Marcus Mecum - How To Have A Spirit Filled Home - Part 1
If you can find your Bibles or find in your Bibles, Ephesians 5. I'm gonna read a bunch of verses with you over the next couple minutes. Let's look at verse 17, "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is". I believe the new King James says, "Don't be unwise. Don't be foolish". So, this is a text about wisdom, it's not a salvation text. It's a text about, that we can't just function in the world that we live in without supernatural wisdom and understanding. We're serving an invisible kingdom and we're confronted every single day with the kingdom of darkness. That the prince of this world, satan, is doing everything that he can to confuse, and to separate, and divide.
And so, here we have some advice on how to understand what the will of the Lord is. It says, "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit". So, being filled with the Holy Spirit, it's celebrating that God did not leave us here alone, but he sent the Holy Spirit to come and be with us, and help us. It says, "To speak to one another in Psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ".
Notice the switch here. "Wives submit yourselves to your husbands," excuse me, "As you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, also wives should submit to their husbands in everything," Sarah. I'm just Messing around, Messing around. We know that verse has been abused and strangely, strangely, we leave out this next verse, do we not?
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, making her holy, cleansing her by the washing of the water through the word, to present her to himself a radiant church without stain, wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. 'for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'. This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'honor your father and mother'-which is the first commandment with a promise 'so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. Fathers, do not exasperate your children: instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord".
Let's drop down to verse 10, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". Verse 18, "And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people".
I know I read a lot of verses, but I wanted to bring attention to so many of them, primarily, because it is not something I would have thought about when I thought about the Holy Spirit, or when I would think about the moving of the Holy Spirit, the way that Paul did. Paul quickly connects being filled with the Holy Spirit to family. So, a lot of times we think of the Holy Spirit, we think of this really spiritual, you know, that that's the only place, maybe prayer or worship or church, but Paul immediately talks about after being filled with the Holy Spirit. He begins to talk to us as husbands, he talks to us as wives, he talks to children, he talks to parents.
So, I believe that there is something to this, in the day that we live in, on how we need to make sure our families are filled with the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 says that, "Jesus prayed for us, that we would have a helper or have an advocate in the Holy Spirit". One who aids, one who assists. In other words, there are going to be things that are bigger than us, that are more complicated than us. There are gonna be things that are beyond our understanding and we're not gonna know exactly how to lead our families. We're not going to know, exactly, from our experiences or maybe through worldly wisdom on exactly how to get through some of the things that will happen in our world, or even our families.
John 16:8-11 says that, "The Holy Spirit comes to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment". The NIV says that, "The Holy Spirit comes to prove that the world is wrong about sin, that the world is wrong about righteousness, and judgment". Which I think is interesting that the world has their own definition of right and wrong. And according to John, he said, "The Holy Spirit comes to us to prove that the world is wrong". Isn't that interesting? He doesn't ask me and you to, you know, to get together with one another. He says, "You have to be filled with the Holy Spirit".
Only the Holy Spirit can prove to you that there are things that this world says are right, that the Holy Spirit will say is wrong. There are things that the world says is wrong, the Holy Spirit will say, "No, that's right". And you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit to know exactly what the will of the Lord is. He convicts us of sin. He convicts us of righteousness, right standing with God. That is that you and I have a way to be right with God, you and I have a way to have right standing with God. And according to our theology, the Holy Spirit is who proves to us what gives us right standing with God.
So, you don't go to the world and allow the world to try to give you your theology. Because the world, interestingly enough, conveniently uses theology to in some way try to tell you that you are right or you are wrong, but they don't even serve the God, believe in the God, they're not surrendered to the God that they're trying to tell you about. So, you have to have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you, so when the world starts to try to tell you what God accepts or God rejects, you have something on the inside of you that's saying, "Nah, that's not where I get my cues from".
The Holy Spirit is sent to us to teach us on where to make godly judgments, where to make godly stands. Where to say, "Hey, this is crossing the line, and for me, I have to allow the Holy Spirit to lead me in that. He goes on to say that, the Holy Spirit can do more for you," and he says, "There's so much that the Holy Spirit can do for you that you can't even bear the amount of detail that the Holy Spirit wants to have and the amount of things that the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life". It's a rich, deep subject, is the point. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit speaks to us. The Holy Spirit reveals our future, and ultimately the Holy Spirit glorifies and declares that Jesus is God's son. Romans 8:15-18, "The Spirit marks you as a child of God".
The Spirit of God confirms that you and I are joint heirs with Christ. The Holy Spirit will make sense out of our suffering, and the attacks that come into our life, and the opposition that we're faced with. The Holy Spirit will keep you focused on eternal things, ultimately keep you focused on our reward is not here on earth, our reward is in heaven. So, the Holy Spirit is how we learn to navigate through the sufferings of life, to keep our eyes focused on eternity. The Holy Spirit does a work in your life when you get saved, but that work is not the only work. There is a second work called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It's the same spirit, but it is a separate experience.
You get saved, and you get water baptized. It is the exact same prayer. You are asking God for forgiveness. You're asking God to let the old man die and be buried, and to be raised into newness of life. That's the exact same prayer. That's the exact same thing we do at salvation, that we do at water baptism. Same exact spirit, separate experience. So, when the work of the Holy Spirit leads you to Jesus, which is what the Bible teaches, no one can say Jesus Christ is Lord apart from the Spirit of God.
So, then the Holy Spirit begins to move in your life, and he begins to show you who Jesus is, and show you your need for Jesus. That is the Holy Spirit working on the inside of you, but there is a separate experience called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is not a Pentecostal doctrine or a charismatic doctrine. It's not strange. It's not weird. It is an important gift that Jesus prayed, and promised that every believer that would desire it, would receive it. He said, "The Holy Spirit will abide with you forever". He is an eternal friend, which we need more than anything else in life. Friends will come and go, family will come and go, people have an interesting way of being with you when you're on top, when things are going good for you.
But when you struggle, and you suffer, and you're at the bottom, it's interesting how people, begin to be more and more scarce at those times. But the Holy Spirit will abide with you forever. He's there in the good times and the bad times. He's there when everything's flourishing, and he's right there in the midst of your brokenness, and your hurt, and your pain. So, being baptized in the Holy Spirit is different than salvation. It is different than being born again. It is a different promise altogether. Acts 19:2, they ask this interesting question. Why would they ask this question if there wasn't more after salvation, concerning the Holy Spirit?
Paul said this, "'have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed'? And they said, 'we have not heard that there is a Holy Spirit'". They were born again, they had been water baptized, they were clearly disciples, they were preaching the gospel in cities around the world, but they had not received the Holy Spirit. Paul laid hands on them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, every one of them, and they prayed and spoke with other tongues. James 5 tells us that this is not a salvation moment. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a wisdom issue. He connects wisdom and understanding with being filled with the Holy Spirit. And for our families, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so we can have wisdom and understanding in knowing what to do to raise our families in the midst of a trying and dark world.
In this text, it says that the Holy Spirit is similar or it relates the Holy Spirit with being drunk. We see this in acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. That when they come out of the upper room and they're witnessing there in Jerusalem, they were being mocked, people were making fun of them, and said they are drunk. These people have to have had too much to drink. And Peter stands up, and he does not argue with the idea that they're drunk. He just says, "They are not drunk as you suppose". So, we would know that there were similarities that were occurring in the way that they were acting, with those who drink too much and the ways that they act. And we all know how someone acts when they drink too much.
Some of y'all know from last night. Some of you are making plans for tonight. So, you know, you know. Let's not act like we don't know. C'mon, we know. That somebody can be shy, and they drink a little bit, and all of a sudden they become bold. People can't dance, but you get enough in 'em. You're like, "I don't understand why those people dance at church". They can't dance, but something about the Holy Spirit makes you wanna move. You can be afraid, and timid, and anxious, but you get enough in you, you become fearless. It's an old joke, I've told it many times. It's one of my favorite. No one ever laughs at it. But there's a little mouse that lives in a little drain in a bar, just lives down this little drain.
And there's this cat that they keep it at the bar to try to get the mice, get rid of all the mice. And this man's drinking, and he spills his drink, and it goes down into the drain. And that mouse comes jumping out of the drain saying, "Where's that cat"? My point is, you get enough in you, you're fearless. Emotions are intensified. Happiness, laughter, sadness, anger. Everything's intensified, which is why spirit-filled churches have a tendency to lean more emotional. It affects your speech. It affects your walk. And so, when you get filled with the spirit, you become bolder than what you would normally be, you become more confident, more fearless, you are filled with joy, filled with freedom because where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
Religion does the opposite. Religion in all of its forms is cold, and stiff, and rigid, it binds you, it's stubborn, there's no joy, there's no emotion. It shames all of that. It tries to minimize all of that, and turn you into a robot. But you and I are not robots, we're human beings, we're body, soul, and spirit. Our soul is the way we think, the way we feel, which affects the choices we make. So, when you think right about God, and you think right about his spirit, you feel something. Something comes into the way you feel, which does what? It affects the choices you make.
So, I feel like clapping when I think of the Holy Spirit, right? I feel like shouting when I think of the Holy Spirit. I feel like, it's a feeling I get that I can't just not feel, do anything because I feel something different when the Holy Spirit is alive and living in my life. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, living your life, hungering for more and more of him is so important. Paul starts out referring to being filled with the Holy Spirit, that's how he begins the scriptures that we read. But then he shifts to the home.
Husbands, I wanna talk to you about how to treat your wives. Wives, I wanna talk to you about how you treat your husbands. Fathers, I wanna talk to you about your children. I wanna talk to the children about the father and the mother and how to treat them. And notice that the key to a blessed home, the key to a blessed marriage, the key to a blessed group of parents raising a godly seed, is not just a natural thing, it's not only an instinctual thing. If you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you're inviting the infilling of the Holy Spirit into not just your church life or your prayer life, but you're inviting it into your marriage, you're inviting it into raising your children, you're inviting the Holy Spirit, and the person of the Holy Spirit into all that you do, it makes a difference in your home. And more than ever, we need the Holy Spirit to fill our homes.
We need the Holy Spirit in our conversations. We need the Holy Spirit behind our decisions. We need to ask the Holy Spirit for his wisdom, and how to guide and direct the up-and-coming generation in the midst of a wild and Godless world. It's difficult, there's struggles, there's contention in the home, but the Holy Spirit can elevate you above the circumstances, and show you what to do, and show you how to succeed. The day of Pentecost is referred to again as the birthday of the church. The feast of Pentecost is what it would be in the Jewish calendar year, or the feast of harvest. So, you have the day of atonement or Passover.
Let's go back to Exodus, where the children of Israel, the final plague would be that they have to sacrifice the lamb, put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, so the destroyer will pass over. That is Passover day that is celebrated every single year in the Jewish calendar. That's the day of atonement. Fifty days after the day of atonement you have harvest, or the feast of the harvest, or Pentecost. Pentecost means 50. And so, you have the day of atonement. Atonement means protection, it means covering. It's there to make sure that when the destroyer comes into your life, and so, Jesus when he came to earth, he didn't just die on any day, his sacrificial death was not just on any calendar day, it was on Passover, it was on the day of atonement.
In the same way, the blood of the lamb in Exodus protects homes, and covers those homes, and atones those homes, so it is that Jesus and his blood now, protects, it covers, and it atones us. Fifty days after the death and the resurrection of Jesus, you have Pentecost. And Pentecost, they're gathered in the upper room, all together in one place, in one accord. Like a mighty rushing wind, the Holy Spirit fills the place that they were gathered, divided tongues as fires set on each one of them. And isn't it interesting that they go out, and they preach the gospel, and 3,000 men, not including women and children were baptized in that one day?
So, you have the atonement, you have 50 days, you have Pentecost, you have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then you have the church fulfilling the mission of the church, which is to go gather the harvest. And this is my question to you, why would God send his son to die on a horrible cross, give his life, to just put us in a place where we just gather and it's us four and no more? No, he fills us with his spirit, so we can go out and gather the harvest. The reason churches are without mission is because churches are without the spirit. And this is why Jesus said, "Do not do anything, go wait and tarry for the spirit, the helper, the assistant of God to come and show up in your life". Don't go out before that happens because the Holy Spirit empowers us to fulfill the mission of the church.