Marcus Mecum - How To Have A Spirit Filled Home - Part 2
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. 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 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. Jesus said it's to our advantage that he goes, because he's leaving and sending the helper or the Holy Spirit. John 14:17, "He dwelleth with you, but he shall also be in you". When you get baptized in the Holy Spirit, you receive all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which includes the language of speaking in tongues, a heavenly language. You don't have to receive it, you don't have to accept it, but it is a gift that comes with the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:10 teaches us that all languages have meaning. In other words, you and I may not speak Spanish, but we would know that Spanish has meaning. Though we don't understand it, there's meaning to it. You and I may not speak Chinese or whatever language you wanna bring up, but yet those languages have meaning to them. You don't understand them, but that doesn't mean they have less meaning to them. Isn't it interesting that when it comes to the language of heaven, we think we have to understand it? Just because you don't understand it, does not negate that it has great meaning to you. Paul called it the tongue of angels. Do you really think that heaven is going to speak English? Heaven has a language that supersedes our language barriers.
And so, it is when the Holy Spirit comes in our life, he begins to give us a language, a language that is connected to heaven and it has great meaning. Now, of course we would know that it's no different in our day than it was in the Book of Acts. People laugh at it, and they mock it, and they make fun of it. And I think that that's pretty easy to see why. I would be hard pressed to find anyone that at some point hasn't made fun of someone that speaks another language. Laughed at, you know, the dialect of someone that's southern.
I was in Michigan with Sara and so, it's northern and they think I'm southern. Then I was in the south and they think I'm northern, 'cause I'm neither, I'm mid-western. So, it say, I have all kinds of weird ways I pronounce words. And in Michigan, they make fun of the way that I speak. In Georgia, they would make fun of the way Sara would speak. And so, it's normal for there to be a mockery around, and so, all I'm simply trying to say is as a Christian, you can't get hung up on the fact that people are gonna laugh and mock and make fun of it, it's something they don't understand. But just because they don't understand it, doesn't mean you should avoid it or push away from it. It exists in every little pocket of humanity is all I'm suggesting.
So, God wants to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Now, when you receive the Holy Spirit, it's not about receiving the gifts, it's about receiving him. Once you receive him, the Bible says you are to desire all the gifts in your life. They all have an impact. They all can make a difference in your life, and the prayers of Jesus is that we would receive the Holy Spirit, that it would be an advantage to us. It's not weird, it's not spooky, it's not strange, it's not something we should be negative with, it's something we should fully embrace and say, "God, I want everything that you have for me". The fear that many people experience around the Holy Spirit normally comes from some type of mainline denomination trying to protect their doctrine instead of defending what the scripture says, and we have a tendency to see this.
Go back, for example, when the Catholic church was telling the Christians at large that they could never understand the Bible, let them interpret the Bible. Let them interpret it. The average, every day person could never understand the Bible. Well, Martin Luther comes along, and he translates the Bible, and his goal is to get a Bible in every person's hand in a language that they could understand. Why? Because he believes that if they read the Bible, they can understand the Bible. And what the Catholic church knew is that they would start reading the Bible and they would start to see weird things, like, for example the Bible says, "If you confess your sin to God, he is faithful and just to forgive your sin".
That our mediator is Jesus Christ. If you have a Catholic background, this is just the way the Bible teaches it, not the way the Catholic church teaches it, but it's the way the Bible teaches it, which is our authority, by the way, when it comes to the Christian church. So, we would know confess your sin to the Lord and he's faithful and just to forgive you. He is our mediator. I don't have to confess my sin to a priest because Jesus is my high priest. I confess my sin to him. Now, that doesn't mean that I can't talk with someone else about my shortcomings, right? The Bible says, "We confess our sin on to another that we may be healed".
So, there's healing that can come in talking about our shortcomings, our failures, our sin and our mistakes, but it's not necessary for forgiveness. Our forgiveness comes from God, and you don't have to work for your forgiveness by praying a certain amount of prayers after that moment. Jesus already finished the work of forgiveness on the cross in full, in its entirety, you and I receive that work. I'm not even making a statement. I know I have Catholic brothers and sisters that love the Lord Jesus, with all their heart. I'm simply saying, they knew that if the average person would read the Bible, they would see discrepancies with what they were teaching.
And so, it is when it comes to people speaking against the Holy Spirit. It's interesting that they have to go to the Bible and they have to disprove the Bible. That's not really what it meant, that's not really what, but it's so often talked about and so often occurs, they're really taking big parts of the Bible and explaining it away. I have noticed over my years of serving God that it doesn't take too long before someone makes fun of the Holy Spirit, makes lie to the Holy Spirit, is even sarcastic referring to the Holy Spirit, where they quickly become to someone that disregards the word. They begin to make light of the word, they begin to say, "Ah, the word is not really our final authority in things".
Why would they do that? Because the Holy Spirit is the author of this book, he breathed on the... So, if you make light of the Holy Spirit, it's not too far off that you're gonna start making light of his word. Anyway, just... Just talking today. How do you receive the Holy Spirit? It begins with desire. You ask, you seek, and you knock. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled". So, it doesn't matter what denomination you're apart of, I know Catholics that are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with tongues, I know preachers who are leaders in mainline denominations that teach against it who will privately say, "Hey, by the way, I got it".
So, anybody can receive it. It doesn't matter what your background is, it is available for everybody. You need it. The Bible says, "The same spirit that raised up Christ from the dead comes and lives on the inside of you". So, when the Holy Spirit begins to live in your life, he raises you, he elevates you, he lifts you. The Holy Spirit will never bring you down. So, one of my favorite text in beginning to understand this, and I'm closing, is where in Ezekiel that the prophet is taken to a river. And the first thing that in this vision that he receives is that he's taken into the river ankle deep. And there's an experience with ankle deep. He encounters the flow of the river. It's not deep, but he experiences it at the ankle level.
And then, the guys goes at a thousand cubits, and he calls Ezekiel to come in a little bit further to knee deep. And then, he goes out a little bit further and says, "Come," waist deep. And then, it gets to the point that the river is so overflowing that he's called to go so deep that he's in over his head. That all around him, everywhere around him, he is completely immersed in the Holy Spirit. This is a vision of what it's like to live your live completely being immersed in the Holy Spirit. It's not just an ankle thing, it's not just a knee deep thing, it's not just you saying, "I, kinda, will get saved," and pray a prayer and then go back Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, do my own thing.
It's not just a knee deep thing where maybe you're baptized and maybe you come to church, you know, every now and then. It's not just a waist deep thing where, no, it's all of your life is being completely immersed. This includes your home, your marriage, raising your children, your job, everything about you practically speaking. You're saying, "I want to go all in. I want all that God has for me. I wanna leave nothing out". Now, in Luke 15, there's a woman who has lost a coin. She had ten coins and she loses one, which means she has nine. Now, most would tell her, "Hey, you're good with nine. I mean, nine's a lot, by the way. Who cares if you've lost one? You've still got nine".
But this woman was not satisfied with having nine. She knew something was missing. She knew there was more, and she wasn't gonna stop at the nine, she needed to get the one that was lost. And so, the turns on the lamp, that's the first thing she does. Which is what I would encourage you to do as you begin to seek God concerning, have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you really been filled with, have you immersed your life? Have you experienced that? First thing you do is you turn on the lamp, which is the word. That's the first thing you do. His word is a lamp to our feet. You don't take my word for it, you don't take somebody else's word for it.
Open up the Bible. Begin to read through the Bible, begin to read John 14, 15, and 16. Read what he says. Go read acts 2, go read through the Book of Acts and begin to watch the different encounters that the early church had with the Holy Spirit. Just begin to read through it. Go into Paul's writings and read about the Holy Spirit there in 1 Corinthians 14. You can begin to read how he talks about praying with your understanding, right? Whatever language you speak, the language you understand, and then praying without understanding. Which Paul said, "I wish that all of you would pray in tongues as much as I do".
Every author in the New Testament prayed with tongues, every single one of them. And so, if you have to throw something out, you have to realize, if you're gonna make fun of it, you're making fun of every author of the New Testament. So, it's important that we begin to get to the place where we sweep our lives, we turn on the lamp in our lives, and we ask ourselves, "Am I missing something when it comes to the Holy Spirit"? The Bible says, "If you ask God for the Holy Spirit, he gives it to you". If you ask for bread, he doesn't give you a stone. If you ask God for the Holy Spirit, he gives you the Holy Spirit. Every person in here that's received Jesus Christ as Lord is a candidate to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
I can't baptize you in the Holy Spirit. I can baptize you in water. I can preach the Bible to you, but the Bible says that, "One is coming," referring to Jesus Christ, "Who will baptize you in the Holy Ghost in fire". When it comes to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, Jesus reserves the sole right to be the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. And if you ask him, he will baptize you in the spirit. And I've learned this about God, if it's on the menu, it's in the kitchen, right? He's not gonna give you a bunch of things to read about that you can't experience.
And so, if it's on the menu, it ought to be in the kitchen. And I'm so thankful because the reason I talk many times like this is because I got saved in a Pentecostal, spirit filled church when I was 16. I got baptized in the Holy Spirit short after that. So, my entire Christian walk, I used the gift of praying in the spirit, praying in tongues.
It's a wonderful, it edifies you, it strengthens you, it builds your faith, the Holy Spirit makes intercession through you and when we don't know what to pray, the Holy Spirit knows what to pray, which is why I ended on the armor of God. Because ending on the armor of God, it mentions the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the feet shods of peace, the belt of truth, the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. It goes through all of that, but it never refers to anything on the back. There's no armor that protects the back of the soldier.
And so, then he ends by saying that we are to pray in the spirit for one another. That's what it says. We're to pray in the spirit for one another, that we have each other's back. Again, I don't know exactly what to pray for you, but the Holy Spirit knows how to make intercession through me. You don't know what to pray for me, you don't know what I'm facing right now, you don't know how the devil's attacking me, but the Holy Spirit does. And if you'll pray in the spirit for me, that's how we have each other's back, and we have to have each other's back as God's people. And so, we need to be praying in the spirit, one for another. All the way to church, every single Sunday, I'm praying in the spirit. You may be saying, "He doesn't know me, he doesn't know my situation, he doesn't know what I'm up against".
That's why I don't pray with my understanding, I pray with the spirit because the Holy Spirit knows if someone's coming in broken, the Holy Spirit knows if someone's coming in and needs divine intervention. The Holy Spirit knows if someone needs healing, the Holy Spirit, so, I allow the Holy Spirit to pray through me. But back to when I was 16. As I've gotten older, my personality type is more linear. I'm a more practical thinker. And I would have easily fallen into the camp that would not want anything to do with this very easily.
I love God, but I would've very easily fallen into that camp because I listen to people who speak against it, and when I listen to 'em, I'm like, "Ah, it's so easy to be on that side of things, right"? 'Cause that side of things is a God you can, kind of, explain, a God you can, kind of understand. A God that's, kind of, like again, it's the form of Godliness, but it denies the power. When you begin to talk about the power of God, when you begin to talk about the infilling of the Holy Spirit and you begin to talk about supernatural gifts, it immediately separates you and you are now in a place where you need God to come through 'cause you're in over your head.
Your feet don't touch the bottom, you don't know what you're doing, you're trying to figure out all this God stuff. But I'm thankful that I experienced it at a young enough age that my mind and my teaching would not talk me out of it. And this is why, because over the years, no matter what I've heard, I've learned that a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. And most of our prejudice is a result of a lazy mind. You don't have to be super spiritual. Get out the lamp, sweep the floor, and ask God if there's more, and God is faithful. Jesus is the mighty baptizer in the Holy Spirit in fire and he wants you to receive all that he has.