Be Filled: Part 4
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: Being filled with the Holy Spirit brings dry bones to life.
Dry Bones
Overflow
A River from the Throne
Dry Bones
God breathes life into our dry bones by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 ESV
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord." So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord."”
When God breathes life into us by his Spirit, we are filled with vitality for our everyday lives and are empowered for Kingdom mission with him.
Would the Lord have me prophesy to my/our dry bones?
Yes!
The Scripture continually speaks about the power of our spoken words.
Proverbs 12:14
“From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.”
Proverbs 18:21 ESV
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
When we share the gospel with people, calling them to repent of sin, giving them the hope of forgiveness through Christ’s substitutionary death at the cross and resurrection from the dead, we are prophesying to dead bones that they might live.
Ephesians 2:1-10
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
When we apply a Biblical worldview, it provides change to the environments that surround us to the glory of God.
“Only a "dry as dust" religion prompts a minister to extol the glories of Heaven while ignoring the social conditions that cause men an Earthly hell.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
When God fills us with his Spirit, we have vigor to function as more than simple church goers.
Instead, we have strength to reach the lost with the gospel, make disciples by Christ’s Word; all the while seeing broken lives made whole, families redeemed and the communities in which they live developed to the glory of God.
We can minister the gospel with great generosity as we pray for miracles, the healing of the sick, the deliverance of those oppressed by tormenting spirits and prophesy the Word of God to people that they might be strengthened, encouraged and comforted in the Lord.
Overflow
Jesus desires you to live in the overflowing life of the Holy Spirit.
John 7:37-39 ESV
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
We can not give that which we do not have.
The goal of being filled with the Holy Spirit is that living water would continually flow out of your heart.
“When the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus at his baptism, he hears a voice say, ‘This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. You are my Son and I delight in you.’ In the same way, Romans 8:16 tells us that the Spirit bears witness to our hearts that we are children of God. Part of the mission of the Spirit is to tell you about God’s love for you, his delight in you, and the fact that you are his child. These things you may know in your head, but the Holy Spirit makes them a fiery reality in your life.
Thomas Goodwin, a seventeenth-century Puritan pastor, wrote that he saw a father and son walking along the street. Suddenly the father swept the son up into his arms and hugged him and kissed him and told the boy he loved him – and then after a minute he put the boy back down. Was the little boy more a son in the father’s arms than he was down on the street? Objectively and legally there was no difference, but subjectively and experientially, there was all the difference in the world. In his father’s arms, the boy was experiencing his sonship.
When the Holy Spirit comes down on you in fullness, you can sense your Father’s arms beneath you. It is an assurance of who you are. The Spirit enables you to say to yourself: ‘If someone as all-powerful as that loves me like this, delights in me, has gone to infinite lengths to save me, says he will never let me go, and is going to glorify me and make me perfect and take everything bad out of my life – if all of that is true – why am I worried about anything? At a minimum this means joy, and a lack of fear and self-consciousness.”
-Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
Before God sends us to proclaim life to others, he brings life to our barren hearts.
As we continue to live at the tap of God’s throne, in the Word, worship, Biblical fellowship (Ephesians 5) and prayer, we are healed by God so that we can all bring healing to others.
Where are the areas that you need to ask God for the influence and glory of the Holy Spirit to increase to overflowing in your life?
The answer is wherever you lack love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control - wherever you lack trust in God’s unfailing love to supply grace to your every need as you delight yourself in him (Psalm 37:5).
Have you made room for God in your heart or are you filling it with other things?
A River From the Throne
The blood of Jesus shed at the cross paved the way for the overflow life of the Holy Spirit.
When we are born again, we become temples of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19).
Ezekiel 47:1-12 ESV
“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."”
When we meet with God, we should ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts that God might bring his ever-increasing freedom and glory in and through our lives.
We want to be a people who live in powerful, advancing faith in God!
So again, how do we access this ever increasing flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
We do so by continually and progressively submitting to the Lordship of Jesus in EVERY AREA of our lives.
Revelation 22:1-5 ESV
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
The river of life that brings healing will forever flow from the throne of God.
The throne will forever be the place that God rules and reigns.
This means that to the degree we submit to his Lordship is the degree to which he brings faith, freedom and healing in our lives.
Have you allowed God to establish his throne in your heart?
What areas are you holding back from God, leaving untouched by the water of the Spirit, where God could otherwise bring healing and life?
Is it a relationship?
Is it your identity?
Is it your fear of the future and death grip on finances?
Is it your pursuit of pleasures that you think will fill the vacuous hole in your soul?
Just as Jesus went to the cross to pay the price in substitute for the forgiveness of our sins, so we too must die to being master of our own lives before we can truly live.
Let’s repent of self-sufficiency, self-righteousness and sin today that we might be filled to overflowing with the life giving waters of the Spirit of God!
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher