Be Filled with the Spirit (Pentecost)

Christians should long for and invite Holy Spirit into their lives. Holy Spirit fills and empowers Christians to overcome evil and live to please God. He teaches and reminds Christians the word of God, His kingdom and godly lifestyle. God wants everyone who is willing to receive Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 -19. Be filled with the Holy Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. These followings are discussed: Filled with the Spirit; Spirit-Filled Living, and Spirit-Filled Unity and Service.

Filled with the Spirit: God gives His Spirit to those who are living to accomplish His purpose. He took of His Spirit that rested upon Moses and gave it to seventy elders to enable them perform leadership roles for success of His work (Number 11:24-29). It was after the elders had received spiritual empowerment that they were able to prophesy and relieve Moses of the leadership workload. Today God wants all Christians to have the main ingredient (Holy Spirit) required for success in spiritual leadership and to live by faith.

Distribution of God's Spirit to the seventy elders who worked with Moses foreshadowed the great outpouring of Holy Spirit upon the Early Church (Acts 2:1-4). Physical manifestation of Holy Spirit has continued since the time a group of 120 disciples received the promised gift in Jerusalem. It can not be possible for Churches to minister effectively without the power of Holy Spirit. It wasn't possible for the Early Church to witness for Christ until disciples received spiritual empowerment. Peter had thought of going back to his previous work before he received the power for God's work. Today God fills people with His Spirit and uses them in various ways.

The Spirit fills and equips the Church to spread gospel to all people and nations. Christians can reach all nations with the gospel and share the message effectively when they are baptised in Holy Spirit. God's promise of Holy Spirit is for all, as prophesied by Joel in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28-29).

Spirit-Filled Living: Spirit-filled living encourages true fellowship; it encourages genuine worship of God and caring for others (Acts 2:41-47). For Christians to live a spirit-filled life they must continue to worship, fellowship, pray and grow in the knowledge of the scripture. Our life in the spirit must be evident to all that God dwells in us, and we love one another (John 13:35).

Holy Spirit impacts and transforms believers. We should obey God's word and submit ourselves to one another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:18-21). A spirit-filled life makes it possible to avoid destructive work of the flesh (Galatians 5: 19-21) and embrace life that bears godly fruits, or reflect Christlike characters (Galatians 5:22-25). Those characters depict the right relationship with God and others.

Spirit-Filled Unity and Service: The spirit of God unites believers and makes it easier to have concern for the others. We must follow example of the love, compassion and self-sacrifice of the Early Church to consider others and strive to meet their material needs. Holy Spirit gives the power and enablement to meet needs. Holy Spirit is the strength, the power and the wisdom we need to minister effectively and transform lives (2 Corinthians 3:5-6; Romans 7:9-11; 1 Peter 4:11). Lesson texts: Numbers 11:10-29; Acts 2:1-17, 41-47; 4:31-35; 2 Corinthians 3:1-8; Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 5:18-21.