Your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
Key Passage: Luke 11:13
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Luke, chapter number 11 this morning. Luke chapter number 11.
We’re going to have a start in 2 Corinthians, but I believe the Lord has us go this way, trying to seek his leadership in it and be aware of time on Mother’s Day. And how many got some food waiting for you when you get out of here? Good deal, good deal. Our daughter is cooking for us, her mom and my mom, all of us. So we’ll see how she does on the food, you know, but we’re going to start in Luke 11. We have been focusing on the Spirit of God, and we’re going to continue on with that, just trying to figure out exactly what the Lord wants this morning. Luke 11, with the time we have.
We’re going to read one verse, verse number 13, Luke 11 and verse number 13. And if you’re there already, would you say amen? Good deal. You’re ready to go.
This chapter really starts off with Jesus teaching about prayer, and he gives what is often called the Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer. And actually, that’s only 62 words in the book of Luke.
Then really from verse 5 down through verse number 13, he talks about praying specifically for the Holy Spirit. And that is actually 201 words. So you kind of sometimes would just—and I’m not against the Lord’s Prayer, of course, it’s in the Bible more than once—but once you just kind of know how much Jesus talks about this subject of asking for the Holy Spirit.
Two hundred and one words he’s talking about that. And we’re going to just read really the verse, the kind of the conclusion verse of the subject, verse number 13 of God’s word. Would you please stand just to show the word of God respect, if you’re able to? We like to do that in our house, in God’s house here, just to show the word of God the respect it deserves.
Verse number 13, Luke 11. The Bible there says, “If ye then, being evil…”
I’m always so thankful God puts that in there because it includes me. If you being perfect, I’d be excluded. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
Would you look at that last little phrase, starting with “give”? Would you read that out loud with me, please, starting with the word “give”? “Give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.”
You got to ask him. But just for a bit, let’s focus on this thing of the Holy Spirit. And would you pray with me that God would show me what not to focus on, just for time, what to focus on, and that God would do a work in our hearts? That’s the main thing: God would do a work in our hearts through the service this morning. Would you pray that as I pray the same?
Lord, we do come. I sure seek your leadership, Lord, what to cover, what not to cover. Lord, my mind’s here and there, so many doctrinal things. We don’t want to mislead or guide on who happens to cover it as needed. But then, Lord, make it real to the Christian people here. They’re asking and seeking for the empowering of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Father, even this morning, would you send your Spirit in a special way, moving and giving us a desire to be Spirit-filled? And Father, we’ll brag on you and thank you and praise you for what you do. And we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
So we don’t miss anything, let me just mention a couple of things about the Holy Spirit. First of all, every person in the world in some form or fashion has met the Spirit of God. Everyone. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, the Bible says, we read it last Sunday, “He’s reproved the world of sin because they believe not on Jesus.” So in other words, he’s convicted every single person in the world that they’re a sinner. They know they need a Savior because of the Holy Spirit of God.
But some have taken that prodding of the Spirit of God, and they’ve said, “Yes, I need a Savior.” And they have accepted the Spirit of God, and Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the cross of Calvary as their salvation. They were saved. Now, here’s what happened: the moment they got saved, it’s kind of like if you have a relationship with a person.
You know them, you’re dating, you’re building a relationship, but you ought not be living together until you’re married, amen. That’s still a biblical thing today. And you say, “Well, culture says…” I don’t care what culture says. Culture is falling apart. What does the Bible say? We were doing a whole lot better when we didn’t follow culture, we followed God’s word. I’m not supposed to preach on that, but it’s just there this morning, you know?
But anyway, when you get married, you move in together. You live together. Now, a little bit of a comparison: when you get saved, the Holy Spirit, he moves inside. He’s living inside your body. Your body is his temple. He’s living with you. He’s dwelling among you. He’s indwelling the believer.
Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” That was the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the believers. If you don’t have the Spirit of God living inside of you, you’re not of His, the Bible says. Your body is this temple, 2 Corinthians 6 says. So many passages. So if you get saved, he moves inside of you. He’s living inside of your home. He’s dwelling inside of you.
Now when he moves in, he wants to do so many things for you. The Spirit of God can do so much for you. Last week, Sunday morning, we covered, he can strengthen your inner man. It’s like that blow-up clown that’s got the sand in the bottom; you keep knocking it over, knocking it over, keeps getting back up, getting back up. That’s the Spirit-filled believer. The Spirit of God helps him, strengthens his inner man over and over and over again.
He’s called the Comforter. We covered that last week. He can comfort like nobody else can. I mean, I thought about last Sunday, Ms. Kathy Hickerson was here. She’s here again this morning. Her father had died the night before, Miss Kathy back there last Sunday. And yet she was here in church on Sunday morning. How does that happen? The Comforter. He can do things for you nobody else can do for you. He wants to do so many things. One of the titles of the Spirit of God is that he’s our guide.
He’ll guide us into all truth. Here’s inside of you; you have a built-in GPS system. He’s to guide you into all truth about everything. You know, God, and the Spirit of God is omniscient. He knows everything about everything. You say, “I know so-and-so.” They think they know everything about everything. Come on, you can testify there, some of you, you know.
He used to work with some guys we called them the “All Brothers.” They know all about all, you know what I mean? But the Spirit of God, he truly does know everything about everything. And he lives inside of it, and he wants to guide you. He wants to give you direction. He knows how to handle your relationship problems. He knows everything about everything. He’s your guide. There’s so much the Spirit of God wants to do for you.
Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter number 3. I was debating whether we go here or not. Let’s just go briefly here. Look in 2 Corinthians 3. Just maybe some things that the Holy Spirit does that aren’t mentioned very often. Some of these you know; you’ve heard so much. This isn’t interesting. Second Corinthians 3 in verse number 3. Turn quick because we want—we’ve got to go get home and eat. Come on now, you know. I’m teasing with you, of course.
But 2 Corinthians 3:3. He says, “For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ.” Paul here is speaking to these Christians at Corinth in this church, and he said, “You’re our epistles.” Watch how he was administered by us. Paul, his missionary endeavor, led them to the Lord. “Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the…”
You say, what are you getting at? When the Spirit of God is working, it is permanent. I hate it, you know, when I don’t have a tie and a suit coat on every day. Somebody say amen right there for that. Any of you men want to choke the guy that invented these things? Come on now. In heaven, there will be no ties, amen, you know? But I’m not wearing all that. Typically, I’ll have a shirt and some slacks in there, and I’ll have a pin in there.
And I hate it if it’s out, and I’ll write on myself because that’s hard to get out. I know hairspray and all that helps, but it’s just hard to get out. And the Bible here is talking about when the Spirit of God is working, he marks not just on flesh; he marks on the heart.
Let me put it this way: I thank God for the Spirit-filled people in my life that permanently marked on my heart.
My parents, of course, but I think about a coach I had. I think it was a Spirit-filled Christian, godly man. And he put some marks so deep inside of me. Forty-something years later, I still remember. They still cause my life to be different because I think it was Spirit-filled. See, we can preach it to somebody, but it doesn’t really, you know, in one ear, out the other. But when the Spirit of God is working, he writes deep inside of the heart.
Let me say it this way: I thank God for a Spirit-filled Sunday school teacher, Spirit-filled preacher, Spirit-filled mom. That’s key because he marks deep in the heart. That’s what you need rather, because the heart’s the center of it all. By the way, sometimes we can do this—I’m going to do this—if we don’t want all we do, it’s the Spirit of God that’s going to do the real work on the heart. But I thank God for that Spirit-filled coach; I still remember some things.
He used to use this phrase: “Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.” And he instilled in us, if you’re going to do the job, it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. That affects me to this day.
I never forget one time we were out at basketball practice, and we were on the outside court at the time. We’re out there practicing, and the cheerleaders were across the field over there cheering or practicing for that. And us, a bunch of knuckleheads, we weren’t listening to the coach about basketball; we were watching the cheerleaders. Come on now, you know. It’s a Christian school; they were dressed right, so we’re all right now, you know. But come on, we’re 16 years old. What are you expecting? I mean, at least we weren’t looking at the guys. It’s all right. We’ll be all right, yeah.
And the coach saw that, and man, he just stopped the middle of practice. And I don’t remember this part, but I almost guarantee he threatened to make us run because that’s just the coach, you know. But he said—he preached a little sermon at us, guys—and that little sermon has stuck with me forty-something years later. I remember a phrase he said. He said this little… he said, “Fellas, when you kiss before marriage, it takes away from kissing after your marriage.” And all these years later, I remember that phrase.
And by the way, the only lady I’ve ever made out with is my wife. And I thank God for that. And my coach had a part of that. I think his Spirit-filled when it just stopped and preached that message to us. And I’m just talking about it: if we’re not careful, we’re trying to do everything on our own and our flesh. But no, if it gets marked on the heart, it’s the Spirit of God that does that.
I thank God for Spirit-filled people. I think of that teacher I often mention. When I was just 12 years old and just a loner, quiet guy, and that teacher—I think the Spirit of God led her—she said, “Paul, you’ll make a good preacher one day.” Nobody dreamed of me being a preacher at that time. I mean, I didn’t want to talk in front of anybody, you know. And just, that wasn’t me. But I think the Spirit of God led her to say that, and it changed my life.
I mean, we lived very close. Since I could walk home from school, and I walked through a little pine thicket, God very clearly at that time called me to preach. God used what she said. At the time I was 12 years old, I knew what it was going to do. I told my brother; he laughed at me, so I didn’t tell anybody else after that for a long time. But the Spirit of God, he used that lady to write on my heart. And there are so many things the Spirit of God wants to do. He writes from the heart.
Look at verse number six right there. Look at verse number six right there. “Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” You say, “Well, that’s the letter and spirit of the testament.” Well, who do you think is the Spirit of the testament of God? The Holy Spirit.
And he said, just simply put—and there are other places, John and whatnot, you can talk about it—but the Spirit gives life.
I think of Adam. We talked about it in Sunday school this morning. God had formed Adam, and it was just a lifeless body laying down there, and God came over there, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and it became a living soul. That’s when the Spirit of God—by the way, that’s when someone gets saved. That’s what happens. The Spirit of God comes and breathes into them, and they become a living soul.
The Spirit of God brings life; it gives life. Now, here’s the sad thing about that: I can be born again and have, yes, the Holy Spirit—once he moves inside, he has sealed me in the day of redemption, he’ll never leave me—but I can quench and grieve him, and then I lose that life.
I thought about when my dad had cancer and how it just kind of robbed his life. And sometimes I can allow sin in my life that quenches the Spirit of God and grieves the Spirit of God. And you get a Christian that is so anemic and so weak, and they lose their desire to live for God. Why? They’ve lost that life. He’s still there.
And they’re truly saved. Every once in a while, you’ll see the Spirit of God, and he’ll convict, or bring a little life. But they’re just close to being… I remember when Dad went through chemo, Mom needed us. And they put him on this harsh chemo for a bit. And everybody has the right to make the decision, but for Dad, man, it just… he would just sit in a chair, stare out into space.
He had no energy to lift his arms, his fingers. They didn’t have energy to talk. That wasn’t that. Dad would talk if you’d get him alone, for sure. And it’s just kind of like an empty shell. So Dad said, “I’m not taking it.” But you can get a Christian that has quenched and grieved the Spirit of God, and they’re like a shell. They sometimes have the form of godliness, but they don’t have the power there.
Because they have quenched and grieved the life-giving thing of God living inside of them, that breath of life, and they’ve lost it. And there are so many things the Spirit of God wants to do for you, but when I quench and grieve the Spirit of God, I lose that. And it’s a sad thing. And so many Christians, they’re saved, but they’re just weak and anemic and out of energy and out of life.
And they’re living, but they’re kind of like got one foot on the grave and another foot on the banana peel. And that’s what happens when I quench and grieve the Spirit of God. Now, let me say this: every Christian in the world at some time quenches and grieves the Spirit of God. Unless you walk on water—anybody here walk on water?
If you can, I want to see you do it. Let’s go find a deep lake—not personally, preach, not deep enough. We’ll go to Center Hill Lake, you know. I want to see you do it. I’m joking a little bit, but I’m saying the only one that doesn’t, has never grieved or quenched the Spirit of God is Jesus. We all do it. So for just a bit here, I want to talk to you about what do you do? Because when you quench and grieve the Spirit of God, man, you lose so much of the things that God wants to do for you.
Just to really, just basically, he wants to give you life as a Christian. And you’re dead, and I’m dead as a Christian. By the way, I don’t have the fruit of the Spirit—nine things over there: love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering, against such there is no law. All these things, you don’t have those things.
So what do I do? I want to give you just three things very quickly this morning. You can say amen right there very quickly. Come on. Yeah, there you go. What do you do when you have lost this life-giving power, God working in your life? Luke 11—I’m going to steal something here. Don’t leave. Please don’t leave. I’m not leaving.
This verse right here, we just read it. We’re back over there in Luke 11:13. He says there, he says, “If ye then, being evil…” I’m glad I mentioned that. I’m glad because that includes all of us. But he’s talking about us being sinners, and we all are. But he’s actually talking about as parents, as dads, we’re not perfect dads.
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good things.” How many think it would be good to have the Spirit of God giving you life inside you? Oh, man, I tell you what. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more…” I like that.
“How much more shall your heavenly Father?” You say that’s talking to lost people? No, no. Lost people, they’re not his father; they’re his—he’s their Creator—but you’re not born in the family of God until you’re a Savior, become a child of God, born again. He’s talking to Christians here. “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that what?”
Ask him. So here’s the thing: I want you to monitor yourself. When you’re losing that life-giving thing inside of you, that thing that strengthens your inner man, that thing that comforts you, that thing that gives you the nine-fold fruits of the Spirit, and you don’t have that—you’re agitated about everything, and you’re just dead and you’re dry spiritually—start asking for the Holy Spirit. Number one: Holy Spirit. And I’m not talking about here, but he’s left you; he’s still indwelling you, but you’ve lost his power.
Over there, when Jesus breathed on them and he said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” that was the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. But it turns around a little bit later, and he says, “Tarry ye here in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.” That’s when he’s talking about the empowering, the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. That’s what you’re asking for. When you lose that, and man, you’re just spiritually… I can’t put one foot in front of the other, and I don’t care to put one foot in front of the other. And you’re going to be there if you live for the Lord very long. You’re going to have times you’re just drained and life knocks you down and you’re weary. When you’re at that point, don’t go over there and suck your thumb. Don’t go over there and blame everybody else. Start asking for the Spirit of God at that time.
Let something that’s a little bitty ember of a flame down there, the Spirit of God that won’t leave you, let him convict you. And you start saying, “Hey, I need your empowering Holy Spirit. I’m going to start asking for that.” And ask for it. That’s what God tells us to do. I reiterate: not the indwelling—you’re saved, you got that—but you lost his life-giving [power].
That’s what he told us. By the way, oh, maybe a year ago, a month ago, I don’t know, but on Saturday night, sometimes I go up here on Saturday night and I’m going to pray sometimes. And I was praying. That’s why we have it over in that wall, that way we leave, we go over there, we pray real quick. And if there’s donuts, we eat donuts over there real quick. That’s why sometimes we’re late coming out, you know. But anyway, we try to go over there and pray. And I want that on the wall to remind us because if anybody’s going to have their heart written on, it’s not going to be my preaching; it’s going to be the Spirit of God. And so we try to remind us, “Hey, ask for the Holy Spirit before you leave there.” Not the indwelling, but the empowering. That’s key.
So many Christians are living—I mean, they’re just so drained—and this sin-messed-up world, the world’s trampling over them, but yet they have the power of God that can give them like superpower. So when we have quenched and grieved the Spirit of God, and you say, “Man, I just… I don’t have any peace anymore. Everything bothers me. I’m worrying about everything in the world.” Stop and say, “Wait a second. I don’t have the fruit of the Spirit.” Start asking for it.
Just… here’s the thing I forgot to mention. Here’s the thing that spoke to me about a year ago. I was praying for it on a Saturday night. And I thought about Heavenly Father…
There’s another passage that mentions good things in any words a little different, but this one here: Heavenly Father. Sinful parents, sinful dads, if the child asks for something good, we do the best we can to give it for them. And God says, you have a Heavenly Father 10,000 times better than any of us earthly dads. You start asking for your Heavenly Father. He wants to give you the Spirit of God’s empowerment. Heavenly Father, so…
If I’ve just lost the empowering of the Holy Spirit, what’s the first thing I do? Help me out. What’s the first thing to start? What? Ask him. Start asking. “Lord, I need that. I’ve lost that.”
Now, number two. Number two, what do I do? I start… and I’m just going to go quick—I seek his advice. I want his leadership. John 16:13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”
Look over, if you will, in Proverbs chapter number three. Very familiar passage. You’ll know it, many of you. Proverbs 3. You’ll find this awful when you go to a Christian bookstore and they’ve got the plaques everywhere. You know, we find Proverbs 3:5 and 6. Those are great verses. But I want you to notice a little bit about it, verse number 6. And I want to talk for just a moment. I think maybe the greatest sin we commit against the Spirit of God. And I mean that. Proverbs 3, look at verse number 6.
Proverbs 3:6. It’s a wonderful verse, 12 words in this verse. Six of the words are our job; six words are God’s job. God will always do his job if we do our job. Proverbs 3, look at verse number 6. He says, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Our job is just to acknowledge him in all our ways. His job is he’ll direct our paths. He’ll do his job.
Now, it’s interesting. Acknowledge. That’s not really that strong, to be honest, to acknowledge. I was wanting to get back to shake Brother Dillon’s hand just because I want to acknowledge I want to know he’s here; I love him. Someone called—my wife’s relative called the other day. They were talking on the phone. I came in there on the phone, and I said, “Hey, tell him I said hi.” And they were talking, you know, later on, she got off the phone. I said, “Did he say anything back? Did he even say, ‘Well, tell Paul hi’?” Brother Johannes said, “No, a dirty guy,” you know. And I’ll be honest with him: man, if he didn’t even acknowledge me, that bothers me a little bit, you know. And I think the greatest sin we do to the Holy Spirit is when we don’t even acknowledge him.
He knows everything about everything, and yet we’re just going our way, trying to figure it all out and do our own thing whenever we don’t acknowledge him.
I think the greatest maybe offense that we commit against the Spirit of God would just be ignoring him. We go on our own paths. We do our own thing. He is our guide, the Bible calls it. So maybe the greatest thing is speaking up with him. In Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways, acknowledge him.” No matter what area of life you’re at, acknowledge him. You’re God, you’re the Spirit of God. You know what to do here. You’ve got the right advice. I’m coming seeking for your advice.
When we get wrapped up in ourselves and what we can do and how much talent and we just think, “I got to make myself get through this by your character, your talent.” And God says, “Heck, you’re losing my guidance. I won’t acknowledge you in all, and these signs won’t direct your paths because you’re not acknowledging me in all the ways.”
So if I’ve lost that life-giving Spirit of God, and just something’s not right between you and the Lord, start asking for the Spirit of God and say, “Hey, I want your advice.” There’s a real, real good chance somewhere along the line you’ve ignored him. You’ve not acknowledged him in all your ways.
He is very capable. He knows what you should do about that decision at work. He knows what you should do about that financial decision. He knows what you should do about the relationship decision. He knows about your marriage. The best thing to do about all these things. But the formula God says: “In all thy ways, acknowledge Him.” Spirit of God, you’re my guide. I need your direction.
Forgive me; I’ve been off on my own trying to figure it all out and just working night and day trying to get it done, and I need to acknowledge you. Seek his advice. It’s really not that hard to do. Just acknowledge him in all your ways. Holy Spirit, I realize you’re living inside of me, and I want your input.
They say years and years ago, when Henry Ford was living—but he was driving down the road, many of you have heard me tell this story—and I was driving down the road, he saw a Ford vehicle broke down on the side of the road. What about that? Now I’ve lived long enough to realize Jeeps and Chevys and all, they all break down. But this one did happen to be a Ford, though I will say that now.
And they say Henry Ford saw that, and it was a Ford, and he was an older man at this time, and they say he pulled over behind this Ford just broke down. And there’s a young man, a mechanic, that was working on it. Notice that. And Henry Ford went up there and he said, “Hey, can I help you with your car? I’d like to help you.” And the guy—he didn’t say this, but his attitude was like,
“This old man is going to teach me how to work on this car.” And Henry Ford is the one that made it. And we can be like that with the Spirit of God, doing our thing, going 90 miles an hour and trying to make it all happen and ignoring the Spirit of God.
So when I lose that life-giving power inside of his Spirit, so the Spirit of God, I lose the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m not marking on anybody’s heart. Ever seen a boxer that’s just… he’s tired or worn out? And he may be quick enough to land some punches, but he’s got no power at all. And the other guy’s kind of like, “Hit me all you want; it’s not touching me.” That’s the way Spirit-filled—excuse me, non-Spirit-filled Christians are.
By the way, Sunday school teachers, people who have ministries—that’s the key. That’s really what it is, right? That’s the key right there. So number one, what do you do when you lose that? Ask. Number two, get his advice; acknowledge him. “I know you know what to do here, Lord. I’m seeking your advice.”
And then number three, very quickly: obey every impulse of the Spirit of God. And I worded it like that on purpose: every impulse. Can I confess here? Sometimes I don’t do the impulse of the Holy Spirit of God out of fear?
Jimmy Tedder, he’s in heaven now, an old preacher, pastor for over 50 years down there. He said, “We’re a great guy.” And I called him one time about something, and I said, “Hey, how do you know?” And he said, “You know, typically I’ll just… I’ll just when the Spirit of God puts an unction in my heart, I just go with that.” And that’s so good for me to hear because I’ve been praying and trying to dissect every angle of it and try to figure it all out, and the Spirit of God already led me. But I was being dismayed. Every impulse of the Spirit of God, sometimes out of pride…
You know, “I got to go witness to them. I go give them a tract. They’re not going to take that tract. Lord, do you see their look at their face? They’re not taking that.” And I missed it. Every impulse of the Holy Spirit. You meant I got to go apologize to my spouse, Lord, you know? Every impulse. Every impulse. Every little bit of impulse. Now I got to close it out. None of us do that all the time.
Can I read for you a verse? I read it this morning. It’s such a wonderful verse. I just happened to read it in my devotions. The Lord in mind you the great verse. Let me just read it for you. Psalm 86, verse number five. He says, “For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive; and plenteous is thy mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” That’s key.
“Unto all them that call upon thee.”
There have been times I didn’t witness when God told me to witness, and sometimes I should—every time I try to. Lord, I’m sorry. I know you just talked to me about talking about that person about the Lord at the gas pump. I didn’t want to do it. Laziness, probably, whatever, I didn’t want to do it. Lord, forgive me, and he does. And I say, “Hey, Lord, would you give that person another chance? That may have been their chance to get saved, and I blew it. Would you have mercy on them? I don’t want to die and go to hell because it’s my fault. Would you let somebody else just lay them across the path or somewhere else?” And he will.
You’re not going to be perfect at it. But as soon as you lose the empowering of the Spirit of God, start asking for it. He gives the Holy Spirit; your Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask.
Number two: acknowledge him, seek his advice. Don’t ignore him. Don’t go on so headstrong thinking you’ve got enough to figure it all out and get life. Don’t do that. That’s what the world does. You have a God living inside who wants to help you.
The number three: obeying every little bit of impulse. When you don’t get it right, he’ll forgive. He’ll forgive. And a Spirit-filled Christian… God uses them, and he takes them, and he writes on the hearts. It’s a little bit like this, you know. But one place over in Ephesians 5:18, he says, “Be not drunk of wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
Ever take a sponge and you put that sponge in—really, you squeeze all the air out of it—and then you let it soak up the water? A little bit, you let the Spirit of God squeeze all of our self-righteousness out of us, and you let him fill you. I mean, you’ve got life oozing out of you. That’s what the Bible talks about other than John, like rivers of water flowing out of the belly, talking about the Spirit of God over there.
Let’s bow our heads. We’re going to run out of time.
This morning, you say, “You know, I’m going to start asking for the Spirit of God more. I’m going to start seeking his advice. And by the grace of God, I’m going to try to follow every impulse he gives me. I’m not going to be perfect at it, but I’m going to start watching for this. I’m going to start monitoring. I’m going to start asking. I don’t want to ignore him. I want to acknowledge him in all my ways.” God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up to the preacher. That’s me, and that’s me. God bless you. Me too. Me too. I need to do it so very, very much. God bless you, God bless you. It’s amazing, the power of God inside of you. Let’s ask for his empowering. Let’s seek his advice. Let’s obey every impulse.
Maybe here this morning you say, “Preacher, you know, so many times I know I don’t have his power moving. I just really need to humble myself. And I stay away because I’m kind of enjoying the sentiment. I’m living life on my own, and I’m just so self-dependent. I need to go to him and get forgiveness.” I know he’s got it available. And this morning, I’m going to go get forgiveness from him and seek his filling again. I’m just going to go get his forgiveness. It’s ready; it’s available. I’m going to get his forgiveness. I’m going to start seeking to be a spiritual Christian. I’m going to get forgiveness first. If that’s you this morning, it’s me right there, just lift your hand to the preacher. That’s me, that’s me. God bless you. God bless you. Me too. Oh, me so awful, be so awful.
One more question. We’re done. You hear this morning, say, “Preacher, I need to get saved.” I mentioned at the very beginning of it before that God’s kind of knocking on the outside; he’s convicting. But when I get saved, he moves on the inside. He’s living with me, inside of me.
“Preacher, I don’t know that I’m saved. I don’t know that he sealed me under the day of redemption. I don’t know that I’m a born-again Christian. I need to get saved first.” If that’s you this morning, “Preacher, I need to get saved.” That’s you this morning. “Preacher, I need to get…” Anybody just slip a hand up? Anybody just… all across all I told me, anybody slip it up? “Preacher, I need to get saved. I need to get saved so I have the Spirit of God living inside me.” Anybody like that? Anybody like that?
I don’t see any hands. Hey, Christians, let’s seek him this morning. Would you please stand right where you’re at? We’re going to have a word of prayer. If you raised your hand, God spoke to your heart, would you come spend some time with your Heavenly Father? He gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Would you come ask this morning?
Father, thank you so much for being so forgiving, ready to forgive, so loving. Thank you, Father, for giving us your Spirit. Lord, now I pray that we get right in seeking and desiring the Spirit of God, your Spirit, his leadership, and help us to yield. Bless these few minutes, Father, in a special way. Would you please give us a boldness to do what you say? In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Would you come? Nobody else coming? You would come. You would step out of your own. Would you come? That’s right. Wonderful time to seek him right now. He gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Beg his direction. I want your advice about this. I don’t want to go on. I don’t want to do my own thing. How about he yelled to every end up?
It’s amazing the difference when the Holy Spirit’s working in my life. There’s a sweetness, there’s a calm, there’s assurance. I’m not stressed about everything, not critical about everybody. I’m sure I have battles, but there’s something that’s a power inside of it. It’s not for me; it’s from God. The difference is night and day.
Would you come to him? Say, “I want that sweetness again. I want that smile. I want the energy again.” Let him know that. You seek for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Would you do that as we sing?
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit - Sunday AM 05142023