What if the greatest power in the universe wasn't just available to you, but actually lived within you? This transformative message kicks off our "Greater Things" series with a profound exploration of the Holy Spirit—not as some mysterious force or impersonal power, but as the fully divine person of God who indwells every believer.
Pastor Chip challenges the common misconception of treating the Holy Spirit as the "third wheel" of the Trinity, revealing instead how God's Spirit empowers supernatural living that goes beyond what we could accomplish on our own. Through a compelling breakdown of four ways to experience the Spirit more deeply, he unpacks a spiritual progression that starts with baptism by the Spirit at salvation and culminates in walking by the Spirit daily.
The teaching introduces key Greek terms that illuminate what it means to be Spirit-filled: "peripeteo" (walking throughout life making spiritual progress), "ago" (being guided and directed), and "plerao" (continually being filled to overflow). Using relatable illustrations—from a toddler needing guidance on wilderness hikes to a backyard splash pad that both fills and overflows—he demonstrates why "God inside you is better than God beside you."
Most powerfully, this message reframes our understanding of spiritual living. Instead of asking how much of the Spirit we have, perhaps we should ask how much of us the Spirit has. The Holy Spirit functions as our divine GPS, guiding us through life's complexities when no one else has ever lived our unique journey before. Through worship, prayer, community, and Scripture engagement, we position ourselves for continual filling that not only transforms us but overflows to impact others.
Ready to experience the "greater things" Jesus promised? Discover how the baptism, filling, leading, and walking of the Spirit can revolutionize your life and empower you for kingdom impact beyond what you've imagined possible.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Joseph, you truly are a hometown hero, brother.
What an unbelievable story.
Every time I hear it, I'm justamazed how God has used your
life to rescue so many others inthe best part of your life,
that God himself has rescued youthrough his son, jesus Christ,
and he has saved you and he hasredeemed you, and we're just so
(00:24):
thankful for your testimony, foryour story, and we just want to
say thank you to all of ourfirst responders in the room law
enforcement, our firedepartment, our 911, our EMS.
If that is you, would you mindstanding there in this time so
we can celebrate you and we canappreciate you as well.
We just want to say thank youin the way that we want to
(00:55):
appreciate you today, not onlythrough this recognition here
this morning, but we have aspecially made challenge coin
just for you, with all of ourfirst responder emblems.
On the back and on the front isthe First Baptist Church,
powder Springs logo, just so youknow you have a church who
loves you, you have a church whois praying for you, you have a
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church who's behind you and youhave a church who supports you,
because you are the ones, everyday in our community, putting
your lives on the line for us,for our protection and for our
good.
And this is just our small wayof saying thank you, if you
don't mind.
Just right after the service atour Next Step station will be
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those challenge coins, all ofour first responders.
You can just take one of thoseNext Step cards and the way you
get the coin just put your nameon the card, your email, your
phone number on the back.
We'd love to know where youhave served and which station or
which area that you're a partof, because we, as Pastor James
said, we weren't able to takecookies, but maybe there's some
places that we weren't able togo and bless and we would love
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to go and bless them as well.
And also, this morning we justwant to remember those that have
fallen during duty, in the lineof duty, and we think about
right now the family of DavidRose, dekalb County police
officer, who responded to a callof an active shooter at Emory
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University, cdc, just a monthago now, and as he rushed to the
scene, that it cost him hislife, because he is one of our
hometown heroes and I wannaremember him, pray for his
family and pray for all of thosewho you know that have lost
their lives on the front linesfor out for us as well.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
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We love you.
God, we just wanna say thankyou for all of our first
responders.
God, thank you for the way thatyou use our law enforcement,
thank you for the way you useour fire department, our 911,
our EMS.
God, thank you for these menand women who put their lives on
the line.
God, for our protection and forthe good of our community and
(03:07):
our society.
And, lord, we just think aboutDavid Rose and his family.
God, we think about all theother families of others that
they have lost their lives forour protection as well.
And God, we just wanna pray forall of those families.
God, we pray for their comfort.
God, we pray for all of ourfirst responders.
Father, we pray for theircomfort.
God, we pray for all of ourfirst responders.
Father, we pray for theirprotection.
God, we pray that you wouldbless them, as they are such a
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blessing to us.
And God, they would know thatwe love them, that we support
them, but most of all, likeJoseph, that they would know
that you love them and God.
Only you can rescue and savetheir lives.
God, we ask all these things inthe name of Jesus and we pray
all these things in his name,and all God's people said amen.
Joseph, you can use the stepsover there one more time.
(03:52):
For all of our first respondersthis morning, amen.
We'll also just wanna remindyou, as it is first responder
Sunday, I wanna remind you aswell that today is our last day
for deacon nominations, and soif you read 1 Timothy, chapter 3
, and look at the qualificationsof a deacon and you think of
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men in our church who meet thosequalifications, we are
receiving those deaconnominations now, and today is
the last day for that Hope.
You enjoyed some collegefootball yesterday.
Everybody played a cupcakeyesterday, so still got a little
cupcake on your face.
If you're Florida, you gotcupcake all over your face and
man, what a day that was and alot of fun to watch.
(04:37):
And some NFL today Falcons areplaying the Bucs.
So rise up, let's go.
We are starting a brand newseries this morning, a series on
the Holy Spirit that we arecalling Greater Things.
Everybody say Greater Things.
It is so important that youunderstand the Holy Spirit in
(04:58):
your life.
You know, often in life youhear the Holy Spirit talked
about and we refer to him as thethird person of the Trinity,
because the Trinity of God isGod the Father, god the Son and
God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a person ofGod within the Trinity.
(05:20):
There are three persons of Godwithin the Trinity, but yet we
worship one God.
Everybody say one God.
The Holy Spirit is the thirdperson, but often we treat him
as the third will right.
Often we think of the HolySpirit as though he is just a
force, or maybe he's just thepower of God or just the arm of
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God, rather than he is a fullperson of God, he in of himself,
the spirit of God in theTrinity of God.
I've even heard others try toexplain the Trinity, try to
explain the Holy Spirit, asthough that God only existed in
different forms, in differentways throughout history, such as
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some people would say that Godexisted as Father in the Old
Testament, as Son in the NewTestament and as Spirit in the
church age.
But the Bible knows nothing ofthat kind of language.
I'm here to tell you thismorning some good news is that
God is the same yesterday, todayand forever.
He always has been Father, healways has been Son, he always
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has been Holy Spirit and healways will be.
Can I get an amen?
And some people call the HolySpirit the Holy Ghost, so it
really scares the kids.
So stop that.
Stop that right now.
And also, I want you to knowthat your Christian life, often
the Christian life, goes likethis and it's a beautiful thing
the Christian life is there isoften a day in your life that
you come to understand God asyour father, that God is your
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creator, and the next you cometo understand Jesus as your Lord
and Jesus as your savior, andthen often, the Holy Spirit.
Then you come to understand theHoly Spirit as the one who
indwells you, the Holy Spirit asthe one who fills you and the
Holy Spirit as the one whoempowers you.
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And that's what this seriesthrough the month of September
is designed to be so that youcan understand the Holy Spirit
in you as you are saved, if youare saved, and if you're not
saved yet, if you haven't givenyour life to Jesus, how he wants
to place his Holy Spirit in you, I want you to see on the
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screen what Jesus said.
Jesus said you will do evengreater things now that I am
going back to the Father.
Why did Jesus say that?
Jesus said that you would dogreater things.
When he was on earth, heascended to his Father because
in Acts 2.33, the Bible saysthat he sent his spirit upon his
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disciples.
He sent his spirit upon hispeople.
Now don't get it wrong.
Right what.
Jesus did not mean that youwould do bigger things.
Jesus did not mean you would domore powerful things or better
things.
We can't do bigger, morepowerful, better things than
Jesus.
Jesus is saying that you willbe able to influence more people
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because back in that day he gotto influence hundreds and
thousands who lived around him,that he traveled to, minister to
.
But today there are some 8billion people on planet earth
that we get to spread the gospelto and to give them the name of
Jesus.
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And so here's what we're sayingis that Jesus I'm sorry, god
inside you is better than Godbeside you.
We're saying Jesus was saying,you know, when he went to be at
the right hand of his father,the reason that it is better
that he poured out his HolySpirit into you, into his
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disciples, is because God insideus is better than God beside us
.
So this morning, our firstsermon in our series on the Holy
Spirit.
We're going to talk about thebaptism of the Holy Spirit in
your life.
Everybody say baptism, thebaptism of the Holy Spirit.
You know, sometimes you don'tknow how good it is until you
(09:23):
got it.
Sometimes you don't know howawesome it is until you got it.
Sometimes you don't know howawesome it is until you try it
right?
I remember when I tried coffeefor my first time and I was a
late bloomer, I was 28 years oldI took a swig of that coffee
and I thought where has thisbeen all of my life?
That's why I now call a cup ofcoffee a cup of the Holy Spirit.
And I'm telling you it was likehow did I make it in my life
(09:47):
without this beautiful wordcalled caffeination?
And for you in life, when youget saved, and for those of you
that are saved, for those of youthat have given your life to
Jesus, you know what I'm talkingabout you finally get the Holy
Spirit in your life from givingyour life to Jesus and you start
to wonder how did I ever makeit, how did I ever live one day,
(10:08):
how did I ever make onedecision, how did I go through
what I was going through withoutthe Holy Spirit, because here
are 10 things that the HolySpirit does for you, and this is
just the tip of the iceberg.
Number one the Holy Spiritempowers you unto living rightly
.
Number two the Spirit producesthe fruit of Jesus in you.
(10:30):
Number three the Spirit guidesyou in your life.
Number four the Spirit givesyou victory over sin.
Number five the Spirit assuresyou of your salvation.
Number six the Spirit comfortsyou from your hurt and your pain
.
Number seven the Holy Spiritilluminates you in God's words
so that you understand it.
Number eight the Spirit unitesyou in Jesus.
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Number nine the Spirit equipsyou for good work, for his
ministry.
And number 10, the Spiritglorifies Jesus in your life.
Put your hands together onemore time for the Holy Spirit
right now, for who he is and forwhat he does.
So this morning, here's what Iwant to preach to you.
I want to preach to you thismorning four ways that you can
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experience the Holy Spiritdeeper in your life, because I
believe that we were created,that you were made to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, but thereare often things that we, that I
don't understand about the HolySpirit, that I've got to dive
deep into the Holy Spirit, butthere are often things that we,
that I don't understand aboutthe Holy Spirit, that I've got
to dive deep into God's word.
So I just want to show you apart of my study as we are
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starting off this series on theHoly Spirit and, just spoiler
alert, I want to preach itbackwards.
In other words, I want to showyou four steps, but I'm going to
start with the last step andI'm going to work our way to the
first step so you can see whereeach step is leading to or
where each step comes from.
You with me, if you're with me,say yeah, here we go.
(11:54):
Number one experiencing the HolySpirit in your life.
Number one is be walking by theSpirit.
Everybody say walk, be walkingby the Spirit.
Everybody say walk, be walkingby the Spirit.
Here's what I love is that theApostle Paul here in Galatians,
chapter 5, verse 16, he says butI say and the Apostle Paul was
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nobody special except for thefact the Holy Spirit called him
to preach to these churches andto and to write sections and
books of the word of God.
God just chose him to dospecial things, just like you
and just like me.
We're not special people.
God just calls us.
He chooses us to do specialthings for his will, for his
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glory.
The apostle Paul here isencouraging you.
He's encouraging you that youcan walk by the Holy Spirit.
In fact, this word means becontinually walking by the Holy
Spirit.
The word walk the Greek word, isactually peripeteo.
Everybody say peripeteo.
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You know Greek, who knew?
You knew?
That's amazing.
You did so good, peripeteo,listen to me.
The word actually means this.
The word is translated walk,and it means to walk throughout
life in such of a way that youare making spiritual progress in
your life, becoming more likeJesus.
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You're walking throughout lifein such of a way that you are
making use of every opportunity,every season, every hardship,
every difficulty, every blessing, everything you go through, no
matter hard or easy, good or bad.
You're making every opportunityand the Spirit of God is
filling you, to glorify Jesus ineverything that you go through.
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The walking by the Spirit meansthat your conduct and your
attitude in every way, everystep along the way, is to be
righteous before God.
So what is the Holy Spiritdoing in you?
He's sanctifying you, he'smaking you like Jesus, he's
glorifying Jesus in you and heis changing you to where you are
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able to live righteously inevery way.
I've told you before that I loveto take my boy Cruz on walks.
We love to go to the LostMountain Trails.
He calls them our dinosaurhikes.
He's looking for T-Rex and he'slooking for Triceratops the
whole time.
You know, he sees a littlesomething in the ground.
He thinks it's a dinosaur trackand he's looking out.
He hears something to thedistance and he thinks the
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dinosaur is coming towards us.
And let's just say, man, ifthere were dinosaurs we would
not be out there.
But he thinks there are.
And could you imagine if I wasthe kind of dad and I told my
two-year-old hey, I want you togo on a dinosaur hike, I want
you to go out our front door and, by yourself, I want you to go
down our driveway.
I want you to take a right, goacross the playground.
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You're going to see a trail andit's about two to three miles
of trails and you go out thereand look for dinosaurs, little
two-year-old, and then you makeit back here.
In an hour or two you come backbecause we've got dinner.
I would be a bad dad.
You'd be calling the police onme, right?
That is child abuse.
Nobody sends their two-year-oldout by themselves, taking a
walk on a trail by themselves.
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You realize that the holy, thatyour heavenly father, does not
want you to be walking in lifeby yourself.
You realize that he loves youso much that the Bible calls the
Holy Spirit your helper andthat God has given you the Holy
Spirit that you can walk by theSpirit so that you don't have to
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walk by yourself.
You realize that Cruz is morelike me than I am like God.
There's less of a gap betweenme and Cruz than me and God.
In other words, if I'm calledto be like God, I need more help
than even my two-year-old doesto become like me.
Just the other help than evenmy two-year-old does to become
like me.
Just the other day, this pastMonday, labor Day, cruz and I
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were walking down the LostMountain Trails and I was
holding his hand.
It was kind of a treacherouspart.
It was really rooty and reallyrocky, and so I was holding his
hand and he saw a bridge and hesaid look, dad, bridge.
And he rips his hand out of myhand and he starts running.
He makes it about five feet.
He hits a root, supermans it inthe air and lands on his belly
on the trail gets all skin up.
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And that's exactly what I do.
When I rip my hand out of thehand of the Holy Spirit and say
I'm gonna live however I wannalive and I'm gonna walk, however
I wanna walk and I'm gonna gowherever I wanna go.
I'll need you to hear me saythat I need the Holy Spirit
every single day, every singledecision, every single step of
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my life.
And I hear some people say areyou telling me I can't live life
for myself, by myself, on adaily basis?
I'm telling you you can't go toWalmart without the Holy Spirit
.
Can I get an amen?
I'm telling you you can't go toWalmart without the Holy Spirit
.
Can I get an amen?
I'm telling you you can't driveon I-75 without the Holy Spirit
.
You can't get on social mediawithout the Holy Spirit and
losing your salvation.
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You sure can't watch theAtlanta Braves without the Holy
Spirit.
Like we need the Holy Spirit inall of our life.
Galatians, chapter five, verse25, says if we live by the
Spirit, what does it mean towalk by the Spirit?
It means to live by the Spirit.
In other words, the Holy Spiritis within you and the Holy
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Spirit convicts us in the way inwhich that we're called to live
from the Word of God.
If we live by the Spirit, letus also keep in step with the
Spirit.
So what is he telling us?
He's telling you it's possible.
The Apostle Paul, by the powerof the Holy Spirit, writing
scripture under the inspirationof God.
He's telling you, it ispossible that you can do this.
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Do you realize that you're notleft out?
You realize that you're notdifferent?
You realize that you're not theanomaly?
You realize that God has hiseyes on you as much as God has
his eyes on anybody else in theworld.
He loves you as much as heloves anyone else and he wants
to feel you like he wants tofeel anyone and everyone else.
So the question I would beasking that I'm sure you are is
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if I'm called to walk by thespirit, then how do I do that?
Well, I'm glad you asked Numbertwo.
Here we go.
Number two is to be led by theSpirit.
Everybody say led To be led bythe Spirit.
The Apostle Paul is saying thatwe need to be led by the Spirit,
For all who are led by theSpirit of God are sons of God.
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If you're led by the Spirit ofGod, you're a son of God.
What does that mean?
Well, a son of God means thatyou have believed in Jesus.
This is actually for men andfor women.
If you have believed in Jesus,you've given your life to him.
You believe that he died on thecross for your sin.
You believe that he rose fromthe dead?
Then the Bible says that youare hidden in Christ.
Believe that he died on thecross for your sin.
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You believe that he rose fromthe dead.
Then the Bible says that youare hidden in Christ.
The Bible says that you arewashed in his blood.
The Bible says the way that hesees, the way that God, the
Father, sees you, is he looksthrough his son and he sees you
through the glasses of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
So when he looks at you, hesees the righteousness of his
son, which means, if you aresaved, you are like Jesus, like
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a son of God.
Can I get an amen?
So what is the one of thenumber one evidences that you
know that you are saved?
If you're led by the spirit.
The question is are you led bythe spirit?
Well, what does it mean then,to be led by the Spirit?
The Greek word is ago.
Everyone say ago.
Ago.
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The Greek word means to be led.
The Greek word means to bebrought.
The Greek word means to beguided.
The Greek word means to becarried.
The Greek word means to bedirected.
In other words, it is notsomething you do, it is
something that God does for you.
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In fact, the official wordingif you just translated it very
wooden, it would be that you arecontinually being led by the
Spirit.
So maybe the best way to thinkabout it is not much, it's not
as much.
How much of the Holy Spirit doyou have?
Maybe it's better to thinkabout it.
How much does the Holy Spirithave of you?
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How much are you being led bythe Holy Spirit?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to lead you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to give you his
wisdom?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to fill you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to give you his
wisdom?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to fill you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to guide you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to direct you?
It's like a GPS.
My wife is the navigator in myfamily.
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She can drive anywhere for anhour one time and she's got it
the rest of her life.
I drive it 10 times and I getlost every single time.
And they're all now Like I needa GPS If I'm not going home or
back to work home, to work hometo the church.
I need a GPS wherever it isthat I'm going right, because I
need to know okay, this is whereI'm going and I always wanna
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know the best way to get thereright.
I always wanna know theshortcut I cut.
I always want to miss all thetraffic.
I always want to miss where thewrecks are right.
I want to get there in the besttime that I can get there and I
can't look into the future.
I can't look around the corner,I don't know what's down the
next street, but, praise God, myGPS does.
Thank God for Google, he's gotit all taken care of right.
So, in other words, we need aGPS.
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The Holy Spirit is your God'spositioning system in your life,
because you don't know whathappens tomorrow.
You don't even know what'sgonna happen this afternoon.
You don't know what is in yourfuture, you don't know what is
in your way and sometimes wedon't even know that we're in
sin.
But, like a good GPS, you startgoing the wrong way and it
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tells you take a U-turn, take aU-turn, take a U-turn.
You need to take a U-turn.
That's exactly what the HolySpirit does in us.
The Holy Spirit tells you whereyou need to go.
The Holy Spirit tells you howyou need to get there.
The Holy Spirit tells you whichdirection you need to go in.
And the Holy Spirit tells youwhen you're going the wrong
direction, when you you're goingthe wrong direction.
We need you to get back on thepath as you are following Jesus.
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We desperately need the HolySpirit.
Hear me, you need the HolySpirit because no one has ever
lived your life before.
No one can write a book foryour life because they've never
lived it.
No one has ever been throughwhat you've been through.
No one has ever perfectly gonethrough what you've been through
(22:25):
.
No one has ever perfectly gonethrough what you've gone through
.
No one is feeling what you'refeeling.
No one is thinking what you'rethinking.
No one can get you to where youwant to go, because you are a
unique person, created in theimage of God.
That's why only God can directyou, only God can lead you.
Only God can guide you and onlyGod can direct you in that.
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So you may be asking again.
You may be asking well, if I'mcalled to walk in the spirit and
that means that I'm being ledby the spirit, well, how am I
supposed to be led by the spirit?
Well, the Bible says numberthree is that you're called to
be filled with the Spirit.
Well, the Bible says numberthree is that you're called to
be filled with the Spirit.
Everyone say filled.
So in order to walk in theSpirit by the Spirit, you need
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to be led by the Spirit.
In order to be led by theSpirit, you need to be filled
with the Spirit, the Spirit.
Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18,just very simply says be filled
with the Spirit.
That word filled.
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The Greek word is plerao.
Everyone say plerao.
Bunch of Baptists speaking intongues, you're doing great.
Here we go plerao, plerao, youare being filled with the Spirit
.
What does plerao mean?
Do you realize this?
Plerao means that you are beingmade full.
Literally, it means this thatyou are continually being filled
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by the Holy Spirit.
So, in other words, this is nota one-time filling, this is a
continual filling in your life.
You need to keep on and keep onand keep on and keep on being
filled by the Holy Spirit inyour life.
Why?
Well, number one, because youaren't meant or made just to be
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filled.
You are meant and made toactually overflow.
Just this summer, we had asplash pad for our kids, right,
it's just, and someone gave itto us.
We're so thankful.
And it was this splash pad.
It was basically like just alike a 15, 10 to 15 foot pool,
and it had, like the water ringaround it.
It had the holes in it.
Fountains are coming in, youknow, so the kids can play in it
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.
We can just sit in a chair inthe backyard and just watch,
right, and it's just a blast.
And so what would happen isthat the hose would be hooked up
to the splash pad.
The splash pad would shoot allthis water in and it was
constantly overflowing, like wejust had a flood all around our
yard because water was going inand it had to go somewhere.
Well, that's who you are calledto be as a Christian and that's
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who we are called to be as achurch.
We aren't just called to befilled for ourselves.
We're called to be filled sowe're overflowing for the
ministry of others.
Can I get an amen?
See what God does in your life.
He means it to do it in yourlife, so he can do it through
your life, in the life of others.
He wants you to overflow.
You don't need filling just foryou.
Only God can fill you so he canbless you and he can bless
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others through you.
He's called you to overflow, sowhy does he make us full?
Why is he constantly filling usup?
Why do you always need to befilled?
Because you need to overflow.
But also, number two, because,let's be honest, because you
leak, because you're like me, weneed to always.
But also number two, because,let's be honest, because you
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leak, because you're like me, weneed to always be filled
because we leak.
Our splash pad this summersprung a leak, a hole popped in
it and water was gushing out,and so it was all deflated and
the fountains were just kind oflike going every which direction
and the kids were like what isgoing on?
And sometimes that's what ourspiritual life looks like.
It's not looking like it'ssupposed to look, and because
we're not doing what we'resupposed to be doing, and so we
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I had to go around the splashpad.
I needed to find the leak.
Where is the leak?
And then I got online, I didsome research and I got the
right kind of tape for the watertape and I put it on there and
it fixed the leak.
And that's what we need to do.
That's what you need to do foryour life, is God?
Where am I leaking, god?
Where am I sinning, god?
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What do I need to do, god?
I need to go to your word, god.
I need to fix this because, god, I need you to be continually
filling me so that I can beoverflowing.
So be continually filling me sothat I can be overflowing.
So what does it look like?
What does it look like to befilled with the Spirit?
The Bible answers this.
Paul answers this in the mostinteresting of ways.
He answers it in a way thathe's kind of contrasting and
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comparing.
He answers what does it looklike to be filled with the
Spirit?
He says well, just think aboutwhat it looks like when someone
is drunk, right, and it's just.
That's how you know that Paul'sa redneck.
And so Ephesians, chapter five,verse 18, paul said he was from
South Israel anyway.
So don't be.
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He said, don't be drunk withwine.
Some of you are thinking ohthank God, it did not say don't
be drunk with beer, but no, itsays don't be drunk with wine,
meaning alcohol, any and allalcohol.
He's saying don't be controlled, don't be controlled by any
other substance than the spiritof God.
Don't be drunk with winebecause that will ruin your life
.
Can I just stop for a second,just pastorally, and say I have
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had to pastor so many peoplethrough this Marriages, ruined
families, ruined homes, ruinedlegacies, ruined reputations,
ruined jobs, ruined careersruined.
When you allow alcohol tocontrol you, the Bible says it
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will ruin your life.
We can all have different viewson where you are on alcohol, but
it's clear.
The Bible says do not get drunk.
Can I get an amen?
Do not get drunk.
Why?
Why do people turn todrunkenness?
Why do people turn to gettinghigh?
Why do people turn to high?
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Why do people turn to name thesin, these things that control
us?
Why do they turn to thesethings?
Hear me, because we love thefeeling of being controlled and
something else influencing us.
Why?
Because God made you to befilled with and to be influenced
by the Holy Spirit, because hemakes you someone better than
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who you are.
Every other substance makes youworse than who you are, but the
Holy Spirit.
He fills you in order to makeyou better than who you are.
Paul is contrasting and he iscomparing a life of being filled
with alcohol and a life that isbeing filled with the Holy
Spirit.
So what am I telling you?
What you get filled with iswhat you get, or who you become.
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If you get filled with alcohol,you get drunk.
If you get filled with caffeineI told you earlier you get
energy.
If you get filled with protein,you get muscle.
If you get filled with caffeineI told you earlier you get
energy.
If you get filled with protein,you get muscle.
If you get filled with fat, youget fat.
If you get filled with beans,you get gas.
And if you get filled with theHoly Spirit, you get the power
of God.
Can I get an amen?
If you get filled with the HolySpirit, you get the power of
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God.
So if I'm you, I'm asking Allright, pastorship.
I hear you, how?
So if I'm you, I'm asking Allright, pastorship, I hear you.
How do I do it?
How do I get filled with theHoly Spirit?
First of all, you don't.
He's the one who fills you.
Second of all, you makeyourself available to him.
Let me show you what the Biblesays how to be continually
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filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5.19that we need to be singing
psalms, hymns and spiritualsongs to one another.
So here's the deal when youworship God, your worship is
going to God and his spirit iscoming to you.
Can I get an amen?
It is a two-way street.
When you are in prayer, theBible says giving thanks to him.
When you are thanking God orpraying to God whatever it is
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that you're praying as yourprayers are going to him, his
spirit is coming into you.
When we live in community,ephesians 5.21 says that we are
to be in submission of oneanother.
That's coming together incommunity, reading the word of
God together and encouraging oneanother, supporting one another
, praying for one another.
When you're in communitytogether, it is as of worship to
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God, but God's spirit isfilling you up when you get in
God's word.
Colossians 3.16 says that it isGod's, it's the word of Christ
that dwells in you richly andyou're being filled with the
spirit of God.
When you do these things, godis filling you with the spirit
and we need to constantly befilled.
So hear me.
So you need you do these things.
God is filling you with theSpirit and we need to constantly
be filled.
So, hear me, so you need to dothese things every day.
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Every single day you'reworshiping God.
Every single day you're prayingto God.
Every single day, you'retalking to a believer.
Every single day, you'regetting into God's Word and
notice how, when we get togetheras a church, we're doing all
these things together all at thesame time.
They're compounding with oneanother.
So right now, god is fillingyou with his Holy Spirit so that
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you can be led by the Spirit,so that you can walk by the
Spirit.
But number four, here's whereit all starts You're led by the
Spirit so that you can walk bythe Spirit.
But number four, here's whereit all starts how do you get
filled with the Holy Spirit?
You've gotta get baptized bythe Holy Spirit.
I've had so many people ask doyou have to be baptized to be
saved?
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Yes and no.
Do you have to be baptized bywater to be saved?
No, you get baptized by waterbecause you are saved.
But do you have to get baptizedby the Holy Spirit to be saved?
The Bible says yes, becausehere's what happens, if you
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remember when Jesus was baptized?
The Bible says that the skiesopened, the spirit of God came
down like a dove in the spiritof God, indwelled him, lighted
upon him, and that was Jesus'sanointing.
And at the same time, when yougive your life to Jesus, when
you believe that Jesus died onthe cross for your sins, when
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you believe that Jesus rose fromthe dead for your resurrection,
when you believe that Jesus isthe Lord of your life, then you
are united with Jesus.
And when you're united withJesus you get what Jesus has,
and Jesus has the Holy Spirit.
So you get Jesus and the HolySpirit.
The Bible says that once you getsaved you can't get unsaved.
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Why?
Some of you have heard me saythis before?
Because when you get saved,it's when you get dipped in the
blood of Jesus.
And not only are you dipped inthe blood of Jesus, but you're
held by the hand of the Fatherand God.
The Father, wraps the HolySpirit around that hand to where
the devil can't get in.
But even if the devil could,he'd have to unwrap the Holy
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Spirit.
The devil would have to pryopen the hands of God in order
to get to you, and then thedevil would have to dive into
the blood of Jesus to get to you, and if the devil ever dove
into the blood of Jesus, he'd bea saved devil.
Can I get an amen?
The devil can't get to youbecause God's got you.
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So when you get saved, you getbaptized by the spirit.
Here's what the Bible saysabout you.
For in one spirit, everybodysay one spirit.
Listen, there's a lot ofdifferent spirits out there,
there's a lot of differentreligions out there, there's a
lot of different faiths outthere, but there's only one
spirit that's the Holy Spirit.
There's only one salvationthat's the gospel of Jesus
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Christ.
There's only one Lord andSavior.
His name is Jesus.
And there's only one God andFather who is over all.
The Bible says For there is onespirit and we were all baptized
into one body.
That's the body of Jesushimself.
When you're saved, the HolySpirit baptizes you and you are
united with Jesus.
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The Bible says Jews are Greeks.
Back then there were only twoknown races.
They would call it Jews andnon-Jews, and the Jews thought
they were the only ones whocould be saved.
Let me tell you somethingeverybody on planet Earth, no
matter what ethnicity, no matterwhat nationality, no matter who
they are where they've comefrom, what they've been through
or what's going on in their life.
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Jesus can and wants to savethem.
We are all equal in Christ.
Can I get an amen?
And he says slaves are free.
I want you to know that theBible rejects slavery every time
.
The Bible addresses slavery.
We don't believe in slavery.
I believe that slavery is theworst thing that a human being
could ever do to another humanbeing.
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We reject it in every singleform in the name of Jesus.
But see this the church was theonly group of people that saw
value in slaves, and so, whetherthey were slave or free, they
would come to the church and thechurch would preach the word of
God saying you might beenslaved right now, but let me
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tell you something you are freein Christ and you will be free
forever and you will be free forall eternity.
It is the church of Jesus thathas been overturning all of
these things, and all because ofone thing because you were made
and created to drink of theHoly Spirit, which means the
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Holy Spirit isn't just with you,you, he's within you.
He's not just beside you, he isinside you.
I want to encourage you andjust remind you this morning
that we see that we're called tobe walking by the spirit, we're
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called to be led by the spirit,we're called to be filled with
the spirit and we're called tobe baptized in the spirit.
So I've got two questions foryou, I believe the two most
important questions of your life.
I want everyone to answer thesequestions by talking to God
about these questions.
Number one have you beenbiblically baptized?
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There's a lot of different waysof baptism, from a lot of
different denominations, a lotof different churches, and maybe
you're here and you werebaptized in maybe a different
way.
But I'm here to tell you thismorning the word baptized in the
Bible it means immersed, to besubmerged.
When Jesus was baptized, he wasbaptized in the Jordan River.
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The Bible says that he came upout of the water.
Why is immersion, submersion,the way of God's baptism?
Because it is saying Jesus hasdied for our sin and Jesus has
risen from the dead.
Let me show you this what isbiblical baptism?
It's when you're baptized inthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Why it is from your salvation.
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Your baptism, your waterbaptism, is from your salvation
because you've been saved, notfor your salvation.
So when are you supposed to bebaptized After you've been saved
?
Baptized with what the Biblesays water, how?
And the Bible says that we areto be immersed.
You know, your baptism doesn'tsave you.
It's kind of like the weddingring on my hand.
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This wedding ring does not makeme married.
Just because I put this ring ondoesn't mean I'm married to
Michelle and it doesn't make melove her anymore, right?
What this is is a symbol of mylifelong commitment, my lifelong
devotion to my wife, and it isa symbol of my covenantal love
for her.
If this ring is here to leteverybody know you can't have
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this same thing for you.
Same thing for you, now hear me, like a wedding ring, your
baptism doesn't save you.
It doesn't make you love Jesusanymore.
What it does is it tells thedevil, it tells sin, it tells
the whole world that they can'thave you, because Jesus is the
one that has you, because God'sthe one who created you.
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Jesus is the one that died foryou.
Jesus is the one that saves you.
Jesus is the one that filledyou with the spirit.
Can I get an amen?
So that's why we get waterbaptized.
I want you to know this morningthat maybe you're thinking, you
know, baptism Sunday is nextweek, so baptism Sunday is next
week and I want you to know, interms of baptism Sunday is maybe
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you're thinking, well, I've gota disability, I could never be
baptized.
We have baptized all kinds ofpeople with disabilities here,
including my daughter withcerebral palsy just a couple of
years ago when she was four.
Maybe you're online, maybesomeone sent you this video and
you're thinking I'm home, bailed, I can't come in and get
baptized line.
Maybe someone sent you thisvideo and you're thinking I'm
home bound, I can't come in andget baptized.
I've gone into many homes andbaptized people in their homes
that cannot get out or get tochurch for whatever reason.
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I remember a few years ago Iwas a part of being able to
baptize a 94 year old woman whowas bound by bed.
She was bedridden, home bound.
She was on hospice.
We got to lift her up by herbed sheet and dip her in her own
garden tub and bring her backto her bed where her nurses took
care of her, because she hadbelieved in Jesus and she wanted
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to be baptized.
We have baptized many dads intheir 30s here, many moms, many
husbands, many wives, many kids,many teenagers, many college
students, many young adults,many grandfathers and many
grandmothers.
Whoever you are, that God, ifyou've not been baptized
biblically since your salvation,god's calling you to be
baptized.
Maybe you're thinking just somedifferent excuses that I've
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heard back in the day not to bebaptized.
I've heard people say, well, Idon't think it's important.
So it was important for Jesus,but it's not for you.
Some people think, well, I'mscared of water.
We have been a church for 139years.
We have not drowned one personyet.
Can I get an amen?
You might be thinking, well, Idon't have my family here.
Invite them next week.
Well, they can't come.
They can watch it online.
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We'll give you a video.
Maybe you're thinking, well, Idon't have a change of clothes.
Well, I want you to.
I got a change of clothes foreveryone up here next week.
We got hair caps for all youladies.
You just got your hair donethere.
You go right there.
We got a free T-shirt foreverybody that gets baptized
next week.
Man made new man.
Your life is in Jesus Christ.
And you might be thinking, well, I can get a T-shirt.
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Okay, I can get a hair cap.
I want you to know.
We got underwear for everybody.
Nobody's business been in thesedrawers right here y'all, we
got to change your clothes foryou.
You might be thinking well, whatwill people think?
They'll think that God haschanged your life.
You might be thinking well, Iwant the water to be clean.
Jesus got baptized in the muddyJordan River for you.
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You can get baptized for him inour Powder Springs water.
You might be thinking well, Iride with someone.
Well, they can wait for you,and if they don't, they need to
be saved and baptized too.
You might be thinking well, Iwant someone to come with you.
Invite someone, or we'll getyou a friend that they can go
with you.
You might be thinking I wasbaptized as a child.
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There were 27 baptisms in thebook of Acts, and all of them
were after they believed, afterthey had given their life to
Jesus.
You might be thinking I don'twant to shame my parents.
They won't be shamed by you,they'll be proud of you.
You might be thinking I don'twant to get embarrassed in front
of everyone.
Remember, jesus hung on thecross publicly for you.
You might be thinking well, Ihaven't prayed about it yet.
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Remember, there are some thingsyou don't have to pray about.
The Bible just tells you to doit.
You might be thinking well, I'mat home, well, next Sunday is
baptism Sunday, but we alsobaptize here every Sunday.
But I would encourage you obeythe Lord immediately and be
baptized.
And maybe you're thinking I'venot been saved.
Or the most important questionof all life am I really saved?
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The Bible says that if you arebeing filled, led by walk with
the Spirit of God, you know thatyou are saved by God.
How do you know that you'resaved?
Have you believed in Jesus?
Jesus Christ, in his death forthe forgiveness of your sins, in
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his resurrection for yoursalvation, called on him to be
the Lord of your life?
And it is out of your faith notout of your works, but out of
your faith you're making him theLord of your life, so that the
Holy Spirit can come into yourlife and God, the Spirit, can
lead you.
Every head bowed and every eyeclosed, nobody looking around, I
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pray that today is your day ofsalvation, right here, right now
.
If you've never given your lifeto Jesus, or if you're not sure
that you have, if you're notsure that you're saved, for
whatever reason, I can't praythis prayer for you, but I can
lead you through it, in prayingit to him.
And you can pray something likethis to Jesus you can pray,
jesus, I believe in you, jesus,I put my faith in you, jesus, I
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trust you.
Jesus, I need you.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin and,
jesus, I ask you to forgive meof all my sin.
And you can say, jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, you're alive, you're real.
And, jesus, I want to give mylife to you.
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And you can say, jesus, I callon you to be the Lord of my life
, my savior, my God, and Jesus,I ask you to save me, and he
promises you that he will.
And, jesus, we thank you forthat promise, we thank you for
that truth and we pray thesethings in Jesus' name.
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And all God's people said weshould put your hands together
right now for anybody that gavetheir life to Jesus.
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
We're so thankful for what theLord has done in your life.
Our band's going to be comingout right now and I just want to
remind you that there is a nextstep card that is there in
front of you.
Maybe you've given your life toJesus.
Maybe you've got more questionsthat we can help you in giving
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your life to Jesus.
Maybe you've gotten saved todayor another day in the past and
you need to get baptized sinceyour salvation.
You can select that on the card, you can email me, you can come
up to me afterwards, you cancall the office this week, you
can email the office, you cansend up a smoke signal, whatever
it takes.
We just want to know who God isworking in so that you can be
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baptized next week for BaptismSunday.
And also, there's groups onthere, there's ministries on
there, all of these differentsteps that we're all called to
take in our walk with Jesus.
Can I ask us to stand right now?
Everybody's standing.
I wanna pray for us one moretime and we'll worship the Lord
together one last time.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we thank you for your
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Holy Spirit.
God, thank you that you're agood father and you haven't left
us alone.
God, thank you that you give usthe Holy Spirit.
God, that we can walk by theSpirit, that we can be led by
the Spirit, that we can befilled with the Spirit, all
because we've been baptized bythe Spirit.
And so, lord, I pray and I ask,in Jesus' name, god, would you
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give us a fresh filling,continually, the Holy Spirit, as
we worship you, as we pray toyou, as we get full of your word
and as we are in community, god, would you continually fill us
with your Holy Spirit, god, sothat we can live with him and by
him and for Jesus.
We love you, we worship you inJesus' name and all God's people
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said amen.
Joseph, you truly are a hometown hero, brother.
What an unbelievable story.
Every time I hear it, I'm justamazed how God has used your
life to rescue so many others inthe best part of your life,
that God himself has rescued youthrough his son, jesus Christ,
and he has saved you and he hasredeemed you, and we're just so
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thankful for your testimony, foryour story, and we just want to
say thank you to all of ourfirst responders in the room law
enforcement, our firedepartment, our 911, our EMS.
If that is you, would you mindstanding there in this time so
we can celebrate you and we canappreciate you as well.
We just want to say thank youin the way that we want to
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appreciate you today, not onlythrough this recognition here
this morning, but we have aspecially made challenge coin
just for you, with all of ourfirst responder emblems.
On the back and on the front isthe First Baptist Church,
powder Springs logo, just so youknow you have a church who
loves you, you have a church whois praying for you, you have a
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church who's behind you and youhave a church who supports you,
because you are the ones, everyday in our community, putting
your lives on the line for us,for our protection and for our
good.
And this is just our small wayof saying thank you, if you
don't mind.
Just right after the service atour Next Step station will be
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those challenge coins, all ofour first responders.
You can just take one of thoseNext Step cards and the way you
get the coin just put your nameon the card, your email, your
phone number on the back.
We'd love to know where youhave served and which station or
which area that you're a partof, because we, as Pastor James
said, we weren't able to takecookies, but maybe there's some
places that we weren't able togo and bless and we would love
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to go and bless them as well.
And also, this morning we justwant to remember those that have
fallen during duty, in the lineof duty, and we think about
right now the family of DavidRose, dekalb County police
officer, who responded to a callof an active shooter at Emory
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University, cdc, just a monthago now, and as he rushed to the
scene, that it cost him hislife, because he is one of our
hometown heroes and I wannaremember him, pray for his
family and pray for all of thosewho you know that have lost
their lives on the front linesfor out for us as well.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
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We love you.
God, we just wanna say thankyou for all of our first
responders.
God, thank you for the way thatyou use our law enforcement,
thank you for the way you useour fire department, our 911,
our EMS.
God, thank you for these menand women who put their lives on
the line.
God, for our protection and forthe good of our community and
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our society.
And, lord, we just think aboutDavid Rose and his family.
God, we think about all theother families of others that
they have lost their lives forour protection as well.
And God, we just wanna pray forall of those families.
God, we pray for their comfort.
God, we pray for all of ourfirst responders.
Father, we pray for theircomfort.
God, we pray for all of ourfirst responders.
Father, we pray for theirprotection.
God, we pray that you wouldbless them, as they are such a
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blessing to us.
And God, they would know thatwe love them, that we support
them, but most of all, likeJoseph, that they would know
that you love them and God.
Only you can rescue and savetheir lives.
God, we ask all these things inthe name of Jesus and we pray
all these things in his name,and all God's people said amen.
Joseph, you can use the stepsover there one more time.
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For all of our first respondersthis morning, amen.
We'll also just wanna remindyou, as it is first responder
Sunday, I wanna remind you aswell that today is our last day
for deacon nominations, and soif you read 1 Timothy, chapter 3
, and look at the qualificationsof a deacon and you think of
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men in our church who meet thosequalifications, we are
receiving those deaconnominations now, and today is
the last day for that Hope.
You enjoyed some collegefootball yesterday.
Everybody played a cupcakeyesterday, so still got a little
cupcake on your face.
If you're Florida, you gotcupcake all over your face and
man, what a day that was and alot of fun to watch.
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And some NFL today Falcons areplaying the Bucs.
So rise up, let's go.
We are starting a brand newseries this morning, a series on
the Holy Spirit that we arecalling Greater Things.
Everybody say Greater Things.
It is so important that youunderstand the Holy Spirit in
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your life.
You know, often in life youhear the Holy Spirit talked
about and we refer to him as thethird person of the Trinity,
because the Trinity of God isGod the Father, god the Son and
God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a person ofGod within the Trinity.
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There are three persons of Godwithin the Trinity, but yet we
worship one God.
Everybody say one God.
The Holy Spirit is the thirdperson, but often we treat him
as the third will right.
Often we think of the HolySpirit as though he is just a
force, or maybe he's just thepower of God or just the arm of
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God, rather than he is a fullperson of God, he in of himself,
the spirit of God in theTrinity of God.
I've even heard others try toexplain the Trinity, try to
explain the Holy Spirit, asthough that God only existed in
different forms, in differentways throughout history, such as
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some people would say that Godexisted as Father in the Old
Testament, as Son in the NewTestament and as Spirit in the
church age.
But the Bible knows nothing ofthat kind of language.
I'm here to tell you thismorning some good news is that
God is the same yesterday, todayand forever.
He always has been Father, healways has been Son, he always
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has been Holy Spirit and healways will be.
Can I get an amen?
And some people call the HolySpirit the Holy Ghost, so it
really scares the kids.
So stop that.
Stop that right now.
And also, I want you to knowthat your Christian life, often
the Christian life, goes likethis and it's a beautiful thing
the Christian life is there isoften a day in your life that
you come to understand God asyour father, that God is your
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creator, and the next you cometo understand Jesus as your Lord
and Jesus as your savior, andthen often, the Holy Spirit.
Then you come to understand theHoly Spirit as the one who
indwells you, the Holy Spirit asthe one who fills you and the
Holy Spirit as the one whoempowers you.
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And that's what this seriesthrough the month of September
is designed to be so that youcan understand the Holy Spirit
in you as you are saved, if youare saved, and if you're not
saved yet, if you haven't givenyour life to Jesus, how he wants
to place his Holy Spirit in you, I want you to see on the
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screen what Jesus said.
Jesus said you will do evengreater things now that I am
going back to the Father.
Why did Jesus say that?
Jesus said that you would dogreater things.
When he was on earth, heascended to his Father because
in Acts 2.33, the Bible saysthat he sent his spirit upon his
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disciples.
He sent his spirit upon hispeople.
Now don't get it wrong.
Right what.
Jesus did not mean that youwould do bigger things.
Jesus did not mean you would domore powerful things or better
things.
We can't do bigger, morepowerful, better things than
Jesus.
Jesus is saying that you willbe able to influence more people
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because back in that day he gotto influence hundreds and
thousands who lived around him,that he traveled to, minister to
.
But today there are some 8billion people on planet earth
that we get to spread the gospelto and to give them the name of
Jesus.
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And so here's what we're sayingis that Jesus I'm sorry, god
inside you is better than Godbeside you.
We're saying Jesus was saying,you know, when he went to be at
the right hand of his father,the reason that it is better
that he poured out his HolySpirit into you, into his
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disciples, is because God insideus is better than God beside us
.
So this morning, our firstsermon in our series on the Holy
Spirit.
We're going to talk about thebaptism of the Holy Spirit in
your life.
Everybody say baptism, thebaptism of the Holy Spirit.
You know, sometimes you don'tknow how good it is until you
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got it.
Sometimes you don't know howawesome it is until you got it.
Sometimes you don't know howawesome it is until you try it
right?
I remember when I tried coffeefor my first time and I was a
late bloomer, I was 28 years oldI took a swig of that coffee
and I thought where has thisbeen all of my life?
That's why I now call a cup ofcoffee a cup of the Holy Spirit.
And I'm telling you it was likehow did I make it in my life
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without this beautiful wordcalled caffeination?
And for you in life, when youget saved, and for those of you
that are saved, for those of youthat have given your life to
Jesus, you know what I'm talkingabout you finally get the Holy
Spirit in your life from givingyour life to Jesus and you start
to wonder how did I ever makeit, how did I ever live one day,
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how did I ever make onedecision, how did I go through
what I was going through withoutthe Holy Spirit, because here
are 10 things that the HolySpirit does for you, and this is
just the tip of the iceberg.
Number one the Holy Spiritempowers you unto living rightly
.
Number two the Spirit producesthe fruit of Jesus in you.
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Number three the Spirit guidesyou in your life.
Number four the Spirit givesyou victory over sin.
Number five the Spirit assuresyou of your salvation.
Number six the Spirit comfortsyou from your hurt and your pain
.
Number seven the Holy Spiritilluminates you in God's words
so that you understand it.
Number eight the Spirit unitesyou in Jesus.
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Number nine the Spirit equipsyou for good work, for his
ministry.
And number 10, the Spiritglorifies Jesus in your life.
Put your hands together onemore time for the Holy Spirit
right now, for who he is and forwhat he does.
So this morning, here's what Iwant to preach to you.
I want to preach to you thismorning four ways that you can
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experience the Holy Spiritdeeper in your life, because I
believe that we were created,that you were made to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, but thereare often things that we, that I
don't understand about the HolySpirit, that I've got to dive
deep into the Holy Spirit, butthere are often things that we,
that I don't understand aboutthe Holy Spirit, that I've got
to dive deep into God's word.
So I just want to show you apart of my study as we are
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starting off this series on theHoly Spirit and, just spoiler
alert, I want to preach itbackwards.
In other words, I want to showyou four steps, but I'm going to
start with the last step andI'm going to work our way to the
first step so you can see whereeach step is leading to or
where each step comes from.
You with me, if you're with me,say yeah, here we go.
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Number one experiencing the HolySpirit in your life.
Number one is be walking by theSpirit.
Everybody say walk, be walkingby the Spirit.
Everybody say walk, be walkingby the Spirit.
Here's what I love is that theApostle Paul here in Galatians,
chapter 5, verse 16, he says butI say and the Apostle Paul was
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nobody special except for thefact the Holy Spirit called him
to preach to these churches andto and to write sections and
books of the word of God.
God just chose him to dospecial things, just like you
and just like me.
We're not special people.
God just calls us.
He chooses us to do specialthings for his will, for his
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glory.
The apostle Paul here isencouraging you.
He's encouraging you that youcan walk by the Holy Spirit.
In fact, this word means becontinually walking by the Holy
Spirit.
The word walk the Greek word, isactually peripeteo.
Everybody say peripeteo.
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You know Greek, who knew?
You knew?
That's amazing.
You did so good, peripeteo,listen to me.
The word actually means this.
The word is translated walk,and it means to walk throughout
life in such of a way that youare making spiritual progress in
your life, becoming more likeJesus.
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You're walking throughout lifein such of a way that you are
making use of every opportunity,every season, every hardship,
every difficulty, every blessing, everything you go through, no
matter hard or easy, good or bad.
You're making every opportunityand the Spirit of God is
filling you, to glorify Jesus ineverything that you go through.
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The walking by the Spirit meansthat your conduct and your
attitude in every way, everystep along the way, is to be
righteous before God.
So what is the Holy Spiritdoing in you?
He's sanctifying you, he'smaking you like Jesus, he's
glorifying Jesus in you and heis changing you to where you are
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able to live righteously inevery way.
I've told you before that I loveto take my boy Cruz on walks.
We love to go to the LostMountain Trails.
He calls them our dinosaurhikes.
He's looking for T-Rex and he'slooking for Triceratops the
whole time.
You know, he sees a littlesomething in the ground.
He thinks it's a dinosaur trackand he's looking out.
He hears something to thedistance and he thinks the
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dinosaur is coming towards us.
And let's just say, man, ifthere were dinosaurs we would
not be out there.
But he thinks there are.
And could you imagine if I wasthe kind of dad and I told my
two-year-old hey, I want you togo on a dinosaur hike, I want
you to go out our front door and, by yourself, I want you to go
down our driveway.
I want you to take a right, goacross the playground.
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You're going to see a trail andit's about two to three miles
of trails and you go out thereand look for dinosaurs, little
two-year-old, and then you makeit back here.
In an hour or two you come backbecause we've got dinner.
I would be a bad dad.
You'd be calling the police onme, right?
That is child abuse.
Nobody sends their two-year-oldout by themselves, taking a
walk on a trail by themselves.
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You realize that the holy, thatyour heavenly father, does not
want you to be walking in lifeby yourself.
You realize that he loves youso much that the Bible calls the
Holy Spirit your helper andthat God has given you the Holy
Spirit that you can walk by theSpirit so that you don't have to
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walk by yourself.
You realize that Cruz is morelike me than I am like God.
There's less of a gap betweenme and Cruz than me and God.
In other words, if I'm calledto be like God, I need more help
than even my two-year-old doesto become like me.
Just the other help than evenmy two-year-old does to become
like me.
Just the other day, this pastMonday, labor Day, cruz and I
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were walking down the LostMountain Trails and I was
holding his hand.
It was kind of a treacherouspart.
It was really rooty and reallyrocky, and so I was holding his
hand and he saw a bridge and hesaid look, dad, bridge.
And he rips his hand out of myhand and he starts running.
He makes it about five feet.
He hits a root, supermans it inthe air and lands on his belly
on the trail gets all skin up.
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And that's exactly what I do.
When I rip my hand out of thehand of the Holy Spirit and say
I'm gonna live however I wannalive and I'm gonna walk, however
I wanna walk and I'm gonna gowherever I wanna go.
I'll need you to hear me saythat I need the Holy Spirit
every single day, every singledecision, every single step of
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my life.
And I hear some people say areyou telling me I can't live life
for myself, by myself, on adaily basis?
I'm telling you you can't go toWalmart without the Holy Spirit
.
Can I get an amen?
I'm telling you you can't go toWalmart without the Holy Spirit
.
Can I get an amen?
I'm telling you you can't driveon I-75 without the Holy Spirit
.
You can't get on social mediawithout the Holy Spirit and
losing your salvation.
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You sure can't watch theAtlanta Braves without the Holy
Spirit.
Like we need the Holy Spirit inall of our life.
Galatians, chapter five, verse25, says if we live by the
Spirit, what does it mean towalk by the Spirit?
It means to live by the Spirit.
In other words, the Holy Spiritis within you and the Holy
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Spirit convicts us in the way inwhich that we're called to live
from the Word of God.
If we live by the Spirit, letus also keep in step with the
Spirit.
So what is he telling us?
He's telling you it's possible.
The Apostle Paul, by the powerof the Holy Spirit, writing
scripture under the inspirationof God.
He's telling you, it ispossible that you can do this.
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Do you realize that you're notleft out?
You realize that you're notdifferent?
You realize that you're not theanomaly?
You realize that God has hiseyes on you as much as God has
his eyes on anybody else in theworld.
He loves you as much as heloves anyone else and he wants
to feel you like he wants tofeel anyone and everyone else.
So the question I would beasking that I'm sure you are is
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if I'm called to walk by thespirit, then how do I do that?
Well, I'm glad you asked Numbertwo.
Here we go.
Number two is to be led by theSpirit.
Everybody say led To be led bythe Spirit.
The Apostle Paul is saying thatwe need to be led by the Spirit,
For all who are led by theSpirit of God are sons of God.
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If you're led by the Spirit ofGod, you're a son of God.
What does that mean?
Well, a son of God means thatyou have believed in Jesus.
This is actually for men andfor women.
If you have believed in Jesus,you've given your life to him.
You believe that he died on thecross for your sin.
You believe that he rose fromthe dead?
Then the Bible says that youare hidden in Christ.
Believe that he died on thecross for your sin.
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You believe that he rose fromthe dead.
Then the Bible says that youare hidden in Christ.
The Bible says that you arewashed in his blood.
The Bible says the way that hesees, the way that God, the
Father, sees you, is he looksthrough his son and he sees you
through the glasses of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
So when he looks at you, hesees the righteousness of his
son, which means, if you aresaved, you are like Jesus, like
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a son of God.
Can I get an amen?
So what is the one of thenumber one evidences that you
know that you are saved?
If you're led by the spirit.
The question is are you led bythe spirit?
Well, what does it mean then,to be led by the Spirit?
The Greek word is ago.
Everyone say ago.
Ago.
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The Greek word means to be led.
The Greek word means to bebrought.
The Greek word means to beguided.
The Greek word means to becarried.
The Greek word means to bedirected.
In other words, it is notsomething you do, it is
something that God does for you.
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In fact, the official wordingif you just translated it very
wooden, it would be that you arecontinually being led by the
Spirit.
So maybe the best way to thinkabout it is not much, it's not
as much.
How much of the Holy Spirit doyou have?
Maybe it's better to thinkabout it.
How much does the Holy Spirithave of you?
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How much are you being led bythe Holy Spirit?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to lead you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to give you his
wisdom?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to fill you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to give you his
wisdom?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to fill you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to guide you?
How much are you asking theHoly Spirit to direct you?
It's like a GPS.
My wife is the navigator in myfamily.
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She can drive anywhere for anhour one time and she's got it
the rest of her life.
I drive it 10 times and I getlost every single time.
And they're all now Like I needa GPS If I'm not going home or
back to work home, to work hometo the church.
I need a GPS wherever it isthat I'm going right, because I
need to know okay, this is whereI'm going and I always wanna
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know the best way to get thereright.
I always wanna know theshortcut I cut.
I always want to miss all thetraffic.
I always want to miss where thewrecks are right.
I want to get there in the besttime that I can get there and I
can't look into the future.
I can't look around the corner,I don't know what's down the
next street, but, praise God, myGPS does.
Thank God for Google, he's gotit all taken care of right.
So, in other words, we need aGPS.
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The Holy Spirit is your God'spositioning system in your life,
because you don't know whathappens tomorrow.
You don't even know what'sgonna happen this afternoon.
You don't know what is in yourfuture, you don't know what is
in your way and sometimes wedon't even know that we're in
sin.
But, like a good GPS, you startgoing the wrong way and it
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tells you take a U-turn, take aU-turn, take a U-turn.
You need to take a U-turn.
That's exactly what the HolySpirit does in us.
The Holy Spirit tells you whereyou need to go.
The Holy Spirit tells you howyou need to get there.
The Holy Spirit tells you whichdirection you need to go in.
And the Holy Spirit tells youwhen you're going the wrong
direction, when you you're goingthe wrong direction.
We need you to get back on thepath as you are following Jesus.
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We desperately need the HolySpirit.
Hear me, you need the HolySpirit because no one has ever
lived your life before.
No one can write a book foryour life because they've never
lived it.
No one has ever been throughwhat you've been through.
No one has ever perfectly gonethrough what you've been through
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.
No one has ever perfectly gonethrough what you've gone through
.
No one is feeling what you'refeeling.
No one is thinking what you'rethinking.
No one can get you to where youwant to go, because you are a
unique person, created in theimage of God.
That's why only God can directyou, only God can lead you.
Only God can guide you and onlyGod can direct you in that.
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So you may be asking again.
You may be asking well, if I'mcalled to walk in the spirit and
that means that I'm being ledby the spirit, well, how am I
supposed to be led by the spirit?
Well, the Bible says numberthree is that you're called to
be filled with the Spirit.
Well, the Bible says numberthree is that you're called to
be filled with the Spirit.
Everyone say filled.
So in order to walk in theSpirit by the Spirit, you need
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to be led by the Spirit.
In order to be led by theSpirit, you need to be filled
with the Spirit, the Spirit.
Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18,just very simply says be filled
with the Spirit.
That word filled.
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The Greek word is plerao.
Everyone say plerao.
Bunch of Baptists speaking intongues, you're doing great.
Here we go plerao, plerao, youare being filled with the Spirit
.
What does plerao mean?
Do you realize this?
Plerao means that you are beingmade full.
Literally, it means this thatyou are continually being filled
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by the Holy Spirit.
So, in other words, this is nota one-time filling, this is a
continual filling in your life.
You need to keep on and keep onand keep on and keep on being
filled by the Holy Spirit inyour life.
Why?
Well, number one, because youaren't meant or made just to be
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filled.
You are meant and made toactually overflow.
Just this summer, we had asplash pad for our kids, right,
it's just, and someone gave itto us.
We're so thankful.
And it was this splash pad.
It was basically like just alike a 15, 10 to 15 foot pool,
and it had, like the water ringaround it.
It had the holes in it.
Fountains are coming in, youknow, so the kids can play in it
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.
We can just sit in a chair inthe backyard and just watch,
right, and it's just a blast.
And so what would happen isthat the hose would be hooked up
to the splash pad.
The splash pad would shoot allthis water in and it was
constantly overflowing, like wejust had a flood all around our
yard because water was going inand it had to go somewhere.
Well, that's who you are calledto be as a Christian and that's
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who we are called to be as achurch.
We aren't just called to befilled for ourselves.
We're called to be filled sowe're overflowing for the
ministry of others.
Can I get an amen?
See what God does in your life.
He means it to do it in yourlife, so he can do it through
your life, in the life of others.
He wants you to overflow.
You don't need filling just foryou.
Only God can fill you so he canbless you and he can bless
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others through you.
He's called you to overflow, sowhy does he make us full?
Why is he constantly filling usup?
Why do you always need to befilled?
Because you need to overflow.
But also, number two, because,let's be honest, because you
leak, because you're like me, weneed to always.
But also number two, because,let's be honest, because you
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leak, because you're like me, weneed to always be filled
because we leak.
Our splash pad this summersprung a leak, a hole popped in
it and water was gushing out,and so it was all deflated and
the fountains were just kind oflike going every which direction
and the kids were like what isgoing on?
And sometimes that's what ourspiritual life looks like.
It's not looking like it'ssupposed to look, and because
we're not doing what we'resupposed to be doing, and so we
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I had to go around the splashpad.
I needed to find the leak.
Where is the leak?
And then I got online, I didsome research and I got the
right kind of tape for the watertape and I put it on there and
it fixed the leak.
And that's what we need to do.
That's what you need to do foryour life, is God?
Where am I leaking, god?
Where am I sinning, god?
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What do I need to do, god?
I need to go to your word, god.
I need to fix this because, god, I need you to be continually
filling me so that I can beoverflowing.
So be continually filling me sothat I can be overflowing.
So what does it look like?
What does it look like to befilled with the Spirit?
The Bible answers this.
Paul answers this in the mostinteresting of ways.
He answers it in a way thathe's kind of contrasting and
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comparing.
He answers what does it looklike to be filled with the
Spirit?
He says well, just think aboutwhat it looks like when someone
is drunk, right, and it's just.
That's how you know that Paul'sa redneck.
And so Ephesians, chapter five,verse 18, paul said he was from
South Israel anyway.
So don't be.
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He said, don't be drunk withwine.
Some of you are thinking ohthank God, it did not say don't
be drunk with beer, but no, itsays don't be drunk with wine,
meaning alcohol, any and allalcohol.
He's saying don't be controlled, don't be controlled by any
other substance than the spiritof God.
Don't be drunk with winebecause that will ruin your life
.
Can I just stop for a second,just pastorally, and say I have
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had to pastor so many peoplethrough this Marriages, ruined
families, ruined homes, ruinedlegacies, ruined reputations,
ruined jobs, ruined careersruined.
When you allow alcohol tocontrol you, the Bible says it
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will ruin your life.
We can all have different viewson where you are on alcohol, but
it's clear.
The Bible says do not get drunk.
Can I get an amen?
Do not get drunk.
Why?
Why do people turn todrunkenness?
Why do people turn to gettinghigh?
Why do people turn to high?
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Why do people turn to name thesin, these things that control
us?
Why do they turn to thesethings?
Hear me, because we love thefeeling of being controlled and
something else influencing us.
Why?
Because God made you to befilled with and to be influenced
by the Holy Spirit, because hemakes you someone better than
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who you are.
Every other substance makes youworse than who you are, but the
Holy Spirit.
He fills you in order to makeyou better than who you are.
Paul is contrasting and he iscomparing a life of being filled
with alcohol and a life that isbeing filled with the Holy
Spirit.
So what am I telling you?
What you get filled with iswhat you get, or who you become.
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If you get filled with alcohol,you get drunk.
If you get filled with caffeineI told you earlier you get
energy.
If you get filled with protein,you get muscle.
If you get filled with caffeineI told you earlier you get
energy.
If you get filled with protein,you get muscle.
If you get filled with fat, youget fat.
If you get filled with beans,you get gas.
And if you get filled with theHoly Spirit, you get the power
of God.
Can I get an amen?
If you get filled with the HolySpirit, you get the power of
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God.
So if I'm you, I'm asking Allright, pastorship.
I hear you, how?
So if I'm you, I'm asking Allright, pastorship, I hear you.
How do I do it?
How do I get filled with theHoly Spirit?
First of all, you don't.
He's the one who fills you.
Second of all, you makeyourself available to him.
Let me show you what the Biblesays how to be continually
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filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5.19that we need to be singing
psalms, hymns and spiritualsongs to one another.
So here's the deal when youworship God, your worship is
going to God and his spirit iscoming to you.
Can I get an amen?
It is a two-way street.
When you are in prayer, theBible says giving thanks to him.
When you are thanking God orpraying to God whatever it is
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that you're praying as yourprayers are going to him, his
spirit is coming into you.
When we live in community,ephesians 5.21 says that we are
to be in submission of oneanother.
That's coming together incommunity, reading the word of
God together and encouraging oneanother, supporting one another
, praying for one another.
When you're in communitytogether, it is as of worship to
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God, but God's spirit isfilling you up when you get in
God's word.
Colossians 3.16 says that it isGod's, it's the word of Christ
that dwells in you richly andyou're being filled with the
spirit of God.
When you do these things, godis filling you with the spirit
and we need to constantly befilled.
So hear me.
So you need you do these things.
God is filling you with theSpirit and we need to constantly
be filled.
So, hear me, so you need to dothese things every day.
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Every single day you'reworshiping God.
Every single day you're prayingto God.
Every single day, you'retalking to a believer.
Every single day, you'regetting into God's Word and
notice how, when we get togetheras a church, we're doing all
these things together all at thesame time.
They're compounding with oneanother.
So right now, god is fillingyou with his Holy Spirit so that
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you can be led by the Spirit,so that you can walk by the
Spirit.
But number four, here's whereit all starts You're led by the
Spirit so that you can walk bythe Spirit.
But number four, here's whereit all starts how do you get
filled with the Holy Spirit?
You've gotta get baptized bythe Holy Spirit.
I've had so many people ask doyou have to be baptized to be
saved?
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Yes and no.
Do you have to be baptized bywater to be saved?
No, you get baptized by waterbecause you are saved.
But do you have to get baptizedby the Holy Spirit to be saved?
The Bible says yes, becausehere's what happens, if you
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remember when Jesus was baptized?
The Bible says that the skiesopened, the spirit of God came
down like a dove in the spiritof God, indwelled him, lighted
upon him, and that was Jesus'sanointing.
And at the same time, when yougive your life to Jesus, when
you believe that Jesus died onthe cross for your sins, when
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you believe that Jesus rose fromthe dead for your resurrection,
when you believe that Jesus isthe Lord of your life, then you
are united with Jesus.
And when you're united withJesus you get what Jesus has,
and Jesus has the Holy Spirit.
So you get Jesus and the HolySpirit.
The Bible says that once you getsaved you can't get unsaved.
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Why?
Some of you have heard me saythis before?
Because when you get saved,it's when you get dipped in the
blood of Jesus.
And not only are you dipped inthe blood of Jesus, but you're
held by the hand of the Fatherand God.
The Father, wraps the HolySpirit around that hand to where
the devil can't get in.
But even if the devil could,he'd have to unwrap the Holy
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Spirit.
The devil would have to pryopen the hands of God in order
to get to you, and then thedevil would have to dive into
the blood of Jesus to get to you, and if the devil ever dove
into the blood of Jesus, he'd bea saved devil.
Can I get an amen?
The devil can't get to youbecause God's got you.
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So when you get saved, you getbaptized by the spirit.
Here's what the Bible saysabout you.
For in one spirit, everybodysay one spirit.
Listen, there's a lot ofdifferent spirits out there,
there's a lot of differentreligions out there, there's a
lot of different faiths outthere, but there's only one
spirit that's the Holy Spirit.
There's only one salvationthat's the gospel of Jesus
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Christ.
There's only one Lord andSavior.
His name is Jesus.
And there's only one God andFather who is over all.
The Bible says For there is onespirit and we were all baptized
into one body.
That's the body of Jesushimself.
When you're saved, the HolySpirit baptizes you and you are
united with Jesus.
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The Bible says Jews are Greeks.
Back then there were only twoknown races.
They would call it Jews andnon-Jews, and the Jews thought
they were the only ones whocould be saved.
Let me tell you somethingeverybody on planet Earth, no
matter what ethnicity, no matterwhat nationality, no matter who
they are where they've comefrom, what they've been through
or what's going on in their life.
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Jesus can and wants to savethem.
We are all equal in Christ.
Can I get an amen?
And he says slaves are free.
I want you to know that theBible rejects slavery every time
.
The Bible addresses slavery.
We don't believe in slavery.
I believe that slavery is theworst thing that a human being
could ever do to another humanbeing.
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We reject it in every singleform in the name of Jesus.
But see this the church was theonly group of people that saw
value in slaves, and so, whetherthey were slave or free, they
would come to the church and thechurch would preach the word of
God saying you might beenslaved right now, but let me
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tell you something you are freein Christ and you will be free
forever and you will be free forall eternity.
It is the church of Jesus thathas been overturning all of
these things, and all because ofone thing because you were made
and created to drink of theHoly Spirit, which means the
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Holy Spirit isn't just with you,you, he's within you.
He's not just beside you, he isinside you.
I want to encourage you andjust remind you this morning
that we see that we're called tobe walking by the spirit, we're
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called to be led by the spirit,we're called to be filled with
the spirit and we're called tobe baptized in the spirit.
So I've got two questions foryou, I believe the two most
important questions of your life.
I want everyone to answer thesequestions by talking to God
about these questions.
Number one have you beenbiblically baptized?
(36:35):
There's a lot of different waysof baptism, from a lot of
different denominations, a lotof different churches, and maybe
you're here and you werebaptized in maybe a different
way.
But I'm here to tell you thismorning the word baptized in the
Bible it means immersed, to besubmerged.
When Jesus was baptized, he wasbaptized in the Jordan River.
(36:55):
The Bible says that he came upout of the water.
Why is immersion, submersion,the way of God's baptism?
Because it is saying Jesus hasdied for our sin and Jesus has
risen from the dead.
Let me show you this what isbiblical baptism?
It's when you're baptized inthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Why it is from your salvation.
(37:18):
Your baptism, your waterbaptism, is from your salvation
because you've been saved, notfor your salvation.
So when are you supposed to bebaptized After you've been saved
?
Baptized with what the Biblesays water, how?
And the Bible says that we areto be immersed.
You know, your baptism doesn'tsave you.
It's kind of like the weddingring on my hand.
(37:38):
This wedding ring does not makeme married.
Just because I put this ring ondoesn't mean I'm married to
Michelle and it doesn't make melove her anymore, right?
What this is is a symbol of mylifelong commitment, my lifelong
devotion to my wife, and it isa symbol of my covenantal love
for her.
If this ring is here to leteverybody know you can't have
(38:01):
this same thing for you.
Same thing for you, now hear me, like a wedding ring, your
baptism doesn't save you.
It doesn't make you love Jesusanymore.
What it does is it tells thedevil, it tells sin, it tells
the whole world that they can'thave you, because Jesus is the
one that has you, because God'sthe one who created you.
(38:22):
Jesus is the one that died foryou.
Jesus is the one that saves you.
Jesus is the one that filledyou with the spirit.
Can I get an amen?
So that's why we get waterbaptized.
I want you to know this morningthat maybe you're thinking, you
know, baptism Sunday is nextweek, so baptism Sunday is next
week and I want you to know, interms of baptism Sunday is maybe
(38:43):
you're thinking, well, I've gota disability, I could never be
baptized.
We have baptized all kinds ofpeople with disabilities here,
including my daughter withcerebral palsy just a couple of
years ago when she was four.
Maybe you're online, maybesomeone sent you this video and
you're thinking I'm home, bailed, I can't come in and get
baptized line.
Maybe someone sent you thisvideo and you're thinking I'm
home bound, I can't come in andget baptized.
I've gone into many homes andbaptized people in their homes
that cannot get out or get tochurch for whatever reason.
(39:05):
I remember a few years ago Iwas a part of being able to
baptize a 94 year old woman whowas bound by bed.
She was bedridden, home bound.
She was on hospice.
We got to lift her up by herbed sheet and dip her in her own
garden tub and bring her backto her bed where her nurses took
care of her, because she hadbelieved in Jesus and she wanted
(39:25):
to be baptized.
We have baptized many dads intheir 30s here, many moms, many
husbands, many wives, many kids,many teenagers, many college
students, many young adults,many grandfathers and many
grandmothers.
Whoever you are, that God, ifyou've not been baptized
biblically since your salvation,god's calling you to be
baptized.
Maybe you're thinking just somedifferent excuses that I've
(39:48):
heard back in the day not to bebaptized.
I've heard people say, well, Idon't think it's important.
So it was important for Jesus,but it's not for you.
Some people think, well, I'mscared of water.
We have been a church for 139years.
We have not drowned one personyet.
Can I get an amen?
You might be thinking, well, Idon't have my family here.
Invite them next week.
Well, they can't come.
They can watch it online.
(40:09):
We'll give you a video.
Maybe you're thinking, well, Idon't have a change of clothes.
Well, I want you to.
I got a change of clothes foreveryone up here next week.
We got hair caps for all youladies.
You just got your hair donethere.
You go right there.
We got a free T-shirt foreverybody that gets baptized
next week.
Man made new man.
Your life is in Jesus Christ.
And you might be thinking, well, I can get a T-shirt.
(40:31):
Okay, I can get a hair cap.
I want you to know.
We got underwear for everybody.
Nobody's business been in thesedrawers right here y'all, we
got to change your clothes foryou.
You might be thinking well, whatwill people think?
They'll think that God haschanged your life.
You might be thinking well, Iwant the water to be clean.
Jesus got baptized in the muddyJordan River for you.
(40:52):
You can get baptized for him inour Powder Springs water.
You might be thinking well, Iride with someone.
Well, they can wait for you,and if they don't, they need to
be saved and baptized too.
You might be thinking well, Iwant someone to come with you.
Invite someone, or we'll getyou a friend that they can go
with you.
You might be thinking I wasbaptized as a child.
(41:13):
There were 27 baptisms in thebook of Acts, and all of them
were after they believed, afterthey had given their life to
Jesus.
You might be thinking I don'twant to shame my parents.
They won't be shamed by you,they'll be proud of you.
You might be thinking I don'twant to get embarrassed in front
of everyone.
Remember, jesus hung on thecross publicly for you.
You might be thinking well, Ihaven't prayed about it yet.
(41:33):
Remember, there are some thingsyou don't have to pray about.
The Bible just tells you to doit.
You might be thinking well, I'mat home, well, next Sunday is
baptism Sunday, but we alsobaptize here every Sunday.
But I would encourage you obeythe Lord immediately and be
baptized.
And maybe you're thinking I'venot been saved.
Or the most important questionof all life am I really saved?
(42:00):
The Bible says that if you arebeing filled, led by walk with
the Spirit of God, you know thatyou are saved by God.
How do you know that you'resaved?
Have you believed in Jesus?
Jesus Christ, in his death forthe forgiveness of your sins, in
(42:20):
his resurrection for yoursalvation, called on him to be
the Lord of your life?
And it is out of your faith notout of your works, but out of
your faith you're making him theLord of your life, so that the
Holy Spirit can come into yourlife and God, the Spirit, can
lead you.
Every head bowed and every eyeclosed, nobody looking around, I
(42:45):
pray that today is your day ofsalvation, right here, right now
.
If you've never given your lifeto Jesus, or if you're not sure
that you have, if you're notsure that you're saved, for
whatever reason, I can't praythis prayer for you, but I can
lead you through it, in prayingit to him.
And you can pray something likethis to Jesus you can pray,
jesus, I believe in you, jesus,I put my faith in you, jesus, I
(43:11):
trust you.
Jesus, I need you.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin and,
jesus, I ask you to forgive meof all my sin.
And you can say, jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, you're alive, you're real.
And, jesus, I want to give mylife to you.
(43:32):
And you can say, jesus, I callon you to be the Lord of my life
, my savior, my God, and Jesus,I ask you to save me, and he
promises you that he will.
And, jesus, we thank you forthat promise, we thank you for
that truth and we pray thesethings in Jesus' name.
(43:52):
And all God's people said weshould put your hands together
right now for anybody that gavetheir life to Jesus.
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
We're so thankful for what theLord has done in your life.
Our band's going to be comingout right now and I just want to
remind you that there is a nextstep card that is there in
front of you.
Maybe you've given your life toJesus.
Maybe you've got more questionsthat we can help you in giving
(44:14):
your life to Jesus.
Maybe you've gotten saved todayor another day in the past and
you need to get baptized sinceyour salvation.
You can select that on the card, you can email me, you can come
up to me afterwards, you cancall the office this week, you
can email the office, you cansend up a smoke signal, whatever
it takes.
We just want to know who God isworking in so that you can be
(44:38):
baptized next week for BaptismSunday.
And also, there's groups onthere, there's ministries on
there, all of these differentsteps that we're all called to
take in our walk with Jesus.
Can I ask us to stand right now?
Everybody's standing.
I wanna pray for us one moretime and we'll worship the Lord
together one last time.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we thank you for your
(44:58):
Holy Spirit.
God, thank you that you're agood father and you haven't left
us alone.
God, thank you that you give usthe Holy Spirit.
God, that we can walk by theSpirit, that we can be led by
the Spirit, that we can befilled with the Spirit, all
because we've been baptized bythe Spirit.
And so, lord, I pray and I ask,in Jesus' name, god, would you
(45:22):
give us a fresh filling,continually, the Holy Spirit, as
we worship you, as we pray toyou, as we get full of your word
and as we are in community, god, would you continually fill us
with your Holy Spirit, god, sothat we can live with him and by
him and for Jesus.
We love you, we worship you inJesus' name and all God's people
(45:43):
said amen.
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