serious stuff. Does everyone know what it means to be slain in the spirit?

No. Basically, if you've ever seen it, and I only mentioned his name because he's the most popular one who does this, Benny Hinn. I'll give you an illustration. This is what he does. So who wants to come up?

Who wants to come up front? Hey, let's, no? All right. Yeah. So he's, Larry, stand over there. And if you're really seeking, he has the anointing. Benny Hinn, the televangelist, he has the anointing of God.

So what he does, he takes it and he, and you're supposed to fall down and twitch and fall on the ground. Okay, thank you. You've used the illustration. Or he'll yell a word like fire. By the way, if you're yelling fire, fire is not really what you want, but he'll yell the word fire or hit somebody with his sport coat and they'll fall to the ground and they'll act as though they're dead because they've been slain in the Holy Spirit.

And that's an experience that charismatics, not all of them, because there's some charismatics who do not go along with that at all. But many people will claim that, yeah, that was the turning point in my spiritual life.

And I received a special anointing of the Spirit. And it's not in the Bible. And like I said, people I know personally have experienced that. And they said something actually did happen, but they've been afflicted ever since.

So it's just, yeah, I think it's a demonic practice personally. But just think about the term, slain in the Spirit. You're being killed in the Spirit. This is not what you want. All right. The sealing of the Holy Spirit.

Actually, we've got to go up to section, the letter D, how does the Holy Spirit guarantee a believer's salvation? Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 says, "'In Him you also, "'after listening to the message of truth, "'the gospel of your salvation, "'having also believed, "'you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, "'who is given as a pledge of our inheritance "'with a view to the redemption of God's own possession "'to the praise of His glory.'".

So how does the Holy Spirit guarantee a believer's salvation? That's how. You are sealed by the Holy Ghost. So it's like a down payment. Think of that. When you buy a house, you put down a down payment that reserves it.

Now it's yours. Someone can't swoop in and take it, right? Well, that's what the Holy Spirit is. It's a down payment. He is a down payment of our salvation. So if you have the Spirit of God within you, you're saved and it's a done deal.

You know, you haven't been resurrected and you're not with God in eternity yet, but He's the down payment that it will happen. You understand? Okay. The sealing of the Holy Spirit. A seal was an ancient device, usually a signet ring or cylinder seal engraved with the owner's name or with a particular design.

It was used to seal goods, demonstrate ownership, attest the document's authenticity, or impress an early form of a trademark. A seal indicates ownership and security. It is the guarantee of future blessings.

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God's promise of our inheritance in the future. What a wonderful assurance. Amen? Yeah. So who owns us? God owns us. How does He know? The seal's been placed on us by giving us the Spirit.

Okay. This is number five. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. What is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the believer? What is it? According to Romans 8, 9, it gives you the answer.

Indwelling. Okay. The Spirit of God dwells in you. So this is the indwelling. B, is it possible to be a Christian and not be indwelled by the Holy Spirit? No. If somebody says, well, I haven't received the Spirit yet, well, I think a lot of people, again, have a misunderstanding.

I remember someone wanted to be baptized and they asked about, well, they had the idea in their mind that once I'm baptized, then I'll get the Spirit. Because when Jesus was baptized, this Holy Spirit descended upon him.

So they had that idea, but that's actually not the way it works. The Spirit comes in at the moment of salvation. Again, water baptism is just a symbol for what already took place. So every true Christian is indwelled by the Spirit.

C, what is another ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer? 1 Corinthians 2, 12 through 13. What does he do? Helps us understand. Yeah, he teaches us the things of God. Have you ever watched some of these TV specials about, I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, it might've been a Wednesday night, but like the real Jesus, like the hidden Jesus, right?

These NBC History Channel, these scholars come on, fake scholars, Marcus, right? It was like me calling them scholars, but they come on and they wanna tell you about what the Bible really says. And then you listen to them and you're like, what in the world are they talking about?

Like they are so far off base, and yet they're reading the same book that we are. They just don't understand it. Why don't they understand it? Because they don't believe it. And because they don't believe it, they don't have the Holy Spirit.

Because they don't have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit doesn't give them understanding. The Spirit doesn't illuminate the word. So here's the thing, only a true Christian can understand the Bible. If someone is an unbeliever without the Spirit of God, they can understand the meaning of the words, but they don't really get it.

Like we say, they know the Bible, but they don't really know the Bible, right? Larry.

That's why Hebrews 4 .12 says that God's word is living and active and powerful. So that's why when we read the Bible as we read it, if you read it through every year, you know, you may have done that for years and years, but every year, man, I've been reading this for years.

I never saw that before. You know, our former pastor Riddle, he'd been reading through the Bible for like 40 years. And there were times he was like, man, I never saw that before.

You know, and he saw it. Of course he saw it many times, but he didn't see it.

And we're going through different things in different periods in our life. As we age, you know, there are things that we didn't encounter when we were younger.

And I want to be careful. Obviously this doesn't mean you're going to understand everything because there are things in the Bible that you don't understand and I don't understand. But over time and the more we learn and the more we grow, God gives us more and more and more understanding, which is how you can see something that you never saw before, even though you've read it 50 times.

But without the Holy Spirit of God, you're just really not going to get it. Okay. What exhortations are given to all believers in regard to the Spirit? So this is an exhortation, which means, you know, you're encouraging people to do this or you're making an urgent appeal to all believers to do what?

Ephesians 4 .30. This is for everybody. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 1 Thessalonians 5 .19. Do not quench the Spirit. And Ephesians 5 .18. Be filled with the Spirit. So these, you can really look at them as though they are commands.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. How do you grieve the Spirit? When you go out and do something intentional and it's sinful and you know it's sinful and you do it anyways, that's grieving the Holy Spirit.

That's why you feel so lousy afterwards. 1 Thessalonians 5 .19. Do not quench the Spirit. How, who wants to give an example of quenching the Spirit?

Okay. No examples. Continuing to grieve the Spirit. Yeah.

Yeah, when the Holy Spirit is convicting you and you're not listening, or maybe we talk about the Holy Spirit prompting you, you just feel convicted maybe you should do something. And you're convinced.

The Spirit wants, and then you just don't listen. You don't do what the Spirit wants you to do. That's a way of quenching the Spirit. And then be filled with the Spirit. How are you filled with the Spirit?

Is there, oh yeah. This is something, oh, this is really mysterious. How do I get the filling of the Holy Spirit? It's not that mysterious. You just need to fully obey no matter what. So the filling of the Spirit is when you do what the Spirit wants you to do.

And it's a moment by moment obedience. Even if what you need to do is really difficult and you know it might result in this, or you're gonna do what God wants you to do. You are in full obedience to His will.

So that's the filling, yes. I believe it's Colossians 3 .16 that says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and through God's word and filling our minds, our eyes, our hearts with His word is filling with His Spirit.

Right. Yeah, and if you're not filled with the Spirit, then you have some sort of inner conflict because you know that God wants you to do one thing and you know that you're just not gonna do that. Now you have this conflict within you and that's kind of one of the sources of our problems as believers when we don't do what God wants.

Maybe you're not even doing something outwardly sinful, intentionally sinful, but if you're not fully doing what God wants you to do, there's that conflict between your spirit and the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, Marcus. I think to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to be empty of yourself or of any sin in your life that you're having or have not confessed. So your best chance of being filled with the Holy Spirit is when you confess your sin.

He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we need to be clean inside. Right. Let a man examine himself. That's what we do when we take communion. Examine yourselves.

Go ahead, Lord, tell me. What did I say? What did I do? What is there? Is there anything between us right now? Am I being selfish or disobedient? Right.

Yeah, and people like illustrations. So if you have a glass or a cup, what's inside of this? Air. And the air, if we say the air represents sin. Okay, get the sin out of your life. That's awfully hard to do.

How do I get the sin out? How do I get the air out of the cup? The Holy Spirit needs to go in and that's how you get the sin out. There's really no other way to do it. People can try self-reform and all sorts of different counseling and all sorts of different things.

Only the Holy Spirit of God, the water, can get the sin or the air out of the cup, your body, okay? It says being filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit is to be under His total domination and control.

To be filled with the Spirit involves confession of sin, surrender of will, intellect, body, time, talent, possessions, and desires. It requires the death of selfishness and the slaying of self-will.

To be filled with God's Spirit is to be filled with His Word. And as we are filled with God's Word, it controls our thinking and action. So how does a Christian keep from sinning? Galatians 5, 16, walk by the Spirit.

When a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, he will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, which is, according to Galatians 5, 22 and 23, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.