At the close of the message on Sunday, I issued the “Be
Filled With the Spirit” challenge. More than a challenge really, I issued the
grandfather of all dares. I triple-dog
dared my church to take Paul’s command to be filled with the Spirit seriously,
and actually do what he said to do.
Our study of Ephesians had brought us to Paul’s instruction
in 5:18-21. You can hear the message here. In summary, the expectation Paul
laid out was to set the excessiveness of worldly pursuits aside and to drink
excessively from God’s Spirit. Now, I am extending the challenge to you.
Are you willing to take the dare? I triple-dog dare you!
Be Filled With the Spirit Challenge
Set aside something; choose things you enjoy in excess. We
can enjoy God’s creation; don’t hear me saying anything different. But, we can
have too much it. What we can’t have too much of is God. What we need more of
is Jesus. What we can pursue with radical abandon is the Holy Spirit’s
influence, leading, and empowering.
Between now and Easter do this and come back and tell me if
it wasn’t worth it and isn’t how you want to spend the rest of your life…
- Set aside your regular
music, fill your mind with music with Christian lyrics and Gospel centered
messages.
- Spend time every day
meditating on the message or the word of Christ.
- Read every day from the
Psalms
- Get together with your
family in Christ and talk to one another about it, sing the songs together,
worshiping and leading one another to worship our great God.
- Set aside time every day
to consider what you have to be thankful for, and I am not just talking
about the easy things. I am talking about the sanctifying and difficult
things that lead you to greater dependence on Jesus. I am talking about
the difficult removal of things that cause you to see God’s sovereign
glory, as well as the easy things. I am talking about the things that
remind you of what you actually deserve (condemnation, punishment, death),
and what you have actually been given (acceptance, approval, life).
- Turn your attention away
from what you want selfishly and start considering the needs of others
more important than your own; give yourself up for the people around you.
I am confident that, when we set aside the excessive life of
the world and fill our lives with the things of God, we won’t be disappointed.
He will do what only He can do, He will fill us, influence us, lead us, and empower
us.
Let me start the conversation by letting a Christian brother
speak to you with his powerful and poetic praise to Jesus our King. I have
listened to this song a number of times, but today, as I meditated on the
Gospel, it played and it was like I heard it for the first time. Listen to it,
closely, don’t get lost in the music, the words are true and powerful, and the
reason we have hope for our future. Jesus didn’t just come to suffer as our
Savior, he came to establish His eternal throne, He is the King of Glory!
Psalms 24:1-10 (ESV)
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah
