A Mini-Sermon From Pastor Walker:

Pre-requisites For The Spirit’s Fullness

Every once in a while I come back to this text because it is so important for us in the powerless, dry, shallow church age. There is such a great need for the fullness of the Spirit in the lives of believers. The word “fill” has the idea of being “conquered” or “controlled” by the Spirit of God. Not just preachers should be interested in the Spirit’s fullness. Before the fire fell at Mt. Carmel, Elijah did a lot in preparation for the fire to fall
 

I. Forgiveness (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). We certainly do not deserve God’s forgiveness, but it is given freely, by grace, to all who commit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. That simply means God has dismissed the charges that were against us and has wiped the slate clean in heaven through the precious, spotless blood of His Son Jesus. To be filled with God’s Spirit you must be a born again child of God (Jn. 3:3). In addition if you are a believer, and are living in sin, you will know nothing of the flow of God’s power in your life until sin is confessed (I Jn. 1:9). God fills clean vessels.

II. Emptiness- In Jn. 15:5 Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.”
When we realize what Jesus said and see ourselves as insufficient for living the Christian life on our own, then we come to the point of making room for God to fill us with His fullness. To fill a glass properly, you must make room for what you plan to add by removing what is already there. When we stop depending upon and looking to ourselves for what we need, and become God dependent, then we are a candidate for Divine fullness.
 

III. Passiveness- The Bible says in Eph. 5:18 to “Be filled.” If you check out the voice of the verb it is passive. In other words, the passive verb has the subject of the sentence having something done to it. In the active voice, the subject does the action of the verb, but in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon from outside of itself. You don’t work for the Lord to be filled, you are filled by the Lord to then work. The fullness is something God does for us and to us.
 

IV. Receptiveness- See Luke 11:13. The Holy Ghost is given to them that ask. You must reach out for and seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life if you are to possess it. God does not force anyone to be filled, but He does command it. Are you filled with God’s Spirit?

MINI-SERMON FROM DR. TOM WALKER