Finding God’s Will Pt. 2

Review

· Jeremiah 29:11
“¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – NIV


· All to be saved:
2nd Peter 3:9b
“He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” – NIV

· The very first step in walking in the pathway of God’s will is to be saved.

· Matthew 28:18-20
“¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” – NIV
· His will is for you to evangelize

Being Filled w/ the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:17
“¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” – NKJ

It is important that we understand what God’s will is for our lives. There are some things in which it is not God’s will for your life. Like maybe pasturing or teaching of some sort. What we are talking about here is what God’s will is for every Christian.

Not only is it God’s will for us to be saved, to evangelize, but also to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are called to live a Spirit filled life. Here is a short “Spirit Filled” Theology: When you are saved, the moment when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are then filled with the Spirit. He is now living inside you. Simple enough. There is no Christian in which the Spirit of God does not dwell.

Romans 8:9
“ ⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” – NIV

1st Corinthians 6:19-20
“¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” – NIV

Now there are some who claim to be Christian and claim to be a Disciples of Christ, but their lifestyle and their actions do not line up with that of Christ. My question then according to Scripture is are they really saved? Because if you are really saved and you are really following the Rabbi Jesus Christ, then your actions would line up with His. The way you live your life would line up with the Word of God.

Luke 13:22-27
“²²Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, ²⁴"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'  ²⁶"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' ²⁷"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'” - NIV

Not all who say, Lord lord will enter into the Kingdom of God.

Now some believe they do not possess the Holy Spirit. That they need to reach a certain level of “spirituality” or a level of learning, not true. According to the Word of God we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us. We pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon us, but He is already there. Sometimes we ask for things we already have. Have you ever really analyzed your prayers?

· Prayer: “Oh Lord, give me more love for so and so.”
The Bible says: Romans 5:5 – “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” – NIV

· Prayer: “Oh Lord, I need more strength.”
The Bible says: Philippians 4:13 – “¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – NKJ

· Prayer: “Oh Lord I need more grace.”
The Bible says: 2^nd Corinthians 12:9 – “⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you…” – NKJ

· We are saying, “Oh God guide me”…God is thinking, “I am trying!”

· We are saying, “God, I need power!”
God says: Acts 1:8 – “⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;” – NKJ
We need to realize that we as Christians have what we need in order to live this life that God has called us to.

1st Peter 1:2-4
“² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” – NKJ

We have it, it is there we just do not realize it. So many Christians walk around saying, “I do not have the power to do or that…I am nothing.” You are nothing in and of yourself, but when Christ is living in you then you are so much more!

Colossians 2:9-10
“⁹ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” – NKJ

We are complete! No more to add, no more to obtain. We have all that we need. We need not to look for it anywhere else. It is there. If we are to ask for anything it should be as James 1:5 says, “ask for wisdom”. Meaning to “know” what it is we possess.

We know that in Acts 1:8, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”…not if, but when. The word used here for power in Greek is “dunamis”, from which we get our word dynamite. You are walking dynamite.

You might say, “Yeah right…whatever..I think I am a dud. Not only do I not explode, but I don’t even fizzle too loudly.”

But you are dynamite. The power is all there. What so often not, is the release of that power. It is one thing to possess the Spirit, it is another to be filled with the Spirit.

Alka Seltzer

In the 1950s, chemists at Emerson Drug Company, creators of Bromo-Seltzer antacid medicine, worked to create a drink tablet that when added to water, would create instant soda pop. This concentrated, compact power pill is no good as long as it sits on the bottom of the glass. It has to release its energy to fill the glass, and then it turns the ordinary glass of water into something new. If it is a grape Fizzie, you get a glass of grape drink. The flavor of the tablet determines the flavor of the water.

In a measure, that pictures how the Spirit of God operates in a human life. He is in the Christian all the time as a compact, concentrated, powerful force of divine energy. The question is, has He ever been able to release that power, to fill your life so that you can become what He is? A Christian not yielded to the Spirit does not manifest the Christ-Life. The Spirit of God has to permeate a life if that life is to radiate Him.

Ephesians 5:15-20
“¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰ And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – NLT

When the Spirit of God is in control of our lives, there is both internal and external evidence of the Spirit filled life.   Paul uses the illustration of wine to contrast someone filled by the Spirit.   The power of wine is evident when we see somebody drunk, they are filled with “alcohol” to the point where it overflows.  The results of alcohol are visible, so in the same way the Holy Spirit should be visible to the world, we should be “drunk” with the Spirit.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is an internal relationship, between the Holy Spirit and the person. From this internal relationship then flows external evidence.  Is God’s Spirit in control of our life?   When we yield to the Spirit, then the results follow, because the Spirit of God is working through us as opposed to us doing the work.  We become the vehicle God uses to accomplish His work.  The external circumstances are only secondary, because the internal relationship is primary.

Matthew 12:33-35
“³³Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” - NIV

Whatever happens on the inside will flow into the outside. In verse 34 here it states, “out of the overflow (abundance) of the heart the mouth speaks”. Meaning wherever your heart is that is what will be produced. If your heart is not with God, your words are going to show it. Your actions are going to show it. But if your heart is tuned into God’s heart, you will bear the fruit that God has called us to bear.

Galatians 5:22-23
“²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³gentleness and self-control.” – NIV

It begins with the heart first! It begins with love! Love of who? The love of God.

John 14:15-16
“¹⁵If you love me, you will obey what I command.” – NIV

This word love here in the Greek is agapaho…which were we get the word agape from. It means to love. If we love God we will live our lives the way He had intended for us. If we love God then our lives will line up with His Word. If we love God we will do whatever it takes to do what He has called us to do regardless of what our friends say, regardless what our family might say, regardless if we lose our job, if we lose family, if we lose friends. It is crucifying ourselves daily to our sinful desires and having such a desire to follow after God that nothing gets in your way. When you have a love for God then it is easy to live a Spirit Filled life. If it is manifested on the inside it will manifest on the outside!

When the reaction of the Fizzie and the water, the compact, power filled, tablet has to release into the water changing its contents into whatever flavor the tablet was, that is how it is when we love God! His Spirit is released into our lives and you can’t keep it bottled up inside. Everyone around you will notice a difference in your life. Everyone around you knows there is something different about you. You are no longer walking around broke, busted and disgusted. You walk around with your head held high and you are filled with love and joy and peace and you are living the Spirit Filled abundant life that God has called you too!
How does a Spirit filled life express itself?

Ephesians 5:19-20
“¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – NIV
Paul goes on down the line describing the lifestyle of Spirit filled people. Wives will submit, husbands will love their wives, fathers will not provoke their children to wrath, children will obey, servants will work well, and masters will be fair (Ephesians 5:22 – 6:9). This is how Spirit filled people are supposed to live.