“Filled with the Spirit”

Mark 9:17 & Ephesians 5:18

1. in last week’s Jesus story Jesus healed a boy with an evil spirit. The boy’s father brought his son to Jesus, Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit. These words - possessed by a spirit – have been echoing through my mind for the last 10 days.

2. they open up for us the unseen world that surrounds us on all sides. The world of evil spirits, demons, Satan; the world of darkness, violence, oppression.

3. this unseen world takes in the things of God as well. The world of the Holy Spirit & angels; the world of freedom, deliverance, healing.

4. I want to talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit today. The absolute opposite of being possessed by a spirit.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa
1. this past February Asbury Theological Seminary invited Father Raniero Cantalamessa to give their Beeson Preaching Lectures. Father Raniero is the preacher to the papal household, appointed in 1980. He preached to Pope John Paul II & now Pope Benedict XVI.

2. in his personal testimony Father Raniero shares that the biggest turning point in his life occurred After he had earned 2 doctorate degrees. After he had established himself as the distinguished professor of the history of early Christianity at the Catholic University in Milan. After he had written a number of scholarly books.

3. in 1977 he was 43 years old, on a 3 month trip to the States. He attended an ecumenical, charismatic gathering of 40,000 people in Kansas City. Here he experienced the presence & power of the Holy Spirit as never before.

4. after Kansas City he traveled to a retreat house in New Jersey for a series of talks on the Trinity. He listened. He was convicted of the sin in his life. He confessed and repented. For the 1st time in his life he made Jesus his personal Lord. His friends laid hands on him & prayed that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And he was.

5. 4 things began to immediately change in his life:
§ the Bible came alive for him, it became the living Word of God
§ he was attracted to prayer like he had never experienced before
§ he newly understood that Jesus was his personal Lord and the master over all of his life
§ he began to feel a unity with all of God’s people & all of the church – Catholic, Protestant & Orthodox

6. after 3 months he returned home to Italy. His colleagues noticed a change. They began to say, we sent Saul to America & America sent Paul back to us! Shortly after his experience with the Holy Spirit Pope John Paul II appointed him to the office of papal preacher.

7. I’ve listened to Father Raniero’s testimony 2xs. It makes me long for more of God in my life, our church life. We need the Holy Spirit!

8. Ephesians 5:18 contains 2 commands: do not get drunk AND be filled with the Spirit. Next comes 5 expressions of being filled with the Holy Spirit. They encompass worship & relationships.



do not get drunk
1. Scripture forbids drunkenness. Not the moderate use of alcohol but the abuse of it. The reasons are obvious. Alcohol is a depressant. It slows down the functions of the central nervous system. Too much alcohol alters our perceptions & decision-making abilities. It slows down our reflexes & blocks some messages from actually reaching the brain.

2. wisdom is called for. Paul’s point is that we as Christ-followers are not to be controlled by it. Or, for that matter, by any substance that alters our behavior.

be filled with the Spirit
1. God’s will is for all of us to be filled with his Spirit. If alcohol is a depressant, the Spirit is a stimulant. If coming under the influence of alcohol can lead to debauchery (wasteful living, loss of direction), being filled with the Spirit can lead to a fruitful and God-honoring life.

2. the Greek verb be filled has 4 qualities:
§ present tense = repeatable, on-going experience NOT a one-time thing – keep being filled with the Spirit
§ imperative mood = this is a command from God; obedience expected
§ plural in number = for everyone NOT just a select few
§ passive voice = something that is done for us / to us; we can’t fill ourselves with the Spirit; only God can fill us BUT we have to be willing to be filled

3. the Holy Spirit is both the supplier & the supplied. The Giver & the Gift. But we are not passive participants. Ours is to give up control of our lives to the Spirit.

4. before being filled with the Spirit Father Raniero was struggling – was he willing to turn everything in his life over to Christ, especially his academic career? He was given a “picture” of his life – he was a man on a chariot holding the reins of the horses, he was in control. Jesus came to him & gently said, “do you want to give me the reins of your life?” His first reaction was panic. But then he surrendered his life fully & totally to Jesus and made him Lord.

5. one of you emailed me this week, being filled with the
Spirit is a continual decision of absolute surrender to the Lordship of Christ ("Thy Kingdom come") and the will of God for our lives. It is "all In," all the time. It is also radically countercultural - both to the secular culture AND the religious culture of our day.

6. when we accept Christ we receive the Holy Spirit. He indwells us. We are sealed in him. If this is so, than why are we commanded to be filled? Michael Cassidy says, You have the Spirit, but does the Spirit have you? You have taken him into your life, but you must now allow him to fill you – in the sense of releasing yourself so that he can occupy & control every area, every corner, of your being.

7. as a Christ-follower you have the Holy Spirit but does the Holy Spirit have all of you?

8. 5 expressions of being filled with the Spirit…

1. speaking to one another
1. when the church gathers to worship we speak to one another as we sing. We use psalms (Old Testament psalms), hymns (New Testament songs) & spiritual songs (utterances of the Holy Spirit given in worship).

2. there is a horizontal element to worship. Teaching & encouragement occur as we sing songs of praise.

2. sing and 3. make music to the Lord
1. these both mean the same thing – singing – using our vocal chords to praise God. Singing & the Holy Spirit go hand-in-hand. Filled with the Spirit, there’s no way we can keep our mouths shut.

2. notice where our singing originates – in your heart. Heart here means the controlling center of our lives. This goes back to Lordship. I don’t believe we can truly worship God unless we have totally surrendered our lives to him. Then we can sing with our whole being.

3. and who do we sing to? To the Lord. Evelyn Underhill, God alone matters. God alone Is – creation only matters because of Him. Worship, then, at every level always means God & the priority of God. Ultimately our worship is offered up to God. This is something we do for him & to him. Worship is about what we give to God.

4. giving thanks
1. gratitude comes next. Spirit-filled people are thankful people. We give thanks to God our Father. We give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. submit to one another
1. now we come to relationships. How we treat each other. How we live together. Spirit-filled people submit to one another.

2. the word is used of soldiers to their superior, of slaves to their masters. Of me to you & you to me. To submit is to give up our rights, give up our will. It is to put the other person first & serve them, honor them.

3. at this point in our Bibles there’s a paragraph break. There shouldn’t be. The marriage teaching is a part of Paul’s teaching on being filled with the Spirit.

4. 5:22 – wives submit to your husbands. There is no verb submit in this verse in the Greek. The verb has to be supplied from 5:21. Submission marks the lives of those who are filled with the Spirit. They submit to one another

5. more specifically, wives submit to their husbands & husbands love their wives. Marital submission & love are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

6. submission is offered in the Spirit out of reverence for Christ – literally in the fear of Christ. We live lives of submission by the Spirit in order to please Jesus.

Wrap-up
1. Lordship. The question all of us have to ask & answer daily is – is Jesus Lord of my life? Who’s holding the reins?

2. prayer. Prayer is how we do business with God. We work out the business of Lordship & the filling of the Spirit in prayer. First Friday 24 hrs This Friday. What better time!

3. community. Be filled with the Spirit is a command given to the whole church, all of us, everyone. We need to journey with others. This is not a time for Lone Ranger faith. Journey is sharing, confession, prayer, laying on of hands.

the Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (29)

“Believe and Pray”
Mark 9:14-29

1. in 1978 I visited Niagara Falls. You have to see it to believe it. Mark Buchanan, I was agog at the wild terror and pure beauty of it, the spectacle of white torrent hurtling into deep chasm. 1 mile upstream from the falls the Welland River joins the Niagara River. Right where those 2 rivers meet a passenger bridge arches across the Welland River. Boaters are allowed to navigate underneath this bridge & enter the wide flow of the Niagara River. There is a large sign posted on the bridge’s pylon. It asks boaters 2 questions: Do you have an anchor? Do you know how to use it?

2. you see, there is white water ahead, trouble, and you’d better be prepared.

3. the Jesus story before us this morning reminds us that we need an anchor and we’d better know how to use it when we find ourselves in the white water of life. I’ll come back to this at the end of my message.

Read Mark 9:14-29

9:14-19: 1st movement
1. in today’s Jesus story Peter James John & Jesus are thrust back into reality – white water – after their mountain-top experience with God the Father & Moses & Elijah [Kyle’s message spoke last week]. They quickly move from sublime glory to human & demonic discord.

2. when signals a huge change of events. From the mountain top. Jesus – Peter – James – John – Moses – Elijah. The Father’s voice, This is my son, whom I love, listen to him! Jesus countenance changed to a glorious, dazzling white. His Divinity flooded his humanity. Heaven on earth…

3. …to hell on earth. Large crowd. The rest of his disciples (9) arguing with the teachers of the law. A distraught father with a demon possessed son. The failure of the disciples to cast out the demon. And a flood of unbelief washing over the scene.

4. Jesus is deeply troubled, disturbed, exasperated. O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?

5. just a few verses earlier Jesus is basking in his Father’s love. Now he is confronting evil wrecking the life of a human being. An evil spirit, a demon, is in possession of a boy.

6. we love vacations, getaways, don’t we? Time to seek rest, refreshment, renewal. 4 years ago this summer we spent 3 weeks in Europe. We packed our time with photo ops, restaurants, museums, climbing to the top of cathedrals, Euro rail trips & gelato. We created a mountain of family memories in France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland & Italy.

we came back exhausted but refreshed, if you know what I mean. Bruce Landon picked us up at PDX on Sunday afternoon.

I went back to work Monday morning. I found a 3-page letter sitting on my desk waiting for me. It was not a good letter. Conflict. So much for getting away. My mountain top Europe vacation abruptly came to an end that morning. White water.

[Our Women’s Retreat at Canby Grove is this coming weekend. I would encourage as many of you as possible to attend. You just might need it for what lies ahead]

possessed by a spirit…
1. the white water Jesus faced was a demon-possessed boy – an evil spirit turned him mute, seized him, threw him to the ground, made him foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth, turn rigid, would try to kill him.

2. what are we to make of this? The Scriptures are very clear that there is a dark, oppressive power in our world that is opposed to everything God. His name is Satan or the devil. He floods our world with evil.

3. one of his strategies is sending an evil spirit, a demon, to possess someone’s life, control this life, shape this life for his evil purpose.

7. after what happened at Virginia Tech this past week we don’t have to be convinced that evil lurks in the hearts of men and women. I saw a brief clip of an interview with a wounded student. He was describing what happened in the classroom. He made eye contact with Cho Seung-Hui. He said, I saw evil in his eyes.

8. I think all of us would agree that evil was on the rampage this past Tuesday at Virginia Tech.

9:20-24: 2nd movement
1. Jesus calls for the demon-possessed boy. The very presence of Jesus stirs up the evil spirit – it threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. This had been going on since he was a child – it has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.

2. his father must have been in terrible agony. Imagine what he must have felt. Must have thought. The evil spirit has stone-walled him. Jesus’ disciples have failed him. And now, can Jesus do any better?
3. Jesus, if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. This is a prayer of ‘guarded hope.’ A cry for Jesus to show his compassion & power. If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes, answers Jesus.

4. this promise has been widely misunderstood. Some grab onto it and say that if you have enough faith you can obtain anything you want. Faith to get:
§ rich
§ healthy
§ a job promotion
§ the good life
§ that bigger house
§ that new boat
§ off those extra pounds
§ a life of unending happiness

5. this is not what Jesus means by everything is possible for him who believes. Faith is NOT a magic wand we wave before God to get whatever we want. The faith Jesus talks about here is faith that sets no limits to God’s power. Yes. But God’s power always works within God’s will. Not my will but Thine be done. What does God want for my life?

6. our faith & God’s power coalesce at the point of God’s will.

7. I love the father’s response, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! The boy’s father tethers what little faith he has to Jesus. This mix of doubt & faith is very real for some of us.

8. Dwight Moody once described 3 experiences of faith: there is struggling faith, like a man in deep water desperately swimming; clinging faith, like a person hanging on to the side of a boat; resting faith, like a person safely seated in the boat & able to reach out & help others get in.
9. what I love about this story is that Jesus takes us where we’re at. I believe, Jesus, please help me overcome my unbelief!

9:25-27: 3rd movement
1. Jesus honored the father’s mixture of believe & unbelief.

2. You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. Immediate deliverance. The boy was healed through deliverance.

9:28-29: 4th movement
1. privately, when Jesus & his disciples are alone indoors, his disciples asked him, Why couldn’t we drive it out? This is a learning opportunity, a teachable moment for the disciples. They show us something here – they want to learn from their failures.

2. do you ask the “why” question when you fail?

3. Jesus answers. Whatever the disciples did or didn’t do to drive out the demon, they didn’t pray. Maybe their past successes of casting out demons gave them a false sense of competence. “We can do this, we’ve done it before!”

4. and Jesus says to their self-effort, This kind can come out only by prayer. Which is to say – this kind can only come out when you full out, flat out, trust in me and not in yourselves.

5. and that’s where the story ends, with a reminder of the importance of prayer.

Believe and Pray
1. the boy’s father needed greater faith. The disciples needed greater prayer. To the father Jesus said, everything is possible for him who believes. To the disciples Jesus said, this kind can come out only by prayer.

2. a call to believe & a call to pray.

3. what do we do when we approach white water or find ourselves engulfed by it? Do you have an anchor? Our anchor is this Jesus story is our faith. Our faith in God’s power that has no limits. He can beat the power of evil & darkness.

4. do you know how to use it? The way we use our anchor of faith in this Jesus story is by praying. To pray is to lead a movement of resistance & revolution. We depend not upon ourselves BUT upon God alone.

5. personally, what kind of white water are you fighting this morning? Pull out your faith in Jesus anchor. And use it. Pray, pray, pray.

6. as a church, what kind of white water are we facing?

7. time to pull out our anchor & use it. Pray in faith for –
§ a fresh movement of the Spirit of God upon / in us
§ healing of bodies minds spirits
§ deliverance from strongholds that shackle us
§ provision of $724,272 to complete the new building without borrowing money
§ a missional thrust into our community & world

8. come Holy Spirit, come! Sign-up for May 4th 24 hrs of prayer!

the Gospel of Mark: on the road with Jesus (27)

“Resurrection”

Mark 16:9-20

Mark 16:9-14

[Mark 16:9-20 is not found in the most reliable early manuscripts, although it was already known in the early 2nd century. Most scholars believe it is a later addition to Mark’s gospel. This longer ending borrows heavily from the gospels of Luke & John]

1. verses 9-14 contain a summary of 3 resurrection appearances:
§ to Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-2)
§ to 2 men on road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
§ to the 11 disciples (Luke 24:36-43)

2. the common theme in all 3 stories is unbelief (the Bible doesn’t candy-coat things):
§ his disciples – they did not believe it (11)
§ the rest – they did not believe them either (13)
§ the 11 – their stubborn refusal to believe (14)

3. does this strike you as odd? The disciples who lived 3 years shoulder-to-shoulder with Jesus, knew him best & heard him predict his death & resurrection DID NOT BELIEVE when told Christ had risen from the dead.

4. uncertainty & unbelief have always stalked this story, right from the very beginning, right from within the circle of his closest followers, right up until today.

5. some of you are asking – is it really true? Did Christ actually rise from the dead? Some of you are besieged with doubt.

………

1. what if it’s true? What if Mary Magdalene and the two men on the road were not just seeing things but actually saw the risen Christ?

2. what if it’s true? That something unheard of, inexplicable transpired? Like the laws of nature suspended for one brief shining moment?

3. that Jesus died, rose up from the dead for you and me, for the whole world? And stood in for we all of us before God. On the cross. Carried our sin. Suffered our death. For all the bad & dark & ugly & shameful stuff of our lives – like when I…
§ lied to my parents about where I spent the night
§ slipped that 8-track tape into my coat lining
§ cheated on my physics test
§ touched what was not mine to touch
§ filed those false tax returns
§ sold drugs to high school kids
§ my adulteries
§ my lust envy jealousy anger greed
§ my abortions
§ my being proud of my pride
§ my looking down on those less fortunate than myself
§ my over-drinking
§ my racist comments at work
§ my fudging on my resume
§ my words that wounded those I love the most
§ my breaking of promises

2. if it’s true that Jesus rose from the dead, than all of it’s true. Every last bit of it:
§ the Father Son & Holy Spirit
§ creation fall salvation
§ faith hope love
§ forgiveness reconciliation freedom
§ healing deliverance wholeness
§ life eternity heaven
§ peace joy grace
§ and love love love
If Jesus rose from the death, than all of it is true!

3. and if true, then there’s rhyme & reason to this planet. A plot lurks beneath the chaos. Purpose is seeping through the fog. Light is breaking through the darkness. Sweetness, beauty galore.

4. life that doesn’t end. His life. My life. Your life. Hazel Knopp’s life. Jesse Bogue’s life. War-snatched lives in Iraq.

5. the gospel as tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale.

6. tragedy in that the world that God created beautiful and innocent became a world of darkness, emptiness, and rebellion.

7. comedy in that the unimaginable happened. Into the depths of this chaos God makes himself known in such unlikely ways as in the life of a 33 year old nobody carpenter from the backwaters of a small obscure country on the outer fringes of the Roman Empire – who would have ever thought?

8. fairy tale in that in this meeting of darkness and light the final victory is the victory of light. And that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still.

9. Mary Magdalene and the two men on the road had it right!




Mark 16:15-20

1. the story of the Bible is really very simple. At the beginning there are 2 people who are in a perfect relationship to God BUT they choose to break that relationship. At the end there are millions of people in a perfect relationship to God. In between is the story of how God moves through time to get from the 2 at the beginning to the millions at the end.

2. There is no more important person in this story than Jesus.

3. Eugene Peterson writes that Jesus is our way to God but at the same time Jesus is God’s way to us. The way we come to God is the same way God comes to us.

4. Mark tells us that Jesus was…
§ 6 – crucified (offering for sin)
§ 6 – resurrected from the dead (defeat of sin & death)
§ 9, 12, 14 – he appeared to his followers (he’s alive!)
§ 15 – he commissioned his followers (job description)
§ 19 – ascended to heaven (still alive)
§ 19 – sits at right hand of God (honor, authority)
§ 20 – works in & through his followers (in our lives)
This is what Mark’s gospel gives us to work with.

5. the 2 most important events of Jesus’ life are his death & resurrection. It is preeminently through these 2 events that Jesus takes us to God and God comes to us.

6. the stakes are sky-high with Jesus. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (16). Jesus will not save anyone against their will. Freedom to choose is a glorious & awesome responsibility.

7. more Eugene Peterson. Jesus is God in action. Jesus is God speaking words of salvation. Jesus is God touching lepers. Jesus is God forgiving a condemned and dying criminal and an adulterous woman hounded by men holding rocks and poised to kill her. Jesus is God blessing children. Jesus is God giving sight to the blind, life to Lazarus. Jesus is God calling down judgment on religious posturing. Jesus is God weeping over Jerusalem.

8. and it is in & through this same Jesus that we pray to God, come to God, believe in God, praise God, and live out our lives before God.

………

1. the resurrection accounts of Jesus show us that there are no heroes among his followers. The 12 disciples failed him miserably. Judas betrayed him & committed suicide. Peter denied him 3 times. The other 10 deserted him & fled for their lives. The last hours of his life reduced them to denial, flight, fear & silence.

2. the good news is that Jesus didn’t give up on these guys. He didn’t spend his resurrection appearances recruiting a new team of followers. He kept what he had.

3. he told them to go into all the world. To preach the good news of his life death resurrection to all creation.

4. and they did. And we are here this morning because the Presence of the living, resurrected Christ gave his defeated, despairing followers hope & power to spread the good news! The good news that has reached across 20 centuries of life to reach us.

5. get this, however imperfect our faith. However many times we deny Jesus. However many times we run from Jesus. However many times we remain silent when we should speak up. However many times we give up on Jesus…he doesn’t give up on us.

6. none of us can get so far away from Jesus that we can’t be touched by his healing, restoring, forgiving Presence.