Sermon
The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church
November 1, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your notes. We've come now to a doctrine that I've been now...this is I think my third weekend; it's the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit? And I realized, as I told you before, it was a subject so large that we couldn't complete it one night because it going through my New Testament, and I do this almost each week, I found that on almost every page of the New Testament the person of the Holy Spirit is mentioned, and therefore I felt it would take a number of weeks for us to cover the subject.

So for the first week we talked about the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are equal, yet they are one; they are coeternal. And the reason why we did that is because even in the Church world there is the attitude that the Holy Spirit is an influence or a divine energy but very seldom is looked upon as a third person of the Trinity. And so we made that very, very clear in our minds.

And then we went the second week and we went through the Scriptures to find how the Holy Spirit dealt with us when we were sinners, and how by His mighty work within us taking away the blind folds off of our eyes, filling our hearts with a faith to believe...and so we talked about the fact that all of us come to faith through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

But after we come to faith and we've made that commitment to Jesus Christ, then we realize that the Holy Spirit has a work to do within us during this whole time from the moment of conversion till that moment we arrive in heaven. And we talked about the process of sanctifying or sanctification; and that is a word that simply means the setting aside from the common to the sacred. And there is that process that all of us are involved in as we're growing in our faith leaving the common and becoming familiar and appreciative of the things that are sacred. And that, affecting our lives and our lifestyles and the whole way we perceive our relationship with God.

We've come to another study now. We want to take it a little further and I want to talk about three aspects of what the Holy Spirit continues to do within us as a believer. How do I relate to the Holy Spirit as a Christian? And how does He relate to me? You'll notice on the top of page 3 in our notes there are three subjects. I don't know if we can cover them all this evening, but we'll try. What does it mean when the Bible talks about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the infilling of the Holy Spirit? And what does the Bible mean when it talks about praying in the Holy Spirit?

Now these are all things that happen to us as believers. The reason again for going over this with you is because there is a great misunderstanding in the church world concerning these three subjects that we have this evening, and you'll recognize them immediately as we go to the Scriptures. So on the first two pages I've selected a great number of verses that relate to these subjects.

First of all, we have the subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12 says, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." So I've underlined there we've all been baptized, as Christians, into one body and we've all been a participant of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4: "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Now follow along. You'll notice how I develop this: if we are all baptized by His spirit into one body, there is only one baptism and therefore that baptism is a spiritual baptism which brings us into the body of Christ. So that's the only way we can use that phrase biblically.

Let's go on -- Colossians, And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: you are buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.

Now I joined those three different verses because the first one says there is one baptism of which we are all baptized into the body of Christ in a very spiritual sense. Now let's go to the next set of verses, verses that speak of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

Acts 2, "And when the day of Pentecost as fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

And in Acts 4, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people!" Acts 4:31, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." Then in Acts 7, "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

Acts 9, And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, that's Paul, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized."

Acts 10, While Peter yet spake these words -- this is in the house of Cornelius -- the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision -- that's speaking of the Jewish people -- which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"

Looked at Acts 19. Paul is out on his second missionary journey, I think it is, and he arrives in Ephesus. And it says, And it came to pass, that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus; and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him that is, on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
And all the men were about twelve."

So you'll notice in your notes that in each one of those verses I've underlined the phrase "filled with the Holy Spirit." Now let's read the verses that talk about playing in the Holy Spirit.

"Likewise the Spirit helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

Ephesians, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." So there's prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

Jude, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

Three very interesting subjects; let's just quickly cover them. I'm at the top of page 3. One of the prevailing misconceptions of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the notion that it is a special ministration enjoyed only by a few Christians. But on the contrary, the Scriptures make it plain that every Christian is baptized by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Let's pause.

Now I started our lesson out with that statement because many of us know people who make the claim that after their conversion they had a post conversion experience which they call the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is quite common amongst our Charismatic and our Pentecostal friends. They use that phrase to designate what they say happened maybe a year, or a moment, or whatever it was, but it was a traumatic spiritual moment. They tell us that they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And so the implied is that if you've not had what they had, or experienced what they experienced, you don't have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And what happens in those particular settings there is a division that takes place within the body of Christ, those who have and those who have not. Do you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit? is often asked by those when you go to that church. Implying that those who do are in a different setting, spiritual setting,than those who do not. That is unscriptural, it's unbiblical, and it's not true folks.

Everyone who comes to Christ, as in the Corinthian passage, it says, we've all been baptized into the body of Christ, and there's only one baptism. And therefore if anybody asks you the question, have you been baptized? You say, yes, I've come to Jesus Christ and I'm in His family. I am baptized by His Spirit into the church. That is the scriptural terminology.

The great problems, ladies and gentlemen, that often takes place in this whole matter of the subject of the Holy Spirit is the misuse of terminology and the misuse of words. I want you to be very, very much alert and my reason for doing this is so that you have a clear biblical understanding. You and I, when we came to Christ, were baptized into the body of Christ, not in an external way, but in a spiritual way and we all came to drink of one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. So that doesn't make you less than the person who implies that they were not only saved but they had this other experience which they call the baptism. Again, I'm telling you it's a misuse; it's not scriptural to use that terminology. Now let's go on.

It is impossible to be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the Holy Spirit refers to the activity of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Christian life when He gives us the new spiritual life and cleanses us and gives us a clear break from the power and the love of sin. That's the moment of regeneration or conversion. This initial work of the Holy Spirit brings the new believer into the sphere of the spiritual.

In the passage we have just referred to, the work of the Spirit is not thought of as external, because that would be the water baptism; it's thought of as being internal, that which is done by the Spirit of God. So all Christians have been made to drink of one Spirit. The Spirit has entered their inmost being and for all Christians, it is the same Spirit that is at work in the deepest recesses of their personality.

One writer by the name of Goodspeed translates this passage by suggesting, we've all been saturated by the Spirit. Now the first dramatic work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament becomes evident on the Day of Pentecost as we read about in Acts 2. Yes, there are other mentions of the Holy Spirit throughout the Gospels, but it is in Acts we are come face to face with the results of the Holy Spirit at work. But we must realize that the Day of Pentecost is much more than an individual event in the lives of Jesus' disciples and those with them. The Day of Pentecost was the point of transition between the old covenant work and ministry of the Holy Spirit and the new covenant work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was at work in the Old Testament. We find in the very front pages of Old Testament that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. You find when you read on that you come to Exodus and God's Holy Spirit falls on a man and that man becomes the man who puts together all of the articles for the temple. It says that he was filled with the Spirit of God. So you have occasions when you read through the Old Testament, not many, but you'll find once in a while as you move along through the Old Testament the comment made 'and they were filled with the Spirit of God.'

Not only in the work of the first day of creation, but empowering people for service and leadership. But during that time, the work of the Holy Spirit, in general, was a work of much lesser power. The Holy Spirit does not receive, what I'm saying, is much preeminence or much reference in the Old Testament, even though He's been at work yet He's very seldom referred to. The Holy Spirit came only to a few people with significant power for ministry, and Moses longed for the day when the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all of God's people: "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" That was Moses' prayer.

And again, but point is, the Holy Spirit only came on a very few individuals in the Old Testament times giving them the power and the wisdom and the ability to do the work that God has assigned them to do. All right? Then we go on: The Old covenant work of the Holy Spirit was almost completely confined to the nation of Israel, but in the New Testament, or the new covenant, there is created a new dwelling place of God, which is the Church and it unites both the Gentiles and the Jews in the Body of Christ.

When the New Testament opens, we see John the Baptist as the last of the Old Testament prophets. And Jesus said, "Among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he...all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come."

John knew that he baptized with water. His experience in working with the Holy Spirit was of the old covenant nature. Now in the life of Jesus, we first see the new covenant power of the Holy Spirit at work. The Holy Spirit descends on Him at His baptism, and after His temptation Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee." And then we begin to see what the new covenant power of the Holy Spirit will look like, because Jesus casts out demons with a word, He heals all those who are brought to Him, He teaches with authority that people had not heard before. And the disciples, however, do not receive this full covenant empowering for ministry until the Day of Pentecost, for Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem, and promise is that 'You shall receive power', after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

So here's my point. You immediately see a new dimension of the work of the Holy Spirit when you move into the New Testament because when Jesus is baptized the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, you see the power of the Spirit working within Him as He heals. But until that moment the disciples were very, very limited. Then comes the Day of Pentecost, and the Day of Pentecost where Jesus tells them they're going to receive power. This was a transition in the lives of the disciples. The promise of Joel, that's the Old Testament, that the Holy Spirit would come in new covenant fullness was fulfilled as Jesus returned to heaven and then was given authority to pour out the Holy Spirit in new fullness and power.

So the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2, was certainly a remarkable time of transition in the whole history of redemption as recorded in Scripture. It was a remarkable day in the history of the world, because on that day the Holy Spirit began to function among God's people with new covenant power. So when we arrive at Acts, and Christ is ascended back to heaven and He fulfills the promise that He's going to send His Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes, there are 120 that are praying, tongues of fire fall upon them, they begin to speak it languages of the people that had come there for worship in Jerusalem. It was a mighty glorious demonstration of God's Spirit in a new dimension never experienced before in the world. So the Day of Pentecost is a remarkable moment in history as well as in religion. It was that moment when the Spirit of God began to work in a way He had never worked before openly. Let's read on.

This, of course, I say, helps us understand what happened to the disciples. They received this remarkable new empowering from the Holy Spirit because they were living at a time at the transition between the old covenant work of the Holy Spirit and the new covenant work of the Holy Spirit. And though is was a second experience of the Holy Spirit, coming as it did long after their conversion, it is not to be taken as a pattern for us, for we are not living at a time of transition in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now let's pause there, just let me talk to you for a moment. I bring that out because our friends who want to talk about a second baptism of the Holy Spirit go to the book of Acts to prove their point. Now you must understand my background is Pentecostal. I was raised in a Pentecostal church, so I'm fully understanding of what I speak to you about, but I have a different perspective as I've studied the Scripture than I did 40 years ago. When Jesus said, it Acts, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, in Samaria, and in to the outermost parts of the earth. Now that was a prophecy. What Jesus is saying, there will be a mighty demonstration that will prove to the world the Holy Spirit has come in all of His power. It was a historical event marked by the supernatural.

So, when you begin to read it Acts 2, that prophecy begins its fulfillment because it says, On the Day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord in one place, and the Holy Spirit can upon them. And so you have that first locality, Jerusalem in Judea, the prophecy is fulfilled; and then Samaria. And you begin to read and you get into chapter 8 and you'll find that Phillip goes down to Samaria, he begins to preach the gospel, people listen then they send John and one other disciple down to Samaria, and they pray over the folks and they received the Holy Spirit. And it doesn't say that they spoke in tongues, it just simply says that one who was the sorcerer, he said, this is such a wonderful thing, I'll buy it. It must have had something...a public demonstration where the mighty power of the Spirit of God was so overflowing this sorcerer wanted that power, and he wanted to buy it. Peter told him that was not for sale.

So now we have Samaria. Remember the prophecy had Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the outermost parts of the earth. And you go up to Caesarea and you have the house of Cornelius, an experience just exactly as what took place on Acts chapter 2. And then Paul makes his missionary journey and goes way off into Ephesus, which is way over in Asia Minor, to the outermost parts of the earth at that time, and as a result, he confronts those men at Ephesus and they had not even heard about the Holy Spirit. He prays for them, they received the Holy Spirit, and the same thing that happened in Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 8, happens in Acts 19. And so what we have in that glorious set of verses and experiences, we have the fulfillment of that prophecy of Jesus when the Holy Spirit has come you will receive power and the power will be demonstrated in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth.

Now here's my point. When you understand the promise as prophetic and fulfilled in the very record of the Scriptures that we have, and it was historical, it was that great transition moment from the Old Testament working of the Holy Spirit, where silently and very...in a lesser way the Holy Spirit worked. All of a sudden you have this marvelous happening in Jerusalem! Now all the world is going to be shaken by the glorious proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as the disciples go out they heal and they have tremendous power by the work of the Holy Spirit.

But, my point is this, that historical moment only happened once. It happened in Acts chapter 2. Now what happens when people say, I was baptized, or I had the conversion experience and then I came into this Pentecostal experience and I was baptized. We're going to talk about an infilling, but it's the wrong use to use the phrase 'baptism', because baptism speaks of coming into the body of Christ at conversion. And you really can't use a historical period...somebody said, I had my personal Pentecost. And you simply ask the question, did fire arrive from heaven? And it only happened once. It happened in the book of Acts. So you can't take a historical moment and say that all of us need that second experience conversion, after conversion experience, and call it a baptism.

So in our first phrase the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the work of the Holy Spirit that brings us initially into the body of Christ. Okay? No go with me to the top of page 5. And you say, well then Pastor what happens when these people talk about this baptism, what really is it? Now let's learn what the Scriptures refer to it as. Now we come to the second part in our lesson, what is the infilling of the Holy Spirit?

A careful study of the nature of the filling of the Holy Spirit will reveal that it is the source of all vital spiritual experience in the life of Christians. There is an obvious difference in the character and quality of the daily life of Christians. The Scriptures distinguish fundamentally between the saved and the lost by use of many distinguishing terms, but the spiritual divisions of mankind do not stop there. The Scriptures also distinguish the spiritual and the carnal, those who walk worthily of the Lord and those who walk after the manner of men. And the distinction represented in these frequent contrasts is within the fold of the Christian Church and is definitely traced to a difference in the relationship to the Holy Spirit.

The work of the Holy Spirit in filling the believer may be simply defined as that ministry which is accomplished in the believer when he is fully yielded to the indwelling Holy Spirit. Every reference to the filling of the Holy Spirit indicates a spiritual condition on the part of the person filled which is brought about by the complete control of the Spirit. It's clear from a study of the Scriptures that the Spirit of God is ministering to the individual's concern in an entire freedom from hindrance.

The thought is that that individual by any process has received more of the Spirit, but it is rather that the Spirit has complete possession of the individual. Now let's put our notes aside.

We're going to talk now about the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That's the phrase that the Scriptures refer to it. When we become Christians the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. We've learned that. Not half of the Holy Spirit, not a third of the Holy Spirit, but all of the Holy Spirit. Now that's important, because the implied is that if there is a post-conversion experience, then I only got a portion of the Holy Spirit. You don't get a portion of a person. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. But here's what happens, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us.

Now we're just starting our Christian journey. It's the process of learning how to respond to the presence of God living within us. It's a very interesting experience and all of us have gone through it. We can have the Holy Spirit living within us, but we can totally suppress His effect on our lives. We talked about that. We can live our lives so that we're quenching the Holy Spirit, and that word quenching simply means to close off, just as you would a water whose. You can live a life, even though the Holy Spirit is present, you can hush that still small voice, you can dampen those moments of deep conviction when He's talking to you and He will not pursue you. You're going to control the amount of His control in your life. Now that's interesting to me.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this is what creates this conflict that Paul talks about in Romans 7; what I want to do, those are the things I don't do. He talks about that internal spiritual struggle that goes on all the time, and what that is, the Spirit of God within us is trying to make us more like Christ, but we by quenching and by grieving can silence the Holy Spirit within us. It's not that He's not there, but we've learned that grieving is carrying on a sinful lifestyle where He's checked our heart, and we've ignored Him and we go on living like we want to live, and the Holy Spirit just quietly waits.

The process that most of us really don't know how to explain, but we experience it, and that is, as we're growing in our faith we know that God wants us to be more like Him. The Holy Spirit is talking to us and quickening us and striking our conscience. What actually happens is the process of being filled is the more we give, the Holy Spirit the right to rule our lives, our mind and our heart, it depends upon our yielding to the Holy Spirit. Now here's what happens, that yielding sometimes comes progressively, but at other times we have traumatic experiences when God really has to do something to awaken us and that moment when the Holy Spirit really does want to take control, God sometimes has to take us through a great traumatic experience.

Learning how to yield; learning how to surrender to God's will and the precious leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit is a lifelong process, but what happens is in that process the more I give to the Holy Spirit to rule by life, comes the infilling. And the infilling can be progressive or it can happen in traumatic experiences. I understand that. I was raised, and I rebelled, and I ignored the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, but I had a traumatic experience, which absolutely I have always priced. But that was the moment when I said, Spirit of God, You come and take over my life. That's the moment where the Spirit begins to actively affect the way I live, the way I talk, but you have those experiences over, and over, and over again. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is just not a onetime event. It's that whole process we're all going through.

There are times when you come to a place in your spiritual life and there comes out moment you have fought against the leading of the Holy Spirit, but you come to that breaking point and you say, Holy Spirit of God, You take control. You take over my life. It's that moment again of surrender. One of the hymn writers writes; I surrender all, I surrender all. But surrender is progressive. It's when you come to points in your spiritual growth where you just simply say, Spirit of God, I've run my life long enough. I want You to take control of my life. Now that happens, and that's when the Holy Spirit...It's spoken of His infilling, because the less of us gives the opportunity for Him to take more of us. You got the point?

It's so simple. Once I realize I don't have half the Holy Spirit when I'm brought into the family, He's there. And He'd like to take over and to make my life effective and joyous and vibrant in Jesus Christ, but I can quench Him; I can suppress Him; I can grieve Him to the point where He's just going to...and the filling is when I empty myself of myself and He can take over. It's something we have to learn; how do I surrender? How do I stop leading my own life and just letting the Holy Spirit, because He's within us, He wants to guide us, He wants us to have a deep joy and a fellowship in our relationship with God, but it's dependent on us, ladies and gentlemen.

I can let the Holy Spirit have as much of me as I will allow, and He'll only take that portion of my life that I give Him. Now that...to think that God's Spirit lives within me and yet I control His work by the way I react to His presence. And when people talk about that great moment when they've had these deep spiritual experiences, they're talking about those moments when they've come to a crisis spiritual moment in their lives and they've opened up their hearts and the Holy Spirit is allowed. And oft times, many people, millions across the world, will say that was the moment that in that total surrender I spoke in a language I never learned. You see my point?

We must use the proper terminology. We're all baptized, but some of us, because the way we live, never enjoy the infilling. We always control and dampen God's work within our hearts by how much we let the Holy Spirit take over.

So what does it mean to pray in the Spirit? Well, Paul says, walk in the Spirit, you live in the Spirit, you're going to pray in the Spirit. In other words, the closer you allow, the closer you walk with Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you, to work within you, the more biblical and the more spiritual your prayers will be. Because you'll be praying from a life...you're walking in the Spirit of God, you're living to please Spirit of God, and when you're living to please the Spirit of God you are going to be saying prayers that are guided by the presence of the Spirit of God within you.

Now I quoted some passages for you last week in your notes. There are some theologians that say, no, to pray in the Spirit means to pray in tongues. Again, that may happen, but it's not what it says in the Scriptures. And we have great Bible scholars who say praying in the Spirit simply is that process by where I'm growing, I'm walking in the Spirit, I'm asking Him, and I'm yielding to Him , and I want to Him to guide my life and its totality. The greater His infilling, the more deeper and the more spiritual my prayer life will become.

So we're baptized at conversion. He's in me, totally, as a person, but He will only work through me to the degree that I let Him. And that is a process of surrendering, yielding, and growing and maturing in my faith. And sometimes it'll be progressive, other times it'll have traumatic moments when God does something very dramatic in our lives. And that may be accompanied with tears, may be accompanied with joy, whatever it is, however the Holy Spirit sovereignty wants to work in your heart and life, He'll do it, if you'll let Him.

One of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is a dove, very gentle. I have found in the many years of ministry that the Holy Spirit is a very gentle spirit. And there are times in the worship service when I feel certain spiritual things that are going on, and I have to be very, very, very cautious because He's a very gentle spirit. And I can cut Him off (claps hands) just that quick by doing it my way instead of allowing Him to do what He wants to do.

So when I come to spend these moments with you week after week, my prayer is, Spirit of God, make me sensitive. If there's something You want to do in our service, if You'll tell me and I can sense Your guidance, help me to be very sensitive to Your spirit. Because I have found...a few weeks ago at the 11:30 service, I just felt at that moment now is the time to give people an opportunity to give their lives to Christ. I just quickly brought the service to a moment where I had everybody bow their heads. And do you know at that service 20 or 30 people raised their hand. I didn't plan it. I felt that was a moment the Spirit of God was working in the hearts of people and I responded. So it's imperative to me as your pastor that I be sensitive, but I've learned that the Spirit of God is very, very tender.

It's the same with you. He can nudge you. He can convict you. You can feel something very deeply, but if you brush Him aside, if you ignore Him, if you quench Him, if you grieve Him, He'll go into silence. It's just that way. When you say, Spirit of God, I want to do what pleases You. Take my life; take this situation, and Holy Spirit, You be honored in it. He will. But remember, you treat Him with tenderness. Let's pray.

Holy Spirit of God, we're trying to understand how You want to work within our hearts and lives. We long as for those experiences where You fill us with a sense of Your presence and Your joy and Your glory. And we understand too that we can grieve You, Spirit of God, and for that we ask You to forgive us. And may each of us in our prayer life open our hearts wide to You, Holy Spirit of God. We want You to control us, to fill us with Your glorious presence and power. And so tonight we've learned that to the degree that we surrender and yield, will be the degree that You will fill. Help us Holy Spirit of God I pray.

Let's say this prayer together: Spirit of God, I ask You to forgive me if I've grieved You or I've quenched Your working in my heart. I open my heart and my life to You, Holy Spirit of God, and I want You to fill me with Your joy, and with Your presence, and with Your power. Thank you Holy Spirit of God. Amen. God bless you folks.