ENGAGING THE SPIRIT (A call to fullness)

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Engage the Spirit #9 (final)

Pastor David Staff

ENGAGING THE SPIRIT (A call to fullness) “Be strong in the Lord…take up the Spirit’s sword” Ephesians 6:10.17

“I stood at our window on Saturday afternoon,” writes Lucy Shaw (God in the Dark), “and looked west. “The sun was low, shining along the surface of the deep snow. A strong wind blew over the icy crust and carried snow particles along in its eddies. It made the wind visible in a curiously beautiful way, like a fast moving river of light, with the snow dust catching and holding the glints from the sun. “I think the Spirit of God,” she continues, “is made visible in the individuals in our life stream. God shines on them and shows us in their lives the way the wind is blowing.”

Since Sunday, August 26th, this church family – this team of Jesus’ disciples – has just invested 9 weeks around this question: Is the Spirit of God Himself flowing through me? So, I wonder. What picture comes to your mind when you think, today, about God’s Holy Spirit in your life, and in your experience. As we’ve studied how the Spirit of God has presented himself in the Scriptures, there are any number of vivid, visual images provided that we might grow in our daily dependence on Him. The first (Week #1) A RUSHING RIVER OF LIVING WATER John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 7:37-39 (ESV, p.893)

You can hear the eagerness of the Savior. God’s Spirit, he promises, can flow out of my heart like a gushing river. Producing IN Me God’s new life. Producing THROUGH me God’s new life to others. Producing FOR me the guarantee of God’s new life in the coming age of glory. For every believer in Jesus, for every follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit must not be “the forgotten” God. When He flows, Francis Chan reminds us, the evidence in our lives is supernatural. We cannot help but be different, and the church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice. i Week Two SATURATION RESULTING IN CONTROL Ephesians 5:18 Ephesians 5:17-18 (p.978)

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit

To be filled with the Spirit is to consistently invite the Spirit’s saturation of me, growing in His control of my living. Obedient to this command, we take moments daily, hourly ask the Spirit to take the fill 1|P a g e

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“this sponge” with Himself and control what I do. Week Three’s picture was A MIND SINGULARLY FOCUSED

Romans 8:5,6,14

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace…14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (& daughters) of God. Romans 8:5-6,14 (p.944)

Let’s not be surprised. It is normal for God’s children by the Spirit to be full of life and peace. It happens when they “set the mind” on the things, on the matters of God’s Spirit. Lewis said it:

A rushing river A saturated heart A focused mind Week Four A Regenerating RENEWAL which TRANSFORMS Titus 3:4-5 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:3-5 (p.999)

When the Spirit of God comes into our lives, he’s not arriving to “restore us to our original condition.” In my salvation, the renewal of the Holy Spirit creates something new, free, and powerful of me and through me. I’ve watched more than a few episodes of “Fixer Upper” with my bride. One of my favorite was this. When Magnolia Farms’ Chip and Joanna Gaines were done, it was this. Doesn’t look anything like the shack on wheels. Looks like a place where someone special was meant to live. God’s Spirit comes in to create something, some one new. Week Five A FRUITFULNESS IN HIS FREEDOM Galatians 5:22-23 Galatians 5:22-23 (p.975)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law

Here’s a spiritual fact: If you and I are not living under the flowing, controlling, leading and renewing presence of the Holy Spirit, the likelihood is that you are either spiritually frustrated (bored?) or 2|P a g e

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perhaps even enslaved to something else. It is living by the Holy Spirit that freedom is found. And when He flows, when He saturates, when our mind is focused on Him, He is changing us and a whole lot of “sweet” is produced in us. The Spirit’s fruit. And others taste it, and they experience Jesus. On week Six we spoke of “praying in the Spirit” which is nothing less than EFFECTIVE (in the battle) BATTLE COMMUNICATION Ephesians 6:16-18 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, Ephesians 6:16-18 (p. 979) 17

Praying in (or by) the Holy Spirit is to responsively pray at His prompting for one another in the battle. On Week Seven we discovered that by the Holy Spirit, every person in this room, in this church family, is a God-given A GRACE-GIFT TO OTHERS

1 Peter 4:10-11, 1 Cor 12:7

1 Peter 4:10-11 (p.1016) As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

If you’ve put yourself on the sidelines, you are diminishing the kingdom work God wants to accomplish. Speak or serve in the empowerment of God. Shine in your lane, in your gift. Develop it…in the Spirit become great at it. You are to be a “manifestation” of God’s Spirit to others. Help grow and mature God’s family. Finally, last week, Kyle so effectively spoke how the spirit [Week Eight] EMPOWERS so that you/I can be full of and express THE FULLNESS OF GOD Ephesians 3:14-19 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19 (p.977)

Paul, praying from prison, begs God “with all the fervency he has for believes (just like you and me) because he knows that our physical, emotional, and intellectual strength is not enough to keep us vitally connected to Jesus. We need the engaging power of the Holy Spirit.”ii A CALL TO FULLNESS… 3|P a g e

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So which of these pictures resonates with you? The Spirit’s FLOW, saturating CONTROL. What RENEWAL is He doing of you? Are you increasingly experiencing His LEADING because you are choosing to FOCUS on Him? Are the deeds of your flesh being replaced by the life-giving FRUIT of the Spirit? Have you become more aware of His prompting you to PRAY for those in the battle? What GIFTING are you putting in play? Is His POWER growing in you—rather than more self-effort— so that God’s fullness inside takes over? Here’s the simple truth…if the Spirit of God was allowed, encouraged, urged to flow through each of us in a fresh way in the coming weeks and months, we wouldn’t know where to put all the fruitfulness. People—our kids, our spouses, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers and colleagues, our students—they would experience so much of Jesus through us that only the Lord knows all the blessing and conversions and turn-arounds He would pour out on us. May we finish with a prayer that Francis Chan puts at the end of his book, The Forgotten God. Spirit, we know that we have done wrong by You. Please forgive us for grieving, resisting, and quenching You. We have resisted You through sin, through our rebellion, and through our hardness of heart. At times, we have been spiritually blind. At other times, we knew what You wanted us to do, but we chose to ignore Your promptings. Yet this is not how we want to live now. We need You to change us. Only through You can we truly worship. Spirit of the Lord, You are the one who brings us to a place where we can worship. You are the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life. Thank You for the truth, the holiness, and the life You give us. We need Your wisdom and understanding as we seek to live this life. Keep us from disbelief, from fear. We need Your strength to help us do what you are asking us to do and to live how You are asking us to live. Speak loudly and drown out the other voices calling us to conform to the patterns of this world. You are the Spirit of self-control and love. Give us the self-control needed to deny our flesh and follow You. Give us a love strong enough to motivate courageous action. Manifest Yourself through us that we may serve and love Your bride, the church, as You do. Come, Holy Spirit, come. We don’t know exactly what that means and looks like for each of us yet, in the particular places You’ve called us to inhabit. But, nonetheless, whatever it means, we ask for Your presence. Come, Holy Spirit, come.iii Copyright 2018 © David A. Staff All rights reserved

F. Chan, The Forgotten God, 157-162. Taken from unpublished teaching manuscript of Kyle Bartholic, “Engaging the Spirit’s Power,” 10.21.2018, p.8. iii Chan, Francis. Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Kindle Locations 1943-1944). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition. i

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