The Filling of the Spirit
Laurel D. Buckingham · Tidal Church Moncton · May 7, 2023 · Spirit series
Laurel D. Buckingham teaches from Ephesians 5:17-18 and Romans 6:6 on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Surrendering every part of our lives to Christ frees us from fear and insecurity, and gives us power to serve others.
More from Laurel D. Buckingham · The Spirit series
Topics: Holy Spirit, Identity, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] Well, well, well, what a high privilege, great honor it is for me to be here on the special day when... We're experiencing the coronation. I mean, the induction of our new pastor, and we're just going to have a wonderful time and something great to be looking forward to, and I say that with deep conviction because Pastor Jim, to me, is about the best choice we could ever imagine as lead pastor of this church. And I say that for several reasons. He is a man of great experience, great integrity. In fact, he's been a part of some of the largest churches in our denomination. He's been able to observe the good and the bad, and he's been able to learn from all of that. So all of that great experience is going to be to our benefit and to the benefit of the cause of Christ in this city. And so we just can anticipate great days ahead, and I am more excited, probably, than anybody in this place because of all that's been invested over the years, and I thank the Lord that this man is so surrendered to the Lord and has such great skill, such great people skills. And here's a great upside that thrills me.
[1:27] Just about everybody that comes from United States to work here in Atlantic Canada, or comes from another part of Canada to minister here in Canada, they always end up wanting to go back to where they came from. Now, when Jim gets ready to go back to where he came from, he can't go back any further than he already is, because he came from here. And so we can look for him, forward to him being with us for long, long time. And when he gets finished, just calling me, and I'll pass through the church after he's done. But anyway, this morning I want to talk to you about the power of the Holy Spirit.
[2:13] The Bible says, after you receive the Holy Spirit, you'll receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Now, I like power. Maybe it's my temperament, I don't know what it is, but I love power, no matter where that power comes from. I love especially powerful vehicles. I had a diesel Volkswagen years ago that was the most powerless vehicle that's ever been created in the history of the world. Maybe the Model T might have been a second to it. But if I wanted to pass somebody on the highway, I have to make an appointment to get by them. It was so powerless. But now I have a turbocharged car. Oh my! When I tramp on that thing, I have to be careful because it'll spin out on dry pavement.
[3:03] It's got so much power. Well, wouldn't it be wonderful if we all had as much power as we needed in our lives, and more power than we needed to be what we had ought to be, so that we can do what we are ought to do? Now, isn't that something that all of us would enjoy and appreciate in the like? And so there's three points of this message that you'll all be able to remember. I'm going to ask you after the service what they were. They'll be people avoiding me, most likely. But it is this: The reasons for being filled with the Holy Spirit, the requirements for being filled with the Holy Spirit, and the results that come when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
[3:55] And so as I think of those reasons to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I think it is so that you can be the very best you that you can possibly be, to reach your full potential in every way that you would like to reach your full potential, so that you can do what you're ought to do. And if you're doing what you ought to do, you won't be able to do what you ought not to do. That makes sense, doesn't it? And so the Holy Spirit is a controlling power that enables us to be able to do that. So I want to read to you what the Bible says about that in Ephesians chapter and now chapter 5, I believe. Yes, chapter 5:17-18. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
[4:49] Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. What is that? That's a command. And then after that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall receive power. You know, one of the greatest evidence of that, I believe, is Peter the Apostle. When Peter, before Peter became a Christian and even after he became a Christian, he was weak. He was undependable. He was undisciplined. He was impulsive. He failed, and he struggled. But then just think about this. After that, the Holy Spirit came on him. He's standing before the Sanhedrin, the most powerful group of that day, Jewish people that could have had him put to death.
[5:42] And he says with confidence and conviction and strength, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's no other name under heaven whereby you must be saved." I'll tell you, that took courage. Took power. And we are going to be in circumstances in our lives, and already have been, where we're going to need that supernatural power in order to be everything that we could be, everything that we should be. But my great concern I've experienced, really. It's because I spent 20 years, even in ministry, which seems awful to be able to have to admit, where I was, in a greater or lesser degree, abundance.
[6:29] I was paranoid. I had so many enemies in my own head. I didn't even see my friends. But there came a transformation because of that power. Now I see so many friends. I don't even know I got enemies. I like it a lot better this way because of that power of the Holy Spirit that can make the difference in our life. But I want to be able to, I want to help that to be understood and help us to understand what that is all about, because you see, many people, maybe they think they're free because they have been freed from sin. Maybe they've accepted Christ and they've turned their back on the sins, but they're still not totally free. The Bible says, "Hold to these teachings of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Now, we've heard over and over again, the truth shall set you free.
[7:26] The truth shall set you free. Everybody talks about that, even the secular world. Don't even know what they're quoting: the truth shall set you free. But there's a condition. Hold on to these teachings, and when you hold to these teachings and you're consistently applying these teachings, then you can know the truth, and the truth will set you free. But there may be the pain of discipline to hold on to those teachings. And so many people have difficulty having the kinds of disciplines, the kinds of perseverance, a kind of determination to hold on to the teachings and remember the teachings and apply the teachings so they can be set free.
[8:15] But let's remember this. There is pain in discipline, no question. But there's greater pain when we have regrets. So we either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Where does the pain of regret get us? Nowhere. Pain of discipline can get us everywhere as we hold to these teachings. And so, when I think of people who are trying to function without this freedom that God has for us, and now functioning from a position of bondage and fear and insecurity and lacking and confidence, and they're intimidated and inhibited. It is not a very enjoyable way to live life. And for the first 20 years of my ministry, I was in a greater or lesser degree abundance.
[9:09] And I'll tell you, it was troubling and it caused me problems and it caused other people problems, because me paying costs other people pain, and those are painful times. But I brought it on myself to a great degree because of not fully understanding. A person who is driven by their fears and by their insecurities, they're often a dictatorial kind of a person. They're often a controlling kind of a person. They're often. The person says, "My way or the highway." They're running with nobody chasing because of their fears. They've got to die on every hill, they've got to be right about everything. When they're in that state, they have no respect for themselves because they know what they're like, and so they disrespect others. They can't take admonition from anybody else because they're threatened by that, and being threatened by that, they're on the defensive and they want to react, and so nobody dares to tell them truth because they know they're going to get blasted if they do. And then they're, so they're the type that responds as like a martyr would respond.
[10:11] I've seen so many people, as you have seen as well, who are so capable. They're smart. They've got great personalities. They get all the education you ever hoped for, and you say to yourself, that person is really going to go places, only to see them go out and destroy everything because of their fears and because of their lack of confidence and because of their weakness and their functioning from a terrible position. I was brought up on the farm where purebred Holstein cows, and this before the days of milk machines, and we had one cow that my dad used to talk about, giving overflowing pail of milk. What a cow to be able to give, the best cow in the herd, overflowing pail, but then he said she would kick the pail over.
[10:56] And what I see happening, so many people who have the greater capabilities, than most of us. But they keep kicking the pail over, kicking the pail over because of their fears and their insecurities, and they don't see things as they really truly are. They see things as they are. And if they're all messed up, they're going to see things in a twisted, messed up fashion. I compare it to trying to get around Boston with a map of Toronto. Have you ever tried to get around Boston? You can't even get around Boston with a map of Boston, hardly, let alone a map of Toronto.
[11:48] And yet so many people have got the wrong map, and it's because of internal fears that cause them to be controlling and dictatorial, or take on a martyr complex and feel sorry for themselves. And so that is a terrible way to have to live. So I say to you this morning, when we are filled with selfishness of any kind, when self is in control in any way, it's going to mess things up, and it's going to cause heartache for other people, heartache for ourselves. So then, the answer to all of that is a total surrender to the purpose and the plan and the will of God.
[12:34] So then we go from the reasons. That's the reason that we all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So what are the requirements for being filled with the Holy Spirit? I want us to notice in Romans chapter 6, in verse 6. We know that our old self was crucified with Him. Now, just think about that, if all selfishness could be totally crucified. Wouldn't this be a different world? Wouldn't we have different homes? Wouldn't we have different workplaces if it wasn't all about us? That is what it means to be crucified with Christ. So, crucified with Him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, and we should no longer in any way whatsoever be slave to any sin of any kind, and we are totally set free. That is a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit when the old man of sin has been crucified. We are crucified with Christ, never let us know that, but He lives through. It's allowing the Christ that we love and serve to live His life fully through us. It is being Christ- centered.
[13:53] Now, let me tell you something. I hear that all the time. I kind of wonder if we really fully understand what it truly means to be Christ-centered. That revelation came to me after I'd been in the ministry for 20 years. I had the passion to see the church go forward, all of that. I had the call of ministry on my heart, like it just was, it was something that I thought, and when I gave into it, there was no turning back because it was so strong. And yet there'd be certain settings where maybe I was in my leadership, was doing a better job than some others would be doing, I could be free. But then I would get in another setting where I was with other pastors who were doing a much better job than I was doing.
[14:39] I would be inhibited, intimidated, inferior, and in bondage, and could not be myself. And I got sick and tired of that, and I thought, what in the world is going on with me? This has got to change. Something's got to happen here. Something's got to take place. And so I began to research and pray and study and seek, until I found some answers when I read something about being Christ-centered and having the right kind of center. Now, when we surrender all, I mean surrender everything, and we're filled with the Holy Spirit, that is when Jesus is allowed to be on the throne, the King really of our life, and He's calling the shots and He's in charge, and we're great about that. We're open to that, we want that, and we're willing to have Him stay in that place of power and direction. That's when we are Spirit-filled. But as we think of being Spirit-filled and being Christ-centered, what is a center for all of us?
[15:57] A center, and it's good for us to examine ourselves right here. Now, the Bible says, examine me, O Lord, and everyone's, while we need to have an examination, a spiritual examination. And to examine what is most important to us. Whatever is most important to us, and we're really honest with ourselves, we're not fooling ourselves, we're not deceiving ourselves. Whatever is really most important to us is probably what our center really is. So then, you've got people who may be pleasure-centered. You've got people who may be money-centered, education-centered. There are all kinds of different centers that people could have: power centered. That's the reason they want to be in charge of whatever's going on.
[16:45] And I discovered that I had a wrong center even though I was in ministering, called the ministry, my center was this church, and because of all that was happening in this church. And some good things were happening, even in my state of bondage, or greater or lesser degree. And when I recognized that that's an external force. Let me just, let me illustrate it this way. Here's a person who's money centered. We'll say, when they've got lots of money, man, they're the Cock of the Walk. I tell you what, they're confident in whatever setting they may be, until they get into the city where maybe somebody's got a lot more money than they do. And then because money is so big a deal to them, it's so important to them, they're suddenly feeling inferior because they're depending upon something external rather than something internal.
[17:40] Or if they lose their money, that people who commit suicide because that money is such a big deal. Now, when we have our security, our confidence level tied to something that's external rather than the power of the Holy Spirit internal, we're just going to be up and down depending upon what things are like when we're around. People are more highly educated, that's our center, we'll feel inferior. We'll feel inhibited. We'll feel intimidated. That was my experience because of my possession being this church to a degree, and when I was with people who were doing much better, I just could not be me at all. I was just, I was frozen. I could not communicate highly. What a stupid thing. What a terrible thing in a way. So I woke up to what was going on.
[18:32] And so then, when I realized I needed to be Christ-centered, I tried to figure out for me what all that meant, and it could mean different things to different people, but it meant for me to be like Jesus, in that as I see Jesus, I saw somebody, and see somebody who was always trying to encourage others. He was always trying to build others. Pull up. He was never once concerned about how other people made Him feel about Himself. He was always totally consumed with how He could make other people feel about themselves. It was not about Him. It was about others. General Booth, the great leader, the Salvation Army, the founder of the Salvation Army, couldn't make it to the last convention before he died, and they wanted him to send a message. He sent a message. They thought he would have a great message for them all, and he did, and the message was one word: others.
[19:39] Others. That was Jesus. It was others, and sometimes we don't encourage others, build up others, because we're wanting others to build us up. We're thinking about ourselves rather than thinking like Jesus. Performed on Jesus' thought, and He wanted to be an encouragement to others and help make them the very best that they could possibly be. That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, it says, "Be not drunk with wine." Why would it say, "Be not drunk with wine"? You know, that's interesting when I think of that, but he could have said, "Do not commit adultery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." Well, there are comparisons and their contrast.
[20:28] D. L. Moody was a great evangelist in the 1800s. And had these big crusades all over the world, England, North America. And this city wanted him to come to have a crusade in the city, and there was a committee of pastors that met together. And they all want D. L. Moody except one pastor. He had another evangelist in mind, and he got frustrated with the rest of the committee. He said, "Moody. Moody Spirit." And somebody spoke up and said, "No, I don't think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but I do think the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him." I remember visiting a home not too long ago, beautiful home.
[21:15] The lady of the house took me through the house, and it was just, all the rooms were so beautiful, everything about it was beautiful, and we kind of started to go by Junior's room. I looked into Junior's room, and there were clothes vomiting out of the drawers, and it looked like there'd been an explosion. Dirty socks on the window, on the windowsill, and boy, I tell you, that door got closed some fast. But when we are fully surrendered to the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, and we want to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, not some other, some controlled by the Holy Spirit, then, my friends, when we come to that place, we are at a place where we're saying to the all-seeing eye of God, "I want You to reside in every room of my heart.
[22:10] It is all. I'm not reserving one thing for myself. You have got it all. You are in charge of every room." And I think we could ask the question as we examine ourselves here this morning: Is that really true, or is there something we're holding on to that may be keeping us from the from the presence of His power in our life? So when we are filled with, well, let me put it this way, when a person is drunk, they're controlled by another substance. They're controlled by something that makes them do stupid things. Controlled by something that makes them worse than what they would normally be.
[22:59] But here's the contrast. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, He is in charge of every part of our life. Then, my friends, we are controlled by a power that does nothing more than make us better. And I would ask us this morning, do you have the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit? You see, when you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit is present. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, well, let me put it this way. When you became a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit, but the question is, does the Holy Spirit have all of you?
[23:49] And I could say the same about me, ask myself the same question. So when we have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit has all of us, every part of us. But it is not something that is just for our enjoyment. The question is, is it a source for our enjoyment? Or is it a force for our employment? Now, what do I mean? Is it just something that we can come in here? And I love to see the worship and the enjoyment that comes from worship. Oh, my goodness, that is so refreshing, and filling, and so much the way it should be, because that worship is to the Lord, and people's hands are raised, and people are into it, and we're enjoying it, and that's wonderful because, but what is the purpose of that enjoyment?
[24:43] It is so that we might be a force for employment, to serve. To serve, to serve in whatever way God would have us to serve, to serve in some capacity in His church, to serve in some way, of having some part. Some part may not be the person that has the greatest thing, but some part, trying to bring people to Jesus. That should be on the radar of every person who is a Spirit-filled Born-again person because that was what was most important to God, or He wouldn't have sent Jesus that I am across for to happen. And so when that is a priority.
[25:28] Then I'll tell you, great things are going to happen in our life as we think of the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. So the question could be asked, is it, is the gift of the Spirit a toy for us just to enjoy, or is it a tool? That will help us to be more effective to the glory of God and bring glory to His name. But whatever we are doing, listen. That is what has built this church from when it was a little tiny church when I first came here, down in the center of town on the little piece of property, and God blessed because there were people who saw the need, and they responded to the need, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to be employed in God's purpose, in His cause, for His church.
[26:19] And I would say to us today, we do not need anything more, but we shouldn't be satisfied ever with anything less. Does that make sense? And to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you see, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are going to be controlled by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit rather than being drunk with wine, which is the devil in liquid form, so to speak. And how does that continue? Let me ask you this: how does a person stay drunk?
[27:06] I think you all know the answer. They keep on drinking. So how do we stay filled? We need to keep on drinking from that fountain that never shall run dry. Because there is a fountain of His presence and His power that will never run dry as we depend upon Him and as we look to Him, because we could translate that verse better by saying being filled with the Holy Spirit as we continue our fill, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and as we are continuing to be fully surrendered to the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, and we have the right motivation. It's not just a consumer for ourselves. I remember reading about a lady who was in a meeting of her first aid group where she had learned first aid.
[28:01] And she wanted to share with them how well it worked. So she told them how that she had witnessed a terrible accident, where a person was sprawled on the pavement, broken limbs, blood spurting everywhere, and it was just a gruesome, terrible sight to behold, and she said, "And I remembered what I was taught at first aid. I started to faint," and so she said, "I was taught that I put my head between my knees to avoid fainting," and she said it worked. It worked. Anybody get the point? It's not a source for our enjoyment. It is a force for our employment, or the filling does not continue, and that's what keeps the filling of the Holy Spirit flowing within us, is when we continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.
[29:04] So then the question would be, if that is so great, and that is so powerful, that is so wonderful, how do I receive that? Let me tell you, it's not complicated. When you became a Christian, you repented of your sins and asked Jesus to come into your heart, and you believed that He did what He said He would do when He promised He would. When we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, is a matter of surrendering our all. Here's the best way to put it: What repentance is to becoming a Christian, surrender is to being filled with the Holy Spirit. And when we are not fooling ourselves, and we're totally surrendered.
[29:54] Here's what I want to say. I hope you can remember: We do not need to persuade Him to fill us. All we need to do is permit Him to fill us. And anything that would keep us from being filled is not reluctance on His part. It is reluctance on our part. And as we are open and humble, and are willing to be corrected, then we will be set free. And I want to say this to just by way of conclusion, in my own experience, once I came to being understanding what Christ-centered be, I can be in any setting with any power group. I used to categorize people: powerful politicians, rich people, highly educated people, highly productive pastors, and they would all be in some category. Now there's no categories. I don't feel superior to anybody, not a single soul, and I don't feel inferior to anybody because of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, we thank You that we can all be surrendered and that Jesus can be on the throne.
[31:13] He can reside in every room of our life, and that the Holy Spirit can have a monopoly on us, so that we can have that internal, unchanging power, not dependent upon some changing things that keeps us in a state of flux and keep us being secure one minute and fearful and lacking in confidence and insecure in another minute. Lord, I just thank You that there's stability, there's strength when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And I pray right now there would be people in this place who just simply pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I surrender everything, everything.
[32:01] Please Amen. with the Holy Spirit