Outside The Box Series

Lesson 6 of 8

Outside The Box – Spirit Infilling

The Affirmation Of The Holy Spirit

 

John 14: 15-26

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

 

Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit is the same thing.

• In verse 16 the Comforter is called the Spirit of Truth and in vs. 26 He is called the Holy Ghost.

 

In today’s religious world there appears to be many roads to God.

• Depending upon who you ask, there are all kinds of ways to find God.
• Even among the Christian believers in the world today there are multiple views regarding Salvation, Right Living and what it means to be Filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

Many people believe that because they are a believer in Jesus Christ that they are indeed already filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

• That somehow, by simply accepting the Lord as their personal savior they are inducted into the ranks of the Spirit Filled.

 

To be Spirit Filled into todays Christianity is the norm.

• It means in simple language to be a believer.

 

Being Spirit Filled is common lingo.

• Many people will say they are Spirit filled, but when asked what that means or how they know they are Spirit Filled, they too often have no explanation.

What I want to talk to you about for the next few minutes is Outside The Box Spirit Infilling.

 

The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit as it were was never meant to be in the Box.

 

Faithlessness among believers and preachers who do not understand the scriptures has produced a Spirit Infilling that is not scriptural.

 

• However, there is a Holy Spirit Infilling that is talked about in the scriptures that many teachers of the Word seldom talk about.

 

• What I’m talking about is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that took place in Acts the second chapter and throughout the book of Acts.

 

Understand something, there is a Holy Spirit Infilling talked about in the Scriptures, but it’s not the Cheap Easy Believism Spirit Infilling that is assumed by so many in the world today.

 

• When you read Acts chapter 2, you find very quickly that there was an outward sign that these people had indeed received the Holy Ghost.

 

• That sign was the seldom talked about miracle of Speaking in other tongues.

 

The reason that is seldom talked about is because the devil himself knows that when a believer speaks in tongues, it is the evidence that that person has indeed received the Holy Spirit.

 

At Cornelius’ House

Acts 10: 44-47

44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

45 And they of the circumcision 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.

46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,

47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

 

• Satan knows that if He can put doubt in your heart about what happens when a person receives the Holy Spirit,
• Namely Speaking in other tongues,
• Then he knows you will never receive it because you will fear it or think it strange.

 

My job today it to show you today that Satan is a liar.

• My job today is to help you see for yourself that the scriptures plainly speak about the miracle of the Speaking in other Tongues that happens when a believer is filled with the Holy Ghost.
• And it’s not just goose bumps.
• It’s not just the hair standing up on the back of your neck.
• It’s not the good feeling you get when you worship God the way we’ve been worshipping God around here lately.

 

A believer knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have been filled with they Holy Sprit when they have spoken in other tongues as they did in Acts Chapters 2, 10 & 19.

 

God never intended for a believer to wonder whether or not they were filled with His Spirit.

 

Here’s why:

• There is a confidence that comes when you know that you have been filled with His Spirit.
• Better yet, there is a level of Faith that comes when you know for yourself the miracle that God has done in you when you speak in tongues for yourself.

 

We’ve been talking about Outside The Box Church.

 

This church is not interested in being like all the other churches out there.

• God bless them.
• We love them.
• But we’re looking for something more spectacular.
• We’re looking for something that is miraculous.
• We’re looking for something Biblical.
• We’re looking for something Heaven sent.
• We’re looking for something REAL!

 

We’re not interested in Boxed religion

And we’re not interested in Boxed salvation.

 

This church is not a place where you’re going to hear a faithless message about the miracle of speaking in other tongues.

 

• If it’s in the Bible, we want to talk about it.
• If it’s a promise for us today, we want it.
• If it’s His will for us to receive, then we want to receive it.

 

The Box says…

• It’s not for us today.
• It’s for the crazy Christians.
• It’s not politically correct.
• It’s not necessary.

 

But were not staying in the box.

• We’re not concerned about the views or opinions of the Box thinkers.
• We are looking for the realm of the miraculous when it comes to being filled with His Spirit.

 

If you knew that you had cancer here today and I could show you in His Word that it is His desire to heal you, you would come to me and say, pray for me that God will heal me.

• I’ve gotten many such calls from people through the years who are looking for a miracle of Healing.

 

If I told you that God wanted to heal your marriage or help you with your kids, or help you find employment…

• You would ask me to pray for you that a miracle would happen in your marriage, or in your family or with your job.

 

But why is it that when I show people from the Word that speaking in other tongues is proof that one has received the Holy Spirit they immediately begin to make excuses why they don’t want it.

 

• The answer to that question lies within their level of faith.
• If their faith is low, they will let other people’s opinion keep them from receiving this miracle.
• If their faith is low, they will let someone who does not understand the scriptures explain it away to them.

 

• If their faith is low they will say it is not of God when it is clearly found in the Word of God.

 

A believer has to have enough faith in their hearts that they determine that nothing is going to stop them from receiving what God has for them.

 

Faith alone will not cause you to receive the Holy Spirit.

• This takes hunger for God and a yielding of your will.
• But you do have to have enough faith that you tell the devil and anyone who would try to ‘explain it away’ that if God wants to give it to you that you are ready to receive it.

 

Hey, I know that this kind of Spirit Infilling is Outside the Box of much of Christianity.

• But you need to know that it is in here (Bible).
• It may not fit what some churches preach, but that doesn’t matter because it is in here.

 

Jesus never was inside the box of most of the other religious people of His day.

• What makes us think He would fit inside the box of the religious people of this day?

 

Speaking in tongues was the common sign throughout the early church that someone had received the Holy Spirit.

• It was outside the Box.
• It had never happened before.
• No one else was doing it.
• It brought controversy.
• It invited criticism.
• It brought ridicule from the doubters.

 

But those who wanted it received it.

• And on the same day that 120 were filled on the day of Pentecost, 3000 more received it when they lifted up their hearts to God in faith believing for His will to be done in their lives.

 

Acts 2:38-39

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.