Mark Batterson - Are You Living a Spirit-Led Life?

TOPICS: Pentecost

Are you a thermometer or are you a thermostat? Are you being conformed to the world around you or are you being transformed by the Spirit of God within you? Is the loudest voice in your life the loudest voice, or is it the still small voice of the Spirit? What percentage of your words and thoughts, your actions and reactions, are a regurgitation of social media and news media, and what percentage is a revelation that you’re getting from the Word of God and the Spirit of God? Are you living a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life? Those are a few questions we’re going to answer today. Welcome to National Community Church DC Novaners online! It is Pentecost Sunday, and I just want to say I want to pray: Come, Holy Spirit, do it again! Ready or not, here we go.

They were sitting around a table. It was one of those very low, very long Middle Eastern tables. They had had so many meals at this table, so many conversations, so many moments, so many memories. I mean, it was just 40 days ago that they had celebrated the Last Supper, but it felt like forever. So much had happened since then, and here they were again. Jesus leaned in around that table; the disciples leaned in with him, and he said something kind of confusing. He said, «Do not leave Jerusalem; wait for the gift that the Father promised.»

He made eye contact around that table. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you. No sooner had he said those words than he got up from the table and just walked out of the room, and he waved the disciples with him. They wound their way through the back alleys of Jerusalem, out the Golden Gate in the eastern wall. They crossed the Kidron Valley and climbed the Mount of Olives. A few of them were huffing and puffing by the time they got to the top. But what of you? On a clear day, you could see 20 miles to the east, the Dead Sea over the Judean desert, and to the west, that panoramic view of Jerusalem never got old. But they didn’t know why they were there. «Why are we here?»

Then Jesus lifted those nail-scarred hands, and they could see through the holes in his hands, and he pronounced the Priestly blessing with so much compassion, with so much conviction, with so much authority that you would think he was the great High Priest. «May the Lord bless you and keep you; may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his countenance toward you and give you peace.» Those were the last words they ever heard him say. Those were the words that were still echoing in their ears ten days later. But what happened next? No category. I mean, they had seen him walk on water; they had seen him turn water into wine; they had seen him raise a man four days dead. But as they shielded their eyes from the sun, what they would have never imagined was Jesus ascending and angels descending. The same Jesus will come back in the same way. But now what? What do we do now?

I’ll tell you this: the walk back to Jerusalem was still two miles, but it felt a lot longer. No one talked to each other. There were so many thoughts, so many questions. «I guess we’ll just do what he said to do last,» and so they climbed those stairs to the Upper Room. They were praying and worshiping, but it’s been ten days, y’all. How long do we wait? Why are we waiting? What are we even waiting for?

And then it happened: Acts chapter 2, verse 1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly—well, after ten days—suddenly, gradually, then suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the day just got crazier because they started speaking languages they had never learned. There are decades when nothing happens; there are days when decades happen, and this is one of them.

Can I cliff note the Gospels and the Book of Acts? At Bethlehem, he is God with us—God in diapers. He had to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic like the rest of us. A high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses because he was tried and tempted just like us. How amazing is the Incarnation? At Bethlehem, he is God with us; at the cross, he is God for us. I have some good news and some bad news. Bad news: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Am I in the right room? Is there any perfect people here today? Okay, just making sure.

The good news is God made him who had no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of Christ. In other words, everything you’ve ever done wrong transferred to his account, paid in full. My sin is nailed to an old rugged cross; my sin is forgiven and forgotten. Please don’t miss this: religion is spelled D-O; it’s all about what you can do for God. Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E; it’s all about what Christ has done for us. And so the other half—because it gets even better—is the righteousness of Christ. Everything he’s done right gets transferred to our account. He said, «Let’s call it even.»

At Bethlehem, he is God with us; at Calvary, he is God for us. But believe it or not, it gets better. Are you ready for this? At Pentecost, he is God in us. Wow, wait, what? Yeah, your body—you are body, mind, and spirit—and your body, don’t miss this, is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Can I just remind us of who we are? You are the image of God; you’re the apple of God’s eye. You are God’s workmanship; you are the righteousness of Christ; you are a child of God; you are more than a conqueror. How are you feeling right now? Better! But you are also a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I was trying to explain this to Parker when he was a little guy. I said, «Son, little class in theology with a five-year-old is always fun.» The temple isn’t brick and mortar; it’s flesh and blood. The temple is not a building built by human hands; the temple is this! God now fills these temples, and your body becomes… So Parker said, «So does that mean my skin is like marble?» I thought he might be getting it, and then he said, «When I drink water, does the Holy Spirit get wet?» It’s a little more complicated than that, okay? But I will say this: in him we live and move and have our being. If God were to withdraw his breath, we would return to dust. Somehow, some way, we are animated by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in the 40 nanometer gap between synapses in the human mind. The Holy Spirit—Ephesians 1:23—used to confuse me. It describes God as him who fills everything in every way. We don’t have time for quantum mechanics, but according to quantum mechanics, every atom is not 99,99% empty space. Wow, that’s a lot of filling! Do I understand it? No, it’s a mystery, and it’s a miracle! But I’m telling you today who you are: you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Can I just talk about some of the implications of that? Your body matters to God. I think we need to rediscover, re-examine, re-imagine Genesis 1:28. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them. This isn’t something we get to decide; this is divine design. And so it just seems to me if God made us this way, this is probably something we should educate and celebrate as something, wow, okay? And it’s something we handle with great love, great respect, great empathy, great clarity. And I would say the same goes for sex because, I mean, that’s not just something you do with your body. It got so quiet. Why is it so quiet?

Biblically speaking, sex is a sacred covenant between a husband and a wife in the context of marriage. Now, what’s so beautiful about the biblical vision and version of sexuality is that—don’t miss this! —spouses, when you have sex, you are renewing the covenant. This is one way that we celebrate communion as a married couple. I think an amen right there would be in order!

Now, I have a pastor friend who was talking about sex one Sunday, and it was right around the time that Wilt Chamberlain said he had had 20,000 different sexual partners. Do you remember this? So my friend got up and said, «I’ve had sex 20,000 times with one woman—my wife.» The second he said it, he realized, uh, by the look on his wife’s face and the congregation, that some people were doing the math. They’d been married 16 years; that’s 3.4 times per day! Oh man, I don’t know if we celebrate communion that much!

Pastor Mark, I thought we were talking about Pentecost? Ah, yes, yes, yes, let’s get back. Let’s get back to Acts 2:1-17. They are filled with the Spirit. They are filled with the Spirit! And look at what happens: «In the last days,» God says, «I will pour out my Spirit on all people.» Would you say all people? All people! «Your sons and daughters,» would you say it? Sons and daughters! «Sons and daughters will prophesy.» And «your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.» Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit.

Now let me give you the two-minute version of what happens right here when we are filled with the Spirit. This is so beautiful! Oh my goodness! Racism, sexism, ageism? Out the window! My, my, my, my, my! Oh my! Do you know how revolutionary this is? 2,000 years ago! Well, what do you mean? Well, he says, «I’ll pour out my Spirit not just on Jews but Gentiles.» I mean, this is a big leap right here! In fact, he says «all people.» Which people? All people! Why? Because each and every one of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit! So how we treat ourselves and how we treat others—as a general rule, you try to treat a temple with great love and respect.

And then it says, «Your sons and daughters.» Man, this pushed the envelope! But can I tell you what we believe? Because, again, male, female—divine design! What we believe differs, sure, and that’s to be celebrated, and together we make this jigsaw puzzle whole, which is just so beautiful! But we believe that men and women are equally called, equally gifted, equally anointed, equally qualified to do anything and everything that God has called them to do. And I’ll just say this: anything less, the church has one arm tied behind its back! We’re going to be like half a church at half-strength! No, no, no, no! Praise God! So what a moment!

And then, your young men and old men—I just think it’s so great! You are never past your prime. Can I get an amen? Every week I get emails; I get letters from people that have read a book, and it just brings so much joy. This week, a 72-year-old woman was walking through the public library in Franklin County, Tennessee, and she sees «Chase the Lion.» And she said it leaped out as she walked the aisle! She said, «I’m on page 33, and I’m so excited!» She said, «I’m 72, not very techy; I’m a breast cancer survivor.» And then, for whatever reason, she decided to tell me her life verse. Just jot this down and study the context. I love this! I don’t know anybody whose life verse is 2 Kings 7:3: «Why do I sit here until I die?» Does that get in your business a little bit? Can I get in our business a little bit more? Delayed obedience is disobedience; inaction is an action; indecision is a decision!

Here’s the bottom line: anything less than Spirit-filled is dead religion. Anything less than Spirit-led isn’t going to get us where we need to go. Oh, without the Holy Spirit, I’m below average. Let me see your hands? Without the Holy Spirit, I’m below average. With the help of the Holy Spirit, all things are possible! Can I have a little fun? Are we having fun? I just happen to believe you’ve got to have fun in church! Something may be said that makes you feel worse, but you ought to feel better by the time we’re done because of the grace of God and the goodness of God.

So when I was in high school, I drove a 1984 Dodge Colt. In fact, I’ll show you a picture. Now listen, I don’t know who the guy in the picture is, but that is my car. I got in a little fender bender. Don’t have too much fun with this! The only replacement was a little white fender, and I’m telling you right now this car—it was a stick shift. I blew through three clutches and it lost its muffler. But this was before cell phones, so it was so great because I didn’t need to call my friends when I was coming over because they could hear me five blocks away!

Now it wasn’t much to look at, and there was not a lot of horsepower under that hood, but it had a twin stick transmission. I don’t even know what that means, but there was a lever. Are you ready for this? With an E and a P. The E stood for economy—not today—the P stood for power! All that P—the feeling at the light! Here we go! Looking over at the TransAm, you know, 1980s—oh yeah! Woo, woo! Ow! By the way, what I’m saying is I lived in P mode. I got pulled over 13 times in high school. Listen, if any of your kids need driving lessons, just let me know—I’m happy to help you out! Hey, I only got three tickets though. Wow! Not a bad batting average!

Now I know I’m being playful, but I want to tell you something: on the day of Pentecost, God said, «No more E; we’re going P! We’re going to empower! We’re going to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that you have gifts beyond your ability, so that you have revelation beyond your education, so that you can do things that you can’t take credit for.»

Now, I have a Theory of Everything. Here it is: I would say this. This is message notes you’ll find on the NCC app, but this is kind of the main thing, and then we’re going to break this down a little bit. Here is my Theory of Everything: the answer to every prayer is more of the Holy Spirit. Whatever you’re praying for, I believe the answer is more of the Holy Spirit!

Well, ah, Pastor Mark, what about wisdom? Yeah, I think wisdom and knowledge—those are a couple of the gifts of the Spirit right there. The Spirit is the one who gives wisdom. What about love, joy, and peace? Oh, patience! I am praying for P! I have this co-worker testing my patience! I need more of those things! You see where this is going? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control! Last time I checked, they’re the fruit of the Spirit! So what I need is more of the Spirit that produces more of the fruit!

Oh, but what about those gifts of the Spirit—the supernatural functioning with gifts of healing or gifts of faith? The things that propel us into a whole different place? Well, they’re gifts of the Spirit! So I need more of the Spirit that produces more of the gifts. I really believe I need healing in my body. Holy Spirit, come and fill me! Especially in the place where I’m hurting, where I’m experiencing pain, where I need you—the broken places. Would you fill me with your Spirit in those places?

Are you tracking with me today? I am believing for a fresh infilling of God’s Spirit. So here’s what I believe: you can call me simple, but I hope it’s, you know, Oliver Wendell Holmes—not simplicity on the near side of complexity, which is ignorance. I hope it’s simplicity on the far side of complexity! It’s going to sound really simple, but the guy that’s preaching this morning believes that the same Spirit that hovered over the chaos in Genesis 1 is hovering over your life, that the same Spirit that anointed a creative named Bezalel is anointing creatives today, that the same Spirit is healing and sealing and revealing, that the same Spirit is convicting and comforting and counseling, that the very same Spirit is gifting and guiding, and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me! That changes the game!

And maybe it’s because I’m a denominational mutt. I don’t know if anybody else is like—I grew up, we went to like half a dozen different churches, and they were all like different names on them. Like, you know, Baptist, Bible, E-Free, random. We were all over the map. And looking back on it, I’m grateful because it gives you a more holistic perspective. But I’ll be honest: I grew up in a church like reading the KJV, and it’s not «Holy Spirit»; it’s «Holy Ghost.» And when you’re four years old, you don’t want anything to do with a ghost!

And then just through a process of surrendering myself, «Lord, I’m open. I’m open.» Because I’m going to tell you right now, it is really hard to be a two-thirds Christian. You can pray to the heavenly Father; you can follow Jesus, but without the infilling of the Holy Spirit? Good luck! It’s just not going to work! What’s going to happen? It’s going to devolve into legalism. I’m going to try harder or do this more, and it’s not even fun! Holy Spirit’s fun and funny! I think the Holy Spirit is all over sanctifying the medial ventral prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that’s responsible for humor! God gave it to us, by the way! It’s part of the image of God!

Now I’m preaching a whole different sermon! I love my dog, especially when I come home! She wags her whole body! It feels so good! I believe in dog therapy! Our dog doesn’t laugh; cats definitely don’t laugh; humans do! It’s these capacities that make us who we are, and the Holy Spirit wants to help us with all of them!

Let me paint a little bit of a picture now. Ephesians 5:18 says, «Be filled with the Spirit.» Now it says, «Do not be drunk with wine.» And I don’t have time to break that down, but I think some people substitute alcohol for the Holy Spirit because the effect is the loss of inhibition! And wow, it’s Theory Sunday, I guess at NCC! I think self-consciousness is part of the curse that before they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were naked, but they weren’t ashamed!

And so there’s something—I think sometimes we use alcohol to almost get to a pre-innocent place! By the way, I reserve the right to get smarter when you totally go off your notes, so just let’s think about this! But I think some of us, you know, we get drunk, and it’s the only time we feel comfortable in our own skin! But the problem is, then you say dumb stuff and do dumb stuff, and you regret it afterward! The Holy Spirit has the same effect! It helps us get over ourselves and past ourselves. It’s really hard. There’s something about the work of the Spirit, because either you’re operating in the flesh or you’re operating in the Spirit.

And so there’s something about the Spirit that has a sanctifying effect on my ego, which is so big and has so many lies that I have to keep putting it on the altar every day! Where were we? Ah, be filled with the Spirit! It’s one of those places where in Greek, it’s the present imperative verb! In other words, keep on being filled with the Spirit!

So about a decade ago, I hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and I think it was on day two that we went through Dead Woman’s Pass, and I got this throbbing headache. Where are my climbers, my hikers, my elevation people? You know why? My head was throbbing because at 14,000 feet, there is 37% less oxygen, and that’s when our guide pulled out a can of pure oxygen. I inhaled multiple times, and as I did, my headache went away!

I just wonder how many headaches we have that are the result of Spirit deprivation! Now go to school, go to school, go to counseling, go to counseling, go to the hospital, go to the hospital. Like, praise God for academics! Praise God for therapists! Praise God for doctors and nurses! Can I get an amen? Amen! But the Holy Spirit is the great comforter, the great counselor! Without the Holy Spirit, you can’t even read the Bible effectively! That’s true! Why? Because the same Spirit that inspired the original writers is helping us as readers on the other side of the equation! Come, Holy Spirit!

Now, how do we receive this gift that Jesus promised? Well, the key word is «receive.» You don’t have to say Hyundai five times fast; you don’t have to make a pilgrimage to Timbuktu. Don’t miss this: in the Kingdom of God, nothing is achieved; everything is received! Faith— even faith—is a gift from God! Grace, a gift from God! Don’t miss this: if your identity is achieved, it’s a house of cards, my friend; it will crumble! If your identity is received from Jesus, T. Austin-Sparks said it this way: «The only sin Jesus ever knew was ours, and the only righteousness we’ll ever know is his.» Are you tracking? So, his righteousness is received; salvation is received; the gifts are received; power is received!

And it shouldn’t surprise us that the Holy Spirit is received on his terms, in his way. You don’t have to do a fancy dance! I will say this: the Holy Spirit can’t fill you if you’re full of yourself! You have to humble yourself; you have to empty yourself! Do you know what I pray almost every time before I preach? «Lord, help me help people!» Because I know I’m not capable of it! I trust that somewhere between my lips and your ears, the Holy Spirit is going to do what the Holy Spirit does, because all of you have unique fingerprints, voice prints, and eye prints. Your history, your personality is so different than the person next to you! I couldn’t possibly preach to everybody in person or online, but the Holy Spirit can!

That’s right! What are you discerning today? What is the Spirit saying to you today? I just find myself in the middle of the message just overcome with love for the Holy Spirit! I ignored the Holy Spirit for so many years! Holy Spirit, I love you! I need you! I surrender to you! Please fill me and use me and heal me! Part of what’s beautiful about the Spirit—John 3:8 says, «The wind blows, and you don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going.» That’s how I feel right now! Just, «Oh God, would you give us another Pentecost? Would you give us a personal Pentecost? Would your Spirit do something in us so remarkable, so undeniable, so unforgettable?»

He’s our Paraclete! Do you know it? It’s this Roman military position where two soldiers would fight back to back, whether you know or not, the Holy Spirit has your back! He’s protecting the blindside! He’s got the blind spots! He can help you! He can! And not only that, before you woke up this morning and after you go to sleep tonight, the Spirit is interceding for you with groans that can’t even be put into words! He’s pleading for you! He’s interceding for your present, for your future, for your marriage, for your mental health, for your physical health, for the situation that seems impossible! You are not alone! Thank you, Holy Spirit!

And it feels like to just—I’m going to close with kind of two challenges. But I just—we’re going to go back into worship, and as we do, I’m just believing the Spirit just moves and fills and does whatever you want to do—your agenda. Two challenges: one, I’d better say this—you can’t plan Pentecost, but you can posture yourself for Pentecost! So we’re going to do a prayer challenge that begins on June 2nd. We’ll put a slide up. Grab your phone, click that QR code, and it’s kind of fun. We’ll put a journal in your hands! It’s 40 days of praying.

And what I love about this is we have a long history of circling things in prayer, do we not? And I’ve gotten so many letters and stories and testimonies. People—it’s just so fun! People circling classrooms and boardrooms and locker rooms and football fields and basketball courts and schools and businesses and homes! I’ll never forget the letter from a guy that circled the bank until the cops came! Be careful what you circle; it seems like you might be casing the place!

But we want to circle our neighborhoods and believe for divine appointments! What’s great is it sanctifies the reticular activating system— the part of the brain that is responsible for what we notice and what goes unnoticed. As you begin praying for your neighborhood, you start to see your neighbors differently. You start to see opportunities to maybe engage, and you notice whatever’s on their face or maybe a certain spirit about them, and you begin to pray for them.

And so this prayer challenge, would you consider being a part of this? It begins June 2nd; it’s up on the screen! And Pastor Joel, how many people jumped into the prayer challenge last year? 703 people! Circling neighborhoods and blocks! Come on! Let’s circle this city in prayer! This is not just capital city; it’s resurrection city! This is where people come to be saved, healed, and delivered! Let’s believe for divine appointments to see his Kingdom come, his will be done in DC and Nova as it is in heaven!

And then second, I just want to keep extending an invitation to the House of Prayer. I don’t even know how to put it into words. There’s something about that space, something about that place. I mean, we are seeing so many miracles, so many open doors, words of wisdom, words of knowledge. Why? Because when we come into the House of Prayer on Thursday nights, the only agenda is the Holy Spirit! We worship; we pray, «God, what do you want to do? Where are you at work, and how can we join you?»

And so here’s some good news; we’ll end with this. We live our lives forward; God is working backwards. He prepares good works in advance! We count up; God is counting down! My prayer is that we would live with a holy confidence in the Holy Spirit-a holy anticipation because of the Holy Spirit! Remember that opening story? Day 10-they wake up, same old, same old, grape nuts, little OJ, hummus. I don’t know; they had no idea. Why? Because they were counting up: «We’ve been here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 days: nothing.» God was counting down: «10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.» And suddenly, the outpouring and infilling of his Spirit! Come, Holy Spirit! In Jesus' name, amen!