Media Outreach

Thank for joining us over the past few months as we looked in depth at Dr. James O. Davis’ article “Turning Eyes to Ears.” Join us for the conclusion for that article.

REASONS FOR THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE (EPH 5:16)

Obedience

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you are disobeying God. This verse is in the imperative mood. This is more than a blessing to enjoy; it is a command to obey. This verse is in the present tense. God is not interested in whether you were filled with the Holy Spirit. He wants to know are you now filled with the Holy Spirit. This verse literally says “being you, being filled.” It is plural in number, not singular. It is passive in voice. This means it is not something you do but something you attain. God wants to fill you with the Holy Spirit. You do not have to persuade God to fill you; you need to permit God to fill you.

Obligations (Eph 5:19, 22, 25; 6:12, 19)

1. Worship Life (5:19). The worst thing that can be said of a song is not that it is in the wrong key but that it is addressed to the wrong person. Our singing is to be to the Lord. There is nothing worse than a full church with half-empty people and half-empty people trying to overflow.
2. Wedded Life (5:22, 25). In this age of militant feminism, how is the wife going to submit to her husband? By being filled with the Holy Spirit. You may think I am speaking about the inferiority of women. A woman is superior to a man in being a woman, and a man is superior to a woman in being a man. God made the man and woman different in order to make them one; yet, God put headship in the home. Anything with two heads is a freak, and anything with no head is dead. The Word of God is stricter for the husband. In verse 25, the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. Jesus loved the Church sacrificially, steadfastly, and santifyingly and so is the man to do unto his wife. The man can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit.
3. Work Life (6:5). When you go to work, you are to work for your boss as if he or she is Jesus Christ. You say, “That two-legged devil?” If the people who hear the Word of God on Sunday lived for Christ on Monday, then the people in the workplace would believe what we preach on Sunday. We live in a day when everyone wants their rights. If you teach a generation to be selfish regarding their rights, then you will have a revolution. If you teach people about responsibilities, then you will have a revival.
4. War Life (6:12). We are in a battle for the souls of men and women. Satan laughs at our plans and sneers at our intentions.
5. Witness Life (6:19). I would rather die than be sentenced to preach the gospel without the anointing and infilling of the Holy Spirit. I would rather die than try to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit.

Opportunity (Eph 5:16)

We need to be redeeming the time. Any day that is not a Spirit-filled day is a day lost forever. When I stand before Christ, I will give account for this day. Unless my day was a Spirit-filled day, then it is wood, hay, and stubble. It is later in this age than you think.
This life is too short, eternity too long, lives too precious, and the gospel too wonderful for us to be living in carnality.

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE (EPH 5:16)

Complete Surrender

“Be filled with the Spirit”; not “be filled by the Spirit” (emphasis added). It is not that the Holy Spirit is putting wisdom, power, and discernment into you. Your body is a temple. The Holy Spirit wants to dwell in your mortal body.

Continual Surrender

There must be a continual yielding to the Spirit. Why did Paul say, “Do not drunk with wine in excess, but be filled with the Spirit”? Why did he not say, “Do not steal, but be filled with the Spirit”?

Our text is speaking in contrast. The devil’s intoxication is a substitute for the Holy Spirit intoxication. It is a greater sin not to be filled with the Holy Spirit than it would be to get drunk. The sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission. I am not being soft on alcohol. It is brewed with tears, thickened with blood, and flavored with death. No Spirit-filled person would want to be drunk anyway.

Paul is also talking in comparison. A person gets drunk by drinking. How does a person stay drunk? He keeps on drinking. How does a person be filled with the Holy Spirit? He or she drinks. How does a person continue to be filled? He or she keeps on drinking or being filled with the Holy Spirit. The problem is we have sobered up.

Conscious Surrender—Anointing

The anointing is the special touch for the specific task. Every time before preaching, we should humbly request the Lord to freshly anoint us with special touch for a specific task. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that illuminates the mind, heart and soul to the eternal gospel. As we prepare and preach, we execute with excellence the verbalized, vocalized and visualized elements of our messages, but at the same we offer our sermon as a sacrifice to be consumed by Holy Spirit fire. Our role is to fulfill God’s goal and our part is to help fulfill what is in God’s heart.

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