How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit

(Acts 10.44-48 & Lk. 11.9-13)

Page numbers refer to the Alpha Manual

This is the last sermon in a short series on the Holy Spirit. Two weeks ago David answered the question "Who is the Holy Spirit?", ...then last week we looked at the question "What does the Holy Spirit do?".

We saw that the Holy Spirit is the giver of life. When he comes into our lives we become spiritually alive. Without the Holy Spirit we are spiritually dead. Remember how Jesus said that:

"...no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives we are born into a God's family. One of the things that He then does is to give us the assurance that we are indeed God's children.

I also mentioned that the Holy Spirit helps us to develop this family relationship, and to grow into the family likeness. He enables the fruits of the Spirit to grow in our lives.

Well this week, we are looking at the question:

"How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?".

Let me first explain the significance of this question. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside them, but not all Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let me explain what I mean. We saw last week that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us spiritual life. In the letter to the Romans, St Paul spells this out. He says, "Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Ro. 8.9).

That's why I say that every true Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside them.

However, ...not all Christians are completely filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why St Paul urges those in the Church of Ephesus to "be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5.18). Now Paul is writing to Christians here, ...and he is urging them not only to be filled once, but to keep on being filled with the Spirit.

In some ways a Christian is a bit like a gas boiler. The pilot light is on all the time, ...but boiler is not always giving out the full heat. Christians have always got the pilot light of the Holy Spirit in their lives, but when we are filled with the Holy Spirit the main burners burst into flame!

So that's why we're asking the question:

"How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?".

But what exactly happens when people are filled with the Holy Spirit? (Alpha p34)

When we think about people being filled with the Holy Spirit, I guess the incidence that we are most familiar with is the Day of Pentecost.

It took place a few weeks after Jesus had risen from the dead. We read in Acts chapter 2 that:

"...all the believers were gathered together in one place, Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak." (Acts 2.1-4)

But this wasn't a one-off experience. Peter and John were arrested because they were preaching that Jesus had risen from the dead. They were later released with a warning that they must never speak in the name of Jesus again.

Then in Acts chapter 4 we read that:

"When the believers heard [this], they all joined together in prayer to God. ...When they had finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim God's message with boldness." (Acts 4.23,31)

So the same believers who were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, were again filled with the Holy Spirit in chapter 4.

In chapter 9 we read about the conversion of St Paul. Remember how after his vision on the road to Damascus he was left blind. The Ananias came to him, and said:

"The Lord has sent me. ...He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." At once, something like fish scales fell from [Paul's] eyes, and he was able to see again. (Acts 9.17,18)

Then in chapter 10 we read about Peter and Cornelius, (which was one of our readings this morning).

Here we have Peter speaking to a group of Gentiles in the town of Caesarea. ...And while he was still speaking:

"The Holy Spirit came down on all those who were listening to his message. The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed that God had poured our his gift of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speaking in strange tongues and praising God's greatness." (Acts 10.44-46)

Now I've just mentioned 4 instances of people being filled with the Holy Spirit, (and I could have mentioned others). Several of these examples have a number of things in common.

First, when the Spirit fell everyone knew it. (Alpha p35) ...Those who were filled with the Spirit knew that something had happened to them, ...but it was obvious to others too.

On the Day of Pentecost, we are told that a large crowd gathered outside the house, because they could a loud noise. And when the crowd saw the believers they were amazed and confused, ...and they kept asking each other "What does this mean?". ...Others made fun of them and said, "These people are drunk" (Acts 2.6,12,13).

Second, they were released in praise. Cornelius and his friends started to praise God for his greatness (Acts 10.46).

Third, they received a new language. That was one of the amazing things about the Day of Pentecost. On that day Jerusalem was filled with people who had come from every country in the world. ...Yet each of these people heard the believers speaking in his own language.

But a similar thing happened to Cornelius and his friends. We read that they too started to speak in strange tongues.

Now the New Testament tells us that 'speaking in tongues' is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Last week I mentioned the fruit of the Spirit, (love, joy, peace, and so on). All these things are evidence of the family likeness. But that's not the only thing that the Holy Spirit does in his lives, ...he also wants to give is special gifts.

The gifts of the Spirit include:

- the gift of wisdom,

- gifts of healing,

- the ability to serve others,

- the gift of teaching

- the gift of encouragement,

- the gift of generosity, and as we have read this morning,

- the ability to speak in different languages.

Now where as all Christians are to grow in all the fruit of the Spirit; ...all Christians do not receive all the gifts of the Spirit.

Instead, one person receives one particular gift, and someone else receives another. But they are all given for the good of everyone, and for building others up.

In the New Testament it appears that 'speaking in tongues' was one of the more common gifts of the Spirit, ...but not all Spirit filled Christians spoke in tongues (1Co. 12.30).

St Paul recognised that some spiritual gifts were more important than others, ...and he regarded the gift of tongues as being one of the least important gifts. ...Perhaps he regarded it as a gift for beginners.

Now perhaps some of you are thinking, "I can accept that God did things like that in Bible times, but does he really do things like that today?".

It's a good question, and I would like to finish this sermon by sharing with you how my own views have changed over the years.

But before I do that, I just want to summarise what I've said so far:

- First of all, that every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside them, but not all Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit.

- Secondly, there are many examples of people being filled with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Each incidence was different, but there are a number of common threads. For example,

- when the Spirit fell everyone knew it,

- people were often released in praise,

- they also received gifts of the Spirit, (such as speaking in tongues).

- Thirdly, some of the believers in Acts were filled with the Spirit on more than one occasions, and St Paul urges the Christians in Ephesus to keep on being filled with the Spirit.

And now my own story.

In my teenage years I went to a church in Newcastle. The vicar was a great Bible-believing Christian, ...he believed every word of it, ...but he also believed that God doesn't work in the same way today.

He believed that God had filled the first Christians with the Holy Spirit, and had given them the gifts of the Spirit, because they had a very special job to do. Their job was to form the Christian church, ...but once that job had been done, and the Apostles had all died, Christians had no further need of such gifts.

He therefore believed that God only gave the gifts of the Spirit to Christians in the first century, ...and such things weren't available today.

Now I respected my vicar, and what he said seemed perfectly logical, so during my teenage years that is what I believed too.

Then I left Newcastle, and went to college. There I met many Christians who held different views. I met people who believed that God still gives people spiritual gifts today, ...and who themselves had received them.

I also heard about some amazing things that God was doing in other parts of the world, ...particularly some third world countries where Christians took it for granted that God still healed people in miraculous ways.

Well I was then forced to re-think my own views. In the end I was convinced that God does still give people spiritual gifts, such as gifts of healing, ...prophecy, ...and speaking in tongues. ...After all, the Bible makes no mention that such things were just meant for the first Christians, ...and I concluded that if that had been God's intention, he probably would have told us so.

Having said that, I was also convinced that such things weren't for me! I mean, such things aren't very 'British' are they! ...And the few people I had met who claimed to have been filled with the Spirit seemed to me to be quite odd individuals.

God can fill other Christians with his Spirit, ...but I'm quite happy as I am, thank you very much.

Next I moved to Coventry, and here I met more people who had been filled with the Spirit, and who had Spiritual gifts. But this time I felt differently, I guess because most of these people seemed perfectly 'normal'.

One of these people was Jan, ...and she was more than normal, ...she was lovely!

As the months went by I began to realise that Spiritual gifts were just that. They were gifts that God wants to give us because he loves us. They were good gifts which could be used to help others.

I then decided that if God wanted me to be filled with the Spirit, it would be OK by me. At first I said this rather reluctantly, but as time went by I had an increasing desire that this should happen.

A year after Jan and I got married we went on holiday to Austria. I took a book by Jim Glennon, in which one section was headed "How to be filled with the Spirit". ('Your Healing is Within You' p105-109)

In it he said this: "Basically it could not be more simple, because as with all God's promises, we receive the Holy Spirit simply by praying the prayer of faith."

I was reminded of the words of Jesus which we read today. "Bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Lk. 11.13)

Glennon suggested that first you should be quite sure that it was something that you wanted to do. It had taken me ten years to get that far, ...but at last I was quite sure.

Then I simply asked God to fill me with his Spirit, believing that he would answer that prayer.

I can't remember feeling any different, but despite that I still decided to believe that God had heard me. Within a few minutes it started to rain. It had been a really hot summer, a bit like the one this year; it hadn't rained for ages, but then the skies opened and it poured down. I remember standing in the rain, imagining God filling me with his Spirit, and thanking him for hearing me.

Apart from the rain storm, I don't remember any other tangible results of my prayer.

A few weeks later I was at a church meeting where a speaker was talking about the Holy Spirit. At the end of the meeting he offered to pray for anyone who wanted to be filled with the Spirit, ...and I went forward.

This time I remember feeling a great tingling in my body, and a great sense of love for God, ...and a great desire to praise him.

That was about 10 years ago. A similar thing has happened a couple of times since. Such times have been times of refreshment and of feeling close to God.

But I feel that I am just beginning to learn what it means to be filled with the Spirit. For most of these 10 years I've just had the pilot-light lit. The main burners have burst into flame for a while, but I too need to here St Paul's encouragement to keep on being filled with the Spirit.

So we return to our question,

"How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?"

First, you need to be quite sure that it is something that you want. ...And if at present you are not sure, ask God to help you to be sure.

Second, you need simply ask God to fill you with his Spirit, believing that he will hear your prayer.

Amen