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Well, good evening everybody.

Thank you, Jonathan. It's good to be together, isn't it? At the start of the new week. I hope you've got a Bible tonight. We are going to need it because we're going to dot around a little bit.

If you haven't got a Bible and you would like one or you haven't got a phone, just raise a hand. Somebody will put a Bible in your hand. They won't put a phone in it, but they'll put a Bible in your hand and you'll find it helpful. You see, we're thinking tonight about the Holy Spirit. And my guess is that we all have different backgrounds and different experiences of him and we have different temperaments and different convictions.

But this evening I'd like us all to be able to see a Bible, hear God's word and be willing maybe to change our minds if we need to or to reinterpret our experiences or perhaps to hunger for him in a new way that we haven't before. So we're going to learn together as a church. As I say, we're thinking about our core convictions. Christ centred, Bible rooted tonight, spirit empowered. That's what we're thinking about.

Shall I pray? And then we'll turn to God's word together. We pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us your holy spirit and that by your spirit you live in us.

We pray that your spirit himself would be our teacher tonight. That he would help us to grow in Christ, that he would fill us and we would know his life and power at work in us as we live. For Christ we ask Lord in Jesus name, amen. Amen. So anybody not got a Bible?

Last chance. Raise a hand. Did everybody get one? Good. Thank you, Sam.

If we're trying to understand anything, really, not just anything in the Bible, anything theological, but just anything, the place to start is Jesus. We thought about that a couple of weeks ago when we thought about being Christ centred. The place to start is Jesus. And when we're thinking about the Holy Spirit, who he is and what he does the place to start actually is Jesus.

Have you ever thought how did jesus do his miracles?

How did Jesus raise the dead, feed 5000 people, walk on water and so on? How did he just seem to know what was going on in somebody's heart without anyone telling him? How did he know these things? I think it's tempting sometimes that we think of Jesus a bit like we think of supermande. You know, Superman has two their alter egos.

There's Clark Kent, the ordinary he's a journalist, isn't he? The reporter bumbling around. And then when needs arise, he rushes into a phone box. I don't know what he does these days because we haven't got phone boxes anymore. We've got mobile phones.

But anyway, he would rush into a phone box and reappear as Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet, faster than a locomotive, all the rest of it, that's Superman. And he does the amazing things to save people. And when we read the gospels, it's tempting to think that when we see Jesus do ordinary things like eating, working, sleeping, or when he shows emotions, when he's tired or angry or frustrated, that that's his human side, that's the Clark Kent side. But when needs arise, he can show his divine side, the superman side, and he can do all these miracles.

He knows what's going on in someone's heart because that's his God bit. That's his human bit and that's his God bit. Now, if we're not careful, we end up thinking about Jesus as if he were two different persons, as if he had a sort of split personality. And we start parcelling off different things he does to one side or to another side. But actually, that's not what he's like at all.

Lots of people actually in the Bible do miracles, but they don't have a divine side. There are people, christians around the world today, in other parts of the world especially, who do miracles. Are they not divine?

The prophet Isaiah that we've just read tells us in Isaiah eleven two how Jesus would do all these amazing things. Have a look down if you've got it there. Isaiah eleven two. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Everything that Jesus does, he does in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never did anything just by himself. He actually said he couldn't. He actually said, I can't do anything on my own. I do only what the father gives me to do.

And he does it always and only in the power of the Holy Spirit. His wisdom, his understanding, his, his power, his miracles, his preaching, his compassion, his suffering, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and everything he's done before that and is doing now and will do for eternity, he does only in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I mean, if we pause to think about it, I suppose we think, oh, that's probably true, isn't it? Because he's called Jesus Christ and Christ isn't his surname. You know that, don't you? Don't look him up in the phone book as Mister J Christ. Christ isn't his surname, it's a title.

And it means anointed one. It means the anointed one. And he was anointed with the spirit has always been anointed with the spirit without measure. So what I like to do at the beginning of the sermon is just think for a few minutes about how Jesus and the Holy Spirit work together, how Jesus is empowered by the Holy Spirit. So turn over to Luke's gospel.

If you've got a Bible there or on your phone, turn to Luke's gospel church. Bible is a page 125, page 125. And we're going to think from the beginning of Jesus life on earth to the time he went back to heaven.

Luke tells us at the beginning of his gospel that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Luke 135. Luke 135. The angel answered Mary. She said, how is this going to be?

How am I going to have a baby? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you, so the one born to you will be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit will come upon you right from the conception of Jesus. What about Jesus childhood? If we wind the clock forward, Jesus childhood, it's interesting in the Bible, isn't it?

We don't get told a lot about Jesus childhood. There's not much about the first 30 years of his life. There's only really one event which Luke records when Jesus was twelve years old and he was left behind in the temple in Jerusalem by his parents. And when they found him a few days later, he was there surrounded by the teachers of the law. And the teachers of the law found Jesus understanding.

Amazing. They were sitting at the feet, really, of a twelve year old boy, listening to his questions and his answers. And how did he know what he knew from the scriptures? Isaiah eleven two. Because the spirit of the wisdom and understanding rested on him.

And Luke tells us that Jesus was obedient to his parents and grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and with men. There's lots of things I would love to know about Jesus as a boy, wouldn't you? What was he like at school with his friends and family as he's growing up there? But we're not told that. But we are told about his dependence on the Holy Spirit from before he was even born.

What about his baptism? At the very start in the Old Testament, when a priest in the Old Testament began their ministry, the first thing that would happen is they would have a ceremonial washing, and then they would be anointed with oil washing and anointing. And so Jesus, at the start of his ministry as our great high priest, he gets down into the river Jordan and has a ceremonial washing and anointing with the Holy Spirit. And that's maybe something for us to stop and think about at the beginning of his ministry. For all that lay ahead, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit.

God gives his spirit of power so that we can serve him. God doesn't give us his holy spirit so that we can have a wonderful private experience, but that we might serve him in his power. And it's not that Jesus didn't have the spirit before. Of course, he has always had the spirit without measure. But when Jesus was a teenager, when he was at school, he didn't need to be a good preacher then.

He didn't need to do miracles, walk on water, raise the dead, all that sort of stuff. He didn't need that when he was a boy. But at the start of his public ministry, he set aside publicly for God for that work. And he is anointed with the Holy Spirit in a visible way for what lies ahead. And what lies ahead.

Well, let's keep going with Luke. We need to speed up a little bit. What lies ahead? Page 1030. The first thing after his baptism is his temptation.

So have a look at Luke chapter four one.

Luke four one. It says, jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. He was led by the spirit, and he was full of the spirit as he went to face down the devil in our place, the spirit empowering him for that. What's next? Luke, chapter four.

If you look down at verse 14, Luke 414, it carries on. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. And he went into the synagogue in Nazareth, and he finds the, the scroll of the prophet, Isaiah, Isaiah 61. He finds the place where it is written, verse 18, Luke 418. The spirit of the sovereign Lord, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom from the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour. So Jesus, at the start of his ministry, sets out what he's going to do and how he's going to do it. What's he going to do? He's going to bring salvation, he's going to bring freedom, he's going to bring sight for the blind. He's going to raise the dead.

He's going to bring a freedom and life. And how is he going to do it? Well, by depending on the Holy Spirit, who he's just been anointed with at his baptism. He doesn't do it on his own. He does nothing on his own.

He can't. Everything he does, he does by the power of the Holy Spirit. What about his death? Doesn't Jesus just do that on his own? The gospels don't tell us a lot about the Holy Spirit as Jesus is dying, except that he gave up his spirit when he died.

But Hebrews 914 says that on the cross, Christ, through the eternal spirit, offered himself to God. Hebrews 914, Christ, through the eternal spirit, offered himself to God. His resurrection one Peter 318 Christ was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit. And finally, when he ascends to heaven, acts 233, he receives from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, who he pours out on his church at Pentecost. Everything that Jesus does, he does in the power of the Holy Spirit.

He never depended on himself. He never said, I know how to do this, I've done it before.

He never relied on his own resources. He was always empowered by the Holy Spirit for what he did from the beginning of his life on earth to the end of his life on earth, from eternity before to eternity after everything he has done, is doing and will do, he does only in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, why does that matter? What's that got to do with you and me? Well, when we look at Jesus, we see how life is meant to be lived.

He shows us what it is to be really human, just like Jesus. We obey the Father and can be fruitful for him as we are empowered day by day by the Holy Spirit, as we stop relying on our own resources and start trusting and relying on him. So for the rest of our time together, we haven't got long. I'd like us to think a little bit about the Holy Spirit and us. The Holy Spirit and us today.

And we're still in Luke's gospel. Luke, chapter three. We're going to just sort of turn the clock back in a little bit in our minds again to John the Baptist standing in the river Jordan there with the crowds around him. John the Baptist, do you remember the forerunner of Jesus? He tells the crowds that are gathering around him that, yes, he's baptising with water, but somebody's going to come after him who's greater than him, whose sandals he's not worthy to stoop down and untie.

And this person Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit or in the Holy Spirit I baptise with water, John says, but he will baptise you in or with the Holy Spirit. Now, our question is, what does that mean? What does that mean? It's sometimes thought that the baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to an experience that a Christian has. Either the moment that they are converted and they become a Christian, or perhaps sometime later.

Sometimes it's been called a second blessing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And look, maybe you've had that experience. I'm sure there are people in this congregation this evening who've had that experience. And you say, look, it was an overwhelming sense of the love and presence of Christ with me, and maybe that was accompanied for you with a gift of tongues, a language you hadn't learned, learnt, but maybe you use in your prayers. Well, look, if that is you, praise God.

That's wonderful. Isn't that a joyful and wonderful thing? Not everybody has the gift of tongues. But being a Christian is about a living, personal relationship with Christ through his spirit, and that should be felt. There should be occasions, if not all the time, when we do feel something about being a Christian.

It says in Romans chapter five, verse five, that God has poured his love into our hearts by his Holy Spirit. It's not just a head thing, it ought to be a heart thing as well. But should we all expect an experience like the disciples had at Pentecost? Is that sort of a normative thing for all christians? So I'd like us just to spend a moment thinking about Pentecost.

Pentecost. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem. He said in acts one five, John baptised with water. But in a few days, you disciples will be baptised with the Holy Spirit. And then our reading from verse eight, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

Now, the disciples are already believers as we trace with them through the gospel. They don't get everything right. There's a journey that they're going on, but they are believers. But Jesus promises them a great pouring out of the Holy Spirit to empower them for a particular mission, a particular task. God was sending them to take the good news to the whole earth, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.

Remember, we've seen that God gives his spirit so that we can serve him with power, and they need that power. The church is going global. So ten days later the disciples are in Jerusalem, and from heaven Jesus pours out his holy spirit upon them. And it says in acts two that all of them were filled with the Holy spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. And there were people in Jerusalem at the time from all sorts of different countries who spoke different languages, and suddenly they could all hear the gospel in their own language.

The church is beginning to go global.

See, first and foremost, Pentecost is a unique moment in the life of the church and its mission. Pentecost isn't primarily in terms of spiritual experiences, that's not primarily how we should understand it, the experiences of an individual. It is primarily a moment in the history of God's plan of salvation for the whole world, even though many christians ever since have had experiences very much like this. And if that's you, wonderful. Praise God.

Pentecost was a new chapter in God's plan of salvation for the whole world. It was the next event in a series. Christ's death, Christs resurrection, Christs ascension, Christ pouring out his holy spirit and were still waiting for christs return when salvation will be complete. Pentecost marked that moment where gods salvation was no longer limited to Israel as it had been in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, if you wanted to follow the Lord, you had to join the people of Israel, you had to be circumcised.

If you were a man, you had to move to Israel so that you could go up to Jerusalem for the feasts.

But in the New Testament, after Jesus has ascended and gathered all things together and poured out his Holy Spirit on all peoples, you can be part of the church direct, you can be egyptian, you can be greek, you can be chinese or kenyan or british or wherever, and you can just be a direct member of the church of Jesus Christ. And the proof of that is that God pours out his holy spirit upon you and fills you with his spirit as well. The apostle Peter explains that in his Pentecost sermon. Pentecost was God fulfilling his promise that he would pour out his spirit on all peoples. Thats the point, on all peoples.

When I was a teenager I wanted to have the experience of the Holy Spirit that I read about in the New Testament from time to time. And I heard other christian friends had, I don't know if you like that I wanted that. And I think looking back, I mixed up the giving of the spirit himself with the gifts of the spirit. I prayed many times that God would give me the gift of tongues and these wonderful experiences and he hasn't. But as I've got older, I've understood that every Christian has the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to every Christian.

We don't all get the same gifts and sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us particular gifts at particular moments in our lives. But whatever he wants to give me, I want to have, don't you? Whatever that is.

That phrase, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's not used a lot in the New Testament, you know it's used, Jesus has just used it here. John the Baptist used it. It's used in one other place in the whole of the New Testament, and that's in one corinthians chapter twelve, verse 13, where Paul says we were all baptised, we were all baptised in the Spirit into one body, whether we were jew or gentile, we were all baptised in the spirit or by the Spirit into one body. That verse says that baptism in the Spirit isn't just something for some Christians. It's not a separate experience for becoming a Christian necessarily.

It is part of being a Christian. Anyone who is part of the body of Christ, part of the church, is baptised by or in the Holy Spirit. You can't be a Christian without being baptised in or by the Holy Spirit. Now does that mean that once you are a Christian that's it? There is no more experience of the Holy Spirit to be had?

No more filling? No, I don't think that is what it means. Lots of people, as I say here, have experienced that. But maybe to be more biblical we should call those other experiences filling of the Holy Spirit. And actually a lot of our pentecostal brothers and sisters have begun to use that phrase filling of the Spirit rather than baptism in or by the Spirit.

And I think it's helpful. It is more biblical when we think about the Holy Spirit, we shouldn't expect anything more than the Bible promises. But I want to say neither should we be satisfied with anything less than the Bible promises. It would be a mistake to limit baptism in the spirit to a single event that we've had. And that's it.

The Holy Spirit has nothing more to do with us now. No its not that. We need to be filled and empowered again and again. And I dont know about you, but I dont just want a second blessing, I want a third, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th. However many blessings, whatever the Holy Spirit wants to give us that we want.

So lets just turn to acts and to Pentecost just for a moment or two. Acts, chapter four, Pentecost has happened. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. But turn to page 1095, they have been filled. But later, when Peter and John are being questioned by the jewish leaders, we read in acts chapter four, verse eight.

Have you got it there? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, he's been filled at Pentecost, he's just been filled again. A bit later on, Peter and John are released and they meet up with the other christians and they pray about the opposition that they're beginning to experience. And it says in acts chapter four, verse 31, just over the page, they've had this church prayer meeting, verse 31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Even though Peter has been filled at Pentecost and later filled with the spirit when he's speaking to the jewish leaders now, when he and the others are facing opposition and they pray for courage to keep sharing the gospel, he's filled with the spirit, once again empowered for the ministry and the task and the challenges that lie ahead. Those Christians wouldn't rely on themselves. They relied on God and on his empowering spirit. See, if someone is a Christian, if they're full of the spirit already, can you be more full? That's my question.

Can you be more full if you are already full? Well, if a glass is full of water, can you make it more full? You can't, can you? It's full. Maybe this is a bad analogy, a bad illustration for us as questions.

Maybe a better one is this.

My balloon is full of air. It's full of air. There's nothing in it but air. Can it be more full?

It can. It can. And as we grow in Christ so we can be filled. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this now. We can be more filled, more filled, in fact, somebody who walks closely with the Lord, like Stephen in the Book of acts, others, they are called men, filled with the spirit.

That was just their character again and again. I'm going to have to let go of this, folks. I'm sorry. There we go.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 518, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's a command, and it's in the present tense. And you could translate it be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. So do you ask that of the Lord?

Do you seek that be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit? It's a command. It's not a one off thing. It might happen many times in a Christian's life. Or being spirit filled, as I say, might describe somebody's character.

They're a spirit filled Christian, aren't they? That's Saint Stephen, a man full of the spirit. Acts six three five.

I wonder if you have been serving Christ in some way for a little while. If you can think back to the first time you did something for the Lord, first time you stepped out to serve him in some way. Maybe the first time you talked to somebody about Jesus, the first time you did something in church. You're probably nervous because you've never done it before. And because you were nervous, you prayed and you asked the Lord's help.

Maybe it was leading a children's group, playing in the band, whatever it was. So you pray. God answers, God helps, and it goes. Well, the danger is, after you've done it a few times, if you're like me, you think, I know how to do that? Yeah, it was tricky the first time, but I think I've got better.

I know how to do it. So what do we do? We stop praying. We depend on ourselves.

Well, other people, you might kid. Other people, we might kid ourselves. But I promise you there will be some people who will be able to tell the difference. The power is gone, and it can be the same in churches. Churches can be very busy places with lots of activities going on, full of activities and ministries.

But is it God's power that is at work in that church or is it just going through the motions? We know how to do it. We've done this before. It's just another Sunday.

And when a church is full of very able, successful, perhaps professional people, I think the temptation is that it can think. It knows how to get things done. Prayer can go out of the window. Hunger for the Lord can fade. We rely on our own resources.

We know how to do it. The activity goes on, but without the power and after a little while, without the fruit.

Chris preached a few weeks ago to us from John 15 five. Jesus words when he said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in them, they will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So my question, just as we end, is how do we stay connected to Jesus every day?

How do we make sure that we are united to him in a vital way, day by day, so that his spirit flows out to us and through us.

I'm on the board of a little mission that works in India and South Asia and every so often we go out to India and we see the church and we have to be able to report back on how the money that's been raised here is being spent over there. And, you know, it's remarkable. I always think when I go out there to see what is really a revival, I don't know if you've ever seen a revival. Some people here I know have to see a revival there in India is astonishing. And the thing that astonished me more than anything else was, in a sense, how ordinary it was, because the Christians were just doing ordinary things, reading their bibles and putting it into practise, praying and many of them fasting, inviting people to church and being willing to count the cost, being willing to suffer.

And yet this little organisation, and it's only one of hundreds, probably, they plant 15 churches a week in India, one country, and they don't call it a church until they've got 30 baptised christians. But they do that 15 times a week, week after week after week after week. The spirit is empowering as the christians are doing those ordinary things. It looks very ordinary. Taking in God's word every day, letting his words dwell in us, praying about them, seeking to put them into practise, obeying them.

Bringing our whole life to Jesus regularly, saying, Lord, there are dark parts in my heart and in my life. Shine your light in them, please. Confessing our sins, turning away from our sins, determining to live a new life by his spirit. Coming to church, coming to the prayer meeting, praying together, inviting people to church. Giving, serving, being baptised, receiving the Lord's supper.

Regularly stepping out and taking risks and introducing people to Jesus and talking about him, laying our lives down for other people. These are the ways that God has given us so that we can stay connected to him and his spirit flows out and is poured out into our lives and through us and what we do to other people. So as I end, that's it. That's my third conviction or I pray, our third conviction for a church that we be Christ centred and Bible rooted, but also that we be spirit empowered.

Because Jesus didn't rely on his own resources, he couldn't do anything on his own. And if he couldn't, we for sure can't. But he has promised you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

So we're going to sing, I'm going to invite the band to come up ready to lead us. But as they do. Let me pray for us. Let's pray.

Almighty God, we thank you that you gave us your holy spirit when we began to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, your son. Lord, as we start a new week, we pray you would forgive us our sins and fill us with your spirit afresh to live for you in this week ahead.

Lord, grow in us, we pray, a deeper hunger for you and for your word.

Show us, we pray, what in our lives we need to change those sins we need to turn away from, that you might be the Lord of our whole life, that we might be a better dwelling place for your holy spirit. And may he fill us and empower us tonight to live for you in this coming week. For Lord, we ask for Jesus sake. Amen.