Timothy McVeigh. You’ve probably seen pictures and heard or read media accounts about the convicted Oklahoma City bomber. On April 20, the Chicago Tribune printed one among several reports on this man. The Tribune indicated that he has embraced the poem "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley. Apparently McVeigh intends to include some of its lines in his last words before he is executed.
        Invictus, the Latin word for invincible, was published by the obscure British poet in 1875 as a tribute to self-reliance. The last stanza is not only an apt picture of Timothy McVeigh, but of much of our society:

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Citation: Julia Keller, "McVeigh and 'Invictus': A Murderer's Last Words," Chicago Tribune (4-20-01)

"I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul."

They are also words that some, at any rate, may want to challenge.
        On what began as a quiet day somewhere in A.D.29, folk in an obscure suburb of Jerusalem discovered a power source for life FAR bigger, more reliable, and longer lasting than anything that they could come up with themselves. They were swept up in an event over which they had NO charge, of which they were NOT the masters and the direction of which they could NOT captain.
Pentecost - when the Holy Spirit roared down on a prayer gathering of 120 frightened followers of Jesus.
Pentecost - changing these followers, and history, forever.

The sound of a tornado.
Flames licking their heads.
Power and courage surging through their souls.
And 3000 people converted into followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus had told His followers to lay low and hang back in Jerusalem until this event. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t try to do anything. Not until you are equipped with power. Once you are equipped - go and go hard. (Acts 1:1-8).
        The fact that we’re sitting here this morning, 2000 years and many more kilometers removed from this event, is testimony to that Holy Spirit power at work.

Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Up until that time in history, the power of God’s Spirit only settled on and in a few unique individuals - particular believers in unique places and times.
        Now that all changes - a new paradigm of holy presence.
        New unleashing of holy power.

Every believer in that room was drenched in the Spirit’s power.
        "All of them were filled...." we read.

That’s the power about which read Andy from Ephesians; power that flowed then; power that continues to flow from heaven to earth today; shaping the lives of believers, realizing their ability to live a God-honoring life. Hear it again:
        "Be filled with the Spirit." (v.18)

        The Spirit.... He is the one promised by Jesus as the Comforter, the Helper. He is the one who would remain with the Church and with individual believers after Jesus went back to heaven.... remaining until Jesus returns on that great and final day of History.
        He is the divine one who would enter into, touch and change the hearts of ordinary men and women, boys and girls like you and me, tiny people like Ethan.
 

What does this Holy Spirit do?
Many passages in the Bible give insight on that. They say that He:

- helps us understand God's Word, the Bible
- builds and upholds the strength of our faith in the Risen Christ
- gives us the inner strength to live in daily obedience to the Lord, developing a Christ-like character (more about that this evening).
- gives special guidance in times of confusion
- makes us bold in our faith and able to share it with others
- gives believers in Jesus special gifts to do work for Him.

The Holy Spirit is God, personal God, reaching down inside the deepest part of my being and gripping me; taking hold of my human spirit and empowering it.
If you read the subsequent chapters of Acts you will see illustration after illustration of precisely how the Holy Spirit works:

- faith made bold to the point of martyrdom
- convicting people of sin, and bringing them to conversion
- inspiring prophecies of certain events and facts
- giving new direction to the Church
- witnessing of Christ's power through miracles
- overwhelming peoples' spirits and leading them to praise God in ordinary speech and song and in heavenly languages, in tongues.

Pay attention to Pentecost, says Ephesians 5.
        Drop the barriers.
        Quit the game playing.
        Forget self-reliance.
        And be filled with the Spirit.

In case you didn’t catch it, please notice that comes as a command;
        not a request to be received for information, or possible future consideration;
        or to be turned over, examined and returned on the shelf like some tomato at Sweet Co’s.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Question - What does that mean? How does it show itself in our lives?

        The story is told of a Texan sheep rancher named Yates. He farmed during the depression. Like many others, his operation didn’t pay enough to meet principal and interest payments on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy.
        Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came and asked permission to drill a wildcat well. Yates signed a lease contract.
        At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells, in what today is known as the Yates Field, were even larger.
        Mr. Yates owned it all. He’d been a multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? The oil had been out of site, stuck under ground.
                                        Bill Bright, "How to Be Filled with the Spirit" (Campus Crusade publication)

As Christians we can live impoverished, weak lives devoid of the Spirit’s power. The command from Ephesians is one to drill for that wealth and unleash it into our lives. Practically speaking - how does that work in our lives?

First thing to understand is this - if you can honestly say these words:
        "Jesus is Lord, God's Son, my Saviour"
then you have received the Holy Spirit. The bible is very clear about this:
        "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit."
                        (1 Cor 12.3; Rom 8.9)

It is the Holy Spirit who first moves into a person and softens them up emotionally and spiritually to the point where they first become Christians.

However –
        It is one thing to say that we have received the Holy Spirit.
        It is a totally different thing to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Think of it this way:
It is one thing to invite a guest into your house.
        BUT
It is quite a different thing to give that guest the run of your house, access to all your family files, control of your checkbook and other financial records, and letting that guest tell you what to do.

Remember Ephesians 5:18
        "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
        Instead, be filled with the Spirit." (Eph 5.18)

        Drunk on wine -- when you are in that state, you lose control. The booze takes over. Sometimes you even black out and don't remember a thing of what happened while inibriated. And horrible things happen.
        People thought those first Spirit-filled disciples on Pentecost were drunk. And in one way they were right. For those disciples had lost final control of their senses. They were no longer in charge of themselves. The Holy Spirit was. He had taken over.
        And wonderful things happened as a result!
To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit, overwhelmed by the Spirit, losing charge of your life to the Spirit of Jesus Christ within you.
        And this, my friends is not something that happens to every Christian automatically. Hence the Biblical imperative:
                Be filled -
                        COMMAND -- do it, deliberately!

        Don't just let Him enter as a guest, but give Him full control over your inner house, your inner temple, your inner being. Give him full control over your life.
                Invite Him to take charge.
                Break down the barriers.
                Through open your inner doorways.
                        Do it -- deliberately!

And that, my friends, is a difficult thing to do.
        It is difficult to let another write the agenda for your life. It is difficult to respond when another says "Go" and to pull back when another says, "Stop." It is difficult because, let's face it, all of us have a measure of pride and a desire for independance. We like, to one degree or another, to be our own bosses.

"...be filled with the Spirit."
        Unless we do that, my friends, our spiritual lives will end up being dry and listless, just like a limp appendage dragging behind the other things of life.
        And how totally different that is from the sort of spiritual life illustrated for us in Acts 2; the sort of vibrant, powerful, impact producing spiritual life that God wants for us.

Be filled.
        So..... what may be some of the barriers to the Spirit’s flow that we would erect; barriers we need to tear down?
        What are some of the spiritual doors that we may slam in His holy face; doors we need to unlock and swing wide open?
        As we join with Jeremy & Nadia in providing faith nurture and direction for Ethan, what do we need to be on the lookout for?

Perhaps the most common but least considered barrier is this -
        - we don’t ask.

        Jesus said, "How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." (Lk 11.13)
        The bible also says, "You do not have because you do not ask God..." (Jas 4.2)

        How many Christians are walking around today with a struggling or apathetic or lukewarm spiritual life simply because they have not
        asked for
                the filling of the Holy Spirit in their lives?

        How many Christians are satisfied by half-full, content with the knowledge that Jesus has died for their sins and is preparing a place in heaven for them,
        but never bothered pleading with Christ to be overwhelmed with the Spirit’s presence......
        afraid, perhaps, of what a full-voltage faith life might look like; of what corners of their daily living it might invade?

"Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be openned unto you." (Lk 11.9)
        Have you?
 

Second barrier -
        You can avoid being filled, you can marginalize the Holy Spirit by isolating yourself from life within the Body of Christ here on earth, the Church.
        The command, "be filled with the Spirit" is given in the plural. It comes to us as a community of believers. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Church. And while he resides in the hearts of believers, one by one, he works within the context of the community of faith.
        One of the greatest lies being perpetuated in our society today, and one of the most damaging spiritual factors at work today is that of individualism -
        "I can do what I want, and I don't need to compromise myself for anyone else. I can get by just fine on my own."
        Remove yourself from God's people, and you will grieve the Holy Spirit.
        That’s one of the reasons that baptism, the pouring of water and praying for the Spirit’s unleashing in Ethan’s life, is done not as a private family affair, but in the context of the full family of faith. That’s why both parents and church community make promises.
        Faith without the community of saints will always end up being stunted faith. It won’t continue to grow. It won’t blossom and bear fruit of active service for Jesus in society. It just doesn’t happen.

Third barrier -
        You can push the Holy Spirit to the outer limits of your life, box him into a tight little back room of your heart, by deliberately engaging in wrongful, sinful, God-dishonoring patterns of behaviour. Back to Ephesians. That's why in v.17, right before the command to be filled, we read these words:
        "Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is!"

        You cannot allow both a) the Holy Spirit and b) your own desires to control your life. It's either/or.
        EITHER you renounce what you know in your heart of hearts is a way of living (either thought, word or deed) that makes God cringe
        OR
        You say, "Never mind about how God feels. I care about how I feel."
        In which case you grieve the Spirit. You cannot be filled.
        Dear friends, it was said of those first Christians, "They were filled with the Holy Spirit."
        The Bible calls to us, "Be filled with the Spirit."
        The command "be filled" is one that refers to on-going, never-ending action. It is not a one-time, done forever event type experience.

It is a journey to be traveled, a road to be walked.
        - of ever more fully opening ourselves to His leading, asking regularly for more of His presence, growing in community with other believers, and striving to live with ever great integrity in a way that honors the Lord.

Invictus?
Hardly.
But my friends, the Bible’s challenge is one oh so worth accepting!
Pentecost power.
Pentecost living.
        replacing stagnant, cold, half-empty faith
        with an active, fire-hot, full and brimming over life of passionate service for Jesus.
Be filled with the Spirit.
Will you?