Ah, well, so good to see you, church. If you're new here, my name is Ricky. I'd love to get the chance to meet you if I haven't already been able to do that. We are— we're kind of ending today one phase of our miniseries on what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit according to Ephesians 5:18. But we want this to continue.
We don't want being filled with the Spirit is something we just cover in a miniseries or in a series. We want this to just be part of our everyday lives. And so one of the ways we're going to try to do that is starting a series of prayer and worship nights over the next few months. And so March 17th is going to be our first one, and it's going to be basically short teaching on a basic question. So this month's question is, who is the Holy Spirit?
Maybe you've grown up believing in the Trinity, but you just don't know much about the Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Is it an it? Is it an he?
That this would be a wonderful talk for you to come to, and then we're going to sing in response to that and then pray for one another. So very simple, straightforward. We will actually have childcare that's going to be fun for the kids as well. And if you notice, March 17th is also St. Patrick's Day, so my dad was joking that this is the most literal interpretation of Ephesians 5:18 possible, which says, "And do not get drunk," for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. So we didn't plan that, but if that's something the Lord is doing in your heart, go for it.
If you'd normally be doing something else St. Patrick's Day, then consider that meeting. I was kidding. We love you.
All right, so we're continuing our series on Ephesians 5:18. Again, don't get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.
So I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Maybe 1 Thessalonians may not be a book that is very familiar to you, but I believe in the closing section of it, it has a wonderfully concise picture of what it looks like for the Christian to live a Spirit-filled life.
Last week we picked up the story and we spent— in Acts 3 and 4, we spent 24 hours with the early church living in the power of the Holy Spirit, and we saw encouragingly that when Jesus ascends, it doesn't mean that God's presence or power are gone, but rather that Jesus says, wait, and you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit for the mission I've given you. And that mission is to build the church and reach the lost.
And so Jesus sends the church out in power.
Now, if that's true, then the question is, what should our posture be related to the Spirit and the work of the Lord in our life? So We talked about two extreme postures that we want to avoid. The first posture is the closed and cynical posture where perhaps you just don't like anything supernatural in your faith. Perhaps you're like Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson had a very thin Bible because he would just— he would penknife cut out any sections that were supernatural. And so, he ended up with just a collection of sayings that were sort of humanistic. And maybe you would kind of even by personality or temperament or experience go, listen, I'm not open to anything weird or supernatural. I'm closed. And in fact, if I see something supernatural, I'm pretty cynical about it.
That's one extreme.
The other extreme is what we called desperate and disorderly, meaning you're, you're desperate, but not in like a godly desperation. You're just desperate. You're just like, man, I gotta see something happen. And so you're, you're trying everything.
You're trying formulas. You're trying to force things to happen. You're trying to do things that the Lord has not said in his word out of a desperation, and you're disorderly. So maybe you're in the middle of a community group and you're studying the Bible and you just say, hey, listen, I think the Spirit wants to go in another direction tonight, and I know what it is, and it's this way, you know. And you're like, whoa, okay, that, that, buddy, thank you, but let's remember we're all here.
Let's finish this first and then we can talk about that in the prayer time. So those are the two extremes, closed and cynical.
Desperate, and disorderly.
And when you see that, I think most Christians are not in danger of necessarily falling into one of those. Maybe you are, but most Christians, I think, fall more in the middle, in the— what has often been called the open but cautious kind of position. Meaning, I'm open, I'm open, but I'm cautious. I'm very open but also very cautious.
And sometimes that works out to be not open but cautious, but the way I would say it is persuaded but pessimistic. Meaning you're persuaded that the Bible says that God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants, and there's no clear verse in the Bible that says here's when certain gifts ceased or certain acts of the Spirit ceased. So you're persuaded that you got to be open to it, but you're also pessimistic. You're like, yeah, I don't think so. You know, if you see anybody getting prayed for and they have some experience, you're like, ah, I don't know, right?
And somebody's like, let me just share what the Lord's done in my heart. Well, we'll see, you know. And And, and you're— that's kind of your posture. And we talked about how I don't know if that's the right posture according to Scripture.
6 · The unit establishes the proper biblical posture toward the Spirit's work as 'optimistic and orderly'—leaning forward in expectation while being governed by Scripture
And so what we kind of talked about was we want to lean into being— is what the way I phrased it was— optimistic and orderly.
Um, if the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is the same Spirit that was on Jesus in his ministry and that was on the early church in its ministry, we should lean forward believing that God can and still do wonders through the Spirit's power in the church today. And, not but, and we should also be orderly as we lean into the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is meant to point us to Jesus, to build the church, and it must be governed by Scripture. So, we talked about how the posture we want to have is not this, you know, this was helpful for some folks, I think, just this, you know, the Spirit's happening and we're like, "I don't know about that." Instead, we want to lean forward with our Bibles in our hands, right? We want to lean forward looking at what the Lord is doing, but with our Bibles in our hands.
7 · The unit transitions to the primary text, reading 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 aloud and affirming its divine authority as God's inerrant, inspired, authoritative Word
And so what then does it look like to lean forward? That's where we get to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Now, as we read, let's remember this is God's inerrant, inspired, authoritative word. Ephesians 5. I mean, 1 Thessalonians 5, rather.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. This is God's Word.
8 · The preacher prays for the Spirit to be living and active in believers as they hear God's Word, and for non-Christians to see Jesus clearly through Scripture
And, Lord, I pray that you would meet us right now. Lord, we believe that you are going to fulfill your promise and are fulfilling your promise that you would never leave us or forsake us, that you would send us a Helper, the Spirit. And so I pray that, that for all those in Christ, the Spirit would be living and active and, and helping us change and grow as we behold your Word. And I pray for anyone that would not call themselves a Christian, that they're, they're that they would be able to see clearly the Jesus that all the Scripture points to. In Jesus' name, amen.
9 · The unit introduces the sermon's three-part structure and unpacks the first mark—rejoicing—by expositing 1 Thessalonians 5:16's command to 'rejoice always' as constant, not circumstantial
Well, I'm going to suggest 3 marks of a Christian leaning into the Spirit's work. 3 marks of the Christian leaning into the Spirit's work. And the first one is rejoicing. Rejoicing. Maybe you thought we're gonna start with, like, tongues or prophecy or something.
No, rejoicing. Rejoicing. Verse 16. Notice the language here. This This section is his kind of closing exhortations, is a bunch of staccato commands.
Rejoice, pray, give thanks. But then it's qualified to be, well, not just occasional, but constant. Paul does not say rejoice sometimes. Rejoice when the Cowboys finally look like they have a promising draft. Rejoice You know, when your kids finally got dressed and were at the door on time instead of you having to get them dressed or look for somebody's shoes.
Rejoice when you're finally in good health. No, rejoice— what does it say, church? Always. It says rejoice always. And then pray.
Well, it doesn't say pray when you feel close to God or pray when worship music is happening, it's your favorite song, or maybe you're on a walk and the the sun is setting and that your favorite worship song is playing and you're like, "Yes, now I feel like praying." No, pray without ceasing and give thanks. Give thanks when? Not sometimes, not in good circumstances, but in all circumstances. Meaning that this life is meant, the Christian life is meant to be lived in constant communication and relationship with God. And when it is, it is marked by a constant relentless, giving thanks and, and, and praising God.
And this, church, this is supposed to be normal Christian life.
10 · The unit addresses the objection that constant rejoicing is impossible given life's hardships
Now you might ask, well, how can Paul say this? Doesn't he know that life is hard, that, that people get diagnosed with health issues, that relationships shatter, that kids grow up and rebel? Doesn't Paul know all those things? Doesn't he know that circumstances can be hard?
He does. He does know those things. And yet he calls them to a supernatural joy in their everyday Christian lives. How can Paul call us to this? Now, several commentators help me see that praying without ceasing is basically— it means being in constant communication with God and being thankful and giving thanks that is meant to characterize that relationship.
And so the Christian life then if I could sum it up this way, is meant to be lived in the supernatural. The supernatural of human beings connected to the Almighty God himself. That is supernatural. Every time human beings connect with God, the Creator and sustainer of all things, that is supernatural. Now, even more so given the fact that Ephesians, as we've been talking about, says that we were once dead in our sins.
We were once alienated from God. We were once far off, and yet God through Christ has brought us near. He's paid for our sins. He's restored our relationship. So any moment in which sinful human beings connect with the God, the holy God of the universe, is supernatural.
It's absolutely astounding. And that connection, Scripture helps us see, happens through The Spirit. The Spirit is what takes the sort of the legal decrees over us as Christians and makes them an experiential reality. Galatians 4 says this, "Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, 'Abba, Father.'" Abba being just the word you would say to your father in that, in kind of the most basic form, Dad, Abba, right? What Paul is saying is incredibly theologically profound.
It's one thing to have a legal adoption certificate, right? But how would you feel if your only experience of adoption was you're an orphan and then one day a certificate arrives in the mail at the orphanage that says, congratulations, you're adopted. You'd go, "Great. You will need to continue living at the orphanage. Good luck with your life." You know, you're like, "That's— okay." No, no, no.
That's only part of adoption, right? The other half of adoption is that legal decree making possible your parents coming and embracing you and bringing you into their home, right? That is what Galatians says. That is what the Spirit of God does for the Christian. It makes the legal decree of adoption an experiential reality.
And that is the reason that Paul can call this church to always rejoice, to always give thanks, because no matter what the circumstances they are experiencing are, the reality is that they are adopted, freed, justified, loved by God, and that the Spirit is helping them experience those realities despite whatever is going on around them.
11 · The unit traces Paul's theological logic back to 1 Thessalonians 1:6, showing that Paul is not commanding something new but calling the Thessalonians to remember and maintain their initial experience of joy through the Spirit in the midst of affliction
You see, actually, that Paul is calling back to 1 Thessalonians 1. I want you to see this for yourself. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1 real briefly with me here. 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul is talking about how the gospel comes to Thessalonica.
And 1:6 says this: You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction. Now pause there. Somebody receives the word in much affliction, you're going to assume, well, they may be grateful for it, but it is— they're going to be in sorrow, they're going to be in pain, they're going to be in difficult— they're going to be— they're not going to be up, they're going to be down. And yet it says they received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. Look, Paul is right here pointing them back to their experience where he— when he's saying rejoice always, when he's saying give thanks in all circumstances, he's not calling them to something new.
He's pointing them back to the moment. He says, remember that moment when you were afflicted, things were difficult, and yet you experienced the joy of the Lord, not because your joy was rooted in your circumstances around you, but rather because your joy was rooted in the fact that you have been redeemed and adopted and saved and justified and brought near by Jesus. And you experience the joy of that through the Spirit's work. He's saying, don't— rather than saying, hey, start doing this, he's telling the church, don't lose this.
12 · The unit illustrates the theological principle of Spirit-enabled joy with a recent personal anecdote
Look, and I think if we think back to our Christian lives, there have always been moments where Maybe you're— if you kind of draw the graph of here's my circumstances, my circumstances are doing this, they're on a bad trajectory.
And yet my joy is doing this. It's continuing to grow. Paul is saying, remember that. Remember the Spirit's work in your life and lean into it. Be in constant communication with God.
Be giving thanks, knowing the Spirit is in your heart to do this work. Listen, I was— I was speaking with a friend recently about the amazing work of God in their life. And they were describing exactly this kind of graph. Their life circumstances in a period got worse and worse and worse. And as they described them to me, I was assuming that you kind of know that as people start describing things, everybody kind of starts out like, how are you doing?
Oh, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. And you're like, really? And then they start to go, no, not really. I actually have been losing my job.
And then their tone goes— right, as they describe things that are hard. It's natural. But here was the weird reality. As they were describing their, you know, the last kind of couple years of their life, they were describing, "Yeah, and then I lost my job, and then this happened, and then this relationship broke up, and then this happened." And I'm thinking, why are you going up? Like, this is— am I missing something?
And then at the end they got to, "And all of this happened, but man, my relationship with God has never been closer." I'm actually more joyful now. And you're like, that doesn't make any sense. Church, that is Spirit-filled math.
13 · The unit uses the metaphor of 'Spirit-filled math' to explain the supernatural logic of 1 Thessalonians 1:6
This is dangerous because I am an English major, so I don't know a lot about math. My son was asking me for help with long division this week, and I was like, ah, long division, of course, of course, of course.
And so I was sitting in the long division, and I looked at the thing, and I was like, so, Well, what do you remember so far? You know, let's start there. And then he did it himself and I said, "Very good. Very good." Usually, this is the level of math I can do, usually 2 2 4, right? It's not a trick question.
2 2 4. But in Thessalonica, this is what happens. You receive the word in much affliction. So 2 2, "so that you became an example to all the believers," equals 5, you know, 6, 7, meaning 2 minus 2 doesn't equal 4 or 5 or 6, it equals 0. And yet in Thessalonica, somehow numbers just kept getting added.
And what's the number that kept getting added? With the joy of the Holy Spirit. Affliction plus the Spirit equals joy. That's what Thessalonica— experienced.
14 · The unit applies the exposition on joy directly to the congregation with diagnostic questions and concrete instructions
So Christian, let me just ask you, how is your joy doing?
What's your level of joy? Is there— I'm not saying it's not a struggle. Paul is encouraging them because he knows it is a struggle, but is there a consistent, unshakable, tangible joy that is rooted not in your circumstances, but rather in your relationship with God? And if it's not there, let me just encourage you, ask for the Spirit's help. Come to the Spirit in that Galatians 4 sense.
Come to the Lord and say, "Lord, please help me. I know that you love me, but right now I'm not feeling it. I know that you care about me. Help me to remember the reality of the cross and your care for me there. Lord, help me." And the Lord will do it, church.
The Lord delights to do it. That is one of the very purposes the Spirit is in your heart, that you might cry, "Abba, Father," and experience the embrace of your Father. So let me just encourage you, even this week, if this is a hard area for you, if you've not felt the Lord's love, lean forward in confidence and begin to— as Piper has this great phrase— begin to act the miracle. Begin to rejoice even in affliction. Begin to give thanks even in difficult circumstances.
And I think you will find that there is something in your heart that is supernatural that sparks And you begin to experience that.
15 · The unit transitions from the first mark (rejoicing) to an extended teaching on tongues by reframing it as continuous with the theme of constant communion with God rather than a separate 'weird' category
Now, next obvious point here would be to cover the gift of tongues, right? Is that where you were thinking I was going next? Who else thought I was going to tongues next? Yeah, John.
See, John knows. That's exactly right where I'm going next. Now, you're probably thinking, how is that related to the gift of tongues? Well, let me help you, because I actually want to cover the gift of tongues here, because I think sometimes the gift of tongues gets put in this weird space special freaky category to some people. And actually, I believe it fits in this category of rejoicing always and communing with God always.
16 · The unit defines the gift of tongues using Wayne Grudem's definition and grounds it biblically in Acts 2
Theologian Wayne Grudem defines the gift of tongues this way: speaking in tongues is prayer or praise— I would say usually praise— spoken in syllables not understood by the speaker.
That's it. It's that, you know, if you're waiting for like, is there some razzle-dazzle there? No, that's it. It's just Speaking in syllables not understood by the speaker of praise to God. And in this way, I think you see in the Bible that tongues is actually a gift that is in line with Paul's command here.
It is a gift for rejoicing in God and communing with God. So you see this in Acts chapter 2, where the church is filled with the Spirit and everybody hears them praising God in these various languages. Now, they didn't know, they couldn't, I mean, The context is clear. They did not know those languages, and yet the Lord allows them to speak in these other languages through the Spirit.
17 · The unit systematically corrects four common misunderstandings about tongues using 1 Corinthians as the governing text: tongues are not required for salvation, not all Christians have the gift, public tongues require interpretation, and tongues may be earthly or heavenly languages
And unfortunately, in our day, there's so much misunderstanding of the gift of tongues. So let me clear a few things up. First, the Bible is clear that in 1 Corinthians, you do not have to speak in tongues to be a Christian. I don't think Scripture teaches that anywhere. There are various churches that have taught that, and we want to say no, that's Clearly not in the Scripture. Second, I think in 1 Corinthians you also see that not every Christian has or will have this gift.
Paul says, "Do all speak in tongues?" And the answer is no. Third, the Bible is clear that speaking in tongues in the gathered church should happen with interpretation, not just random and out of order. Otherwise, only one person will be edified. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, only the person speaking will be edified, not the people around them. And fourth, the Bible is clear that sometimes tongues are an earthly language spoken here on earth, and then it seems to suggest in 1 Corinthians that sometimes it's a language that no one understands but God.
So, you think, well, what in the world? Why would there be such a gift then? Well, remember Paul's command here. This is an overflow, an outflow of praise in our hearts. It's an extension of saying, "Rejoice always, commune with the Lord, give thanks." And sometimes because the Spirit is in our hearts supernaturally, some Christians will overflow in praise and praise God in a way that they don't even understand.
18 · The unit uses a personal story about revealing his gift of tongues to an initially dismissive person, creating discomfort that serves a theological point
Now, I was talking to somebody recently and they were saying something about tongues like, "Oh man, I'm just really glad, you know, blah, blah, blah." Like some of those churches, you know, people are speaking in tongues or think they have the gift of tongues or whatever. And so I just said, "Hey, man, well, I actually have that gift of tongues." And then you— it was always great to watch people do that. "Well, no, no, no, I mean, I'm not just saying— like, I'm not saying everybody's crazy that, you know, I mean, you may think you have that, you know." And I kind of put him on the spot. I'm like, "What do you think I'm doing? Do you think I'm just making it up?" And he's like, "I— well, I—" You know, it's great.
I said, "I'm just kidding with you, man. I'm just kidding." But in my life, the gift of tongues has been one of those things that in those moments of prayer or praise to the Lord, my heart will overflow and I'll begin to pray out loud. And sometimes I don't understand what I'm praying. And it can be edifying. It can be this moment of special communion with God.
And we want to receive that and thank the Lord for it. But we also don't want to impose it on every Christian. And neither do we want to set up kind of what's happened in church history at different points of a two-tiered Christian system. Where, like in Corinth, they divided the church into supernatural gifts up front, everybody with a supernatural gift up front, everybody who doesn't have one in the back. "You sit on the balcony now, you know.
We've got supernatural ministry going on down here." And here's what I want to say. In light of 1 Thessalonians 5, every Christian who has the Holy Spirit in them that cries, "Abba, Father," that can rejoice in the midst of difficult circumstances is doing something supernatural. There are no Christians who rejoice unsupernaturally. Christian rejoicing is supernatural because it's not rooted in our circumstances, it's rooted in our relationship with God. And some Christians do that in different ways, and we thank God for the various ways that happens.
But the, the truth is that supernatural rejoicing Through the Spirit's work is a mark of the Christian life for every Christian. And some Christians do that differently.
19 · The unit transitions from the first mark (rejoicing) to the second mark (receiving) by introducing 1 Thessalonians 5:19's command not to quench the Spirit
All right, second. That's the first one, rejoicing. Second, receiving.
Do not quench the Spirit.
20 · The unit illustrates misuse of the 'don't quench the Spirit' command through a story of someone using it to justify disorderly prayer in a small group
Now, I'm going to tell you a quick story about this. So growing up, I remember this one moment where one brother in small group was praying. So pretty— he had a pattern of kind of we'd be praying for a person or a thing, And he would kind of insert some, you know, just, he kind of, I don't want to say anything, but he would insert some particular theological things he was excited about into the prayer, regardless of kind of what was being prayed over. And at one point, one of the folks, I think it was probably the spoke leader said, hey, you know, we want to try to keep prayer focused on, you know, Susie, if that's, you know, who we're praying for.
And he kind of looked up a little offended and he says, "You know, brother, we must not quench the Spirit." And the leader's like, "Well, I'm not asking you to quench the Spirit. I'm just asking you, if we're praying for Susie, let's pray for her." "Well, you never know what the Spirit's doing." And so sometimes don't quench the Spirit can be this coverall, like, "Hey, I can do anything I want 'cause otherwise if you stop me, you're quenching the Spirit. You know, don't you dare, don't you dare quench the Spirit." And that's not what Paul is saying.
21 · The unit expounds 'do not quench the Spirit' as 'do not despise prophecies' (1 Thess 5:20) and broadens it to all spiritual gifts
What's he saying? He's saying, Do not quench the Spirit. What he means is this: do not despise prophecies. Now, we're going to cover what Paul says specifically about prophecy, but I think you could almost insert any spiritual gift. Do not despise blank. Don't quench the Spirit by despising gifts of the Spirit. And in this particular case in Thessalonica, they were despising the gift of prophecy.
Now, this would make sense for the church in Thessalonica because they seem like they have a struggle believing in the supernatural aspects of their Christian faith. The reason that 1 Thessalonians is written to them is that they evidently send a letter to Paul really worried because they were waiting for Jesus' return, but some of the members of the church had died before Jesus came back. And so they were freaking out. They were like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Bartholomew, he died. He's gonna miss when Jesus comes back.
What's gonna happen? And they were all freaked out then that they would die before Jesus came back, you know. So they were like, no running with scissors, no sudden moves, you know, everybody just be calm. And, and they were, they were discouraged. And so Paul writes them this letter and says, "Brothers and sisters, remember that you believe in Jesus who rose from the dead.
Do you not believe that he will not raise you on that last day?" And it was like, "Oh, oh, that's right. Yeah, we do follow the resurrected guy. I guess we could be looking forward to resurrection." And so they apparently struggled with the more supernatural elements of their faith. They probably were great at some things but not great at this. They lived in the natural, and Paul was reminding them that the Christian faith is a supernatural faith.
So, one of the outworkings of this is that they despised anything that felt spectacular or supernatural and didn't fit with kind of their paradigm. And one of those things was prophecy.
22 · The unit defines the gift of prophecy using Wayne Grudem's framework, distinguishing it from fortune-telling and Scripture-writing
Now, what is the gift of prophecy? Grudem again is helpful. He says that the New Testament prophetic gift that continues in the church is not Christian fortune-telling, nor is it speaking some new infallible scripture.
So if you, if you talk to a, you know, brother or sister and they're like, man, the Lord's just really been showing me a lot through my prophetic gift, and you're like, oh, what's he been showing you? He's like, oh yeah, all these new doctrines about, about angels and about Jesus' relationship to Satan and how they're half-brothers. And, and you're like, okay, brother, sister, that's heresy. We're not going to do that, right? That's what— that's— that's what we don't want to do.
That's not what prophecy is according to the New Testament. And there is a distinction between it and the prophetic word, as Peter would say, recorded in Scripture, which is infallible. But there is another apparently type of prophetic gift that you see in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 and other places, including here. And you know that this is not the same as Scripture writing because it says in just a second, "Test everything," meaning that you're not going to— Scripture is the test, not the testor, right? Or the testor, not the tested.
So, here's what's going on.
23 · The unit provides the positive definition of prophecy from Grudem: telling something God spontaneously brings to mind for the purpose of building up the church
Grudem says, "Prophecy then, in this sense, is telling something God has spontaneously brought to mind." It doesn't require a rain dance. Does it require a synthesizer? You know what I'm talking about? You know, on Sunday, vroom, like prophetic, oh yeah, now I'm feeling prophetic.
No, it's not that. Telling something God has spontaneously brought to mind that 1 Corinthians says builds up the church. It builds up the church. You see this in Acts. You see this in 1 Corinthians.
24 · The unit provides a recent concrete example of prophecy functioning as defined: a pastor's wife receives a spontaneous impression with Scripture for discouraged parents, which precisely matches a couple's need in another prayer group
This happened recently. One example is it happened recently when I was at a— we were at a marriage retreat at the beginning of— end of January. And we had a prayer time for all the pastors and wives. And one of the pastors' wives came up to me because I was helping to lead the prayer time. And she said, listen, this is really weird.
I don't like doing this. This is always, like, it's always uncomfortable for me. But I feel like God has given me a real specific category of a person to encourage. It's somebody whose, you know, kids have wandered from the faith or they— the specifics were, if I can remember right, that the parent had sown into the child, but no fruit was coming. There was no harvest from the child.
And then they had a Scripture from Isaiah that was meant to encourage that in his time the Lord will bring a harvest. And it's a good scriptural thing, came spontaneous to mind as we were praying. And so, it just so happened as she shared that with me, in my group there had been a couple who had almost with the exact same language said, "Well, we would like prayer today because we're just discouraged." because one of our children, we feel like we've sown into them, and it feels like there's no fruit. And we're looking for the fruit, and it's very discouraging.
And we're wondering, where's the harvest?
I mean, almost the same language. And so I was like, oh, would you be willing to share that with this couple? And she was like, I don't know them. I was like, well, it's okay. So you bring them over, and they— and she shares, hey, listen, this is just offered with an open hand.
I felt like the Lord put this category in my mind and gave me this verse. And as she just begins to read the verse, they just began to weep. Like you just tell, like that was a very tender spot in their heart. Now this girl was from the other prayer group, all right? It's not from her prayer group, from the other prayer group.
I put them together and you just see, okay, that was something God spontaneously brought to mind that built that couple up in a beautiful way, right?
25 · The unit normalizes prophecy by arguing it's more common than people realize—many Christians exercise the gift without recognizing it when they share timely verses or prayers that deeply affect others
And it can look like that or it can look very unremarkably.
I think many people that don't know it sometimes operate in this kind of gift. If you have ever been at a small group prayer time and you're praying for somebody and then out of nowhere somebody comes up with a verse or comes up with a particular way to pray and they pray over the person and the person is deeply affected and moved, I think in many cases that could well be the gift of prophecy. They just don't have a category to put it in. I even read a cessationist theologian this week who's like, "Hey, listen, I don't believe in the prophetic gifts at all. I don't believe that those continue." He's a well-known, respected scholar.
He's like, "I don't believe in that, but I totally believe that God can put an impression on a Christian's heart that they can share and that that would be edifying to people." And Wayne Grudem, like, shares that and says, "We all know it's prophecy." No, he doesn't say it that way. He just says he is making room. I think all Christians have room in their theology for the Lord bringing something spontaneously to mind and it edifying somebody. We believe in that.
26 · The unit expounds 1 Thessalonians 5:21's command to 'test everything' as the necessary corollary to receiving prophecies
And so again, notice though that this must be governed by the Word because this is not infallible. Don't despise prophecies, but test everything. So how do we test it? We test it with the Word of God. The infallible revealed Word of God is what is used to test the fallible. The completely clear is used to test the not clear, right?
And one is when this is written by the Spirit. So we are, in a sense, letting the Spirit govern those Spirit-filled prophetic words. Knowing, though, that they will not always— as 1 Corinthians says, "We know in part, we prophesy in part." Meaning, we will get things wrong, but we want to— our heart is to build up the church.
27 · The unit provides an extended personal narrative demonstrating both the power and the fallibility of prophecy
Let me give you an example of this. I was, years ago, at the pastor's college.
And one of our classes, or one of the weekends, there was a group of folks down from one of our churches in Philadelphia. And this group of folks, they seemed to have a gifting in this area of prophetic words. And so they had worked really hard, which I really respect, to ground what they were trying to do in the Bible, to see everything the Bible says about prophetic ministry and words, that it would be governed by the Scriptures. And so they came and were praying for different folks in my class. And this, right immediately, as soon as the prayer time came, this woman came up to me and said, "Are you Ricky?" And I was like, "Yes." And she's like, "Well, yesterday as I was praying, the Lord gave me a picture of what you look like and gave me an encouragement for you when we just had the list of names." So I just had the list of names, saw your name, the Lord gave me a picture of who you were, and I want to share something to encourage you.
I was like, "I'm very receptive. If you know what I looked like before you met me and you know my name is Ricky, I'm all ears." And so she says, "Listen, I—" And she described a particular picture the Lord had given her of me, and then a particular kind of thing that was going on in my heart. And this thing that was going on in my heart, I was even struggling to articulate. I was starting to doubt aspects of my calling and wonder about God's goodness because he hadn't revealed my next steps yet. And she said, I'm wondering if this is going on in your heart, and here's some Scripture, and here's an encouragement from the Lord.
For that area. And I just began to weep. I mean, it was exact. It just cut me right into the heart. And I thought, this is unbelievable.
This lady knows the Lord. And it brought me this peace that the Lord knows where I am. The Lord cares about me. The Lord loves me. And the Lord is pointing me back to him in his word.
Like, this is such a helpful moment. And so I was deeply moved. And also, she said that this picture she had of me was of me playing the guitar. And she asked, "Do you play the guitar?" And I was like, "I actually do play the guitar." She was so relieved. She's like, "Oh, good.
Wow. Well, the Lord gave me this picture of you playing the guitar, leading hundreds of people in worship." Now, that was news to me. There's a lot of people that play the guitar, not a lot of people that lead hundreds of people in worship. And when I'd gone to the PC, I had led worship occasionally at our church. And the encouragement I would get was along the lines of— like, this is how people would encourage me after I led.
"It was good this time." Like, they'd be trying to encourage me, but there's no way to take it other than, "You know, your voice sounded better this week." And so she gives me this word, and I remember thinking, like, "Wow, okay, is there—" And so I'm trying to be open. I'm like, "Hey, Lord, like, if this is something new you're doing in my heart, maybe, okay, maybe I'll lean into it." And it just so happened that the next week we all had to lead worship to kind of talk through how to put a song list together. And Bob Coughlin, who's the director of Sovereign Grace Music, was there to help evaluate folks. So I thought, well, it's now or never. If I'm supposed to be a worship leader, Chris Tomlin, this is my moment, right?
And I'm assuming I'm going to be on the COVID of the next album. You know, it's me and Bob with arms around each other. And, you know, and so I give it my all. I really did, I prayed and I was like, Lord, if this is an area that you want me to lean into, I wasn't expecting it, but Lord, help me be there. So I lead my heart out and I'm thinking that actually was good.
That was one of the best sets I have ever led. And so, you know, we all worship and then Bob says, okay, great, now let's, now we always give feedback to everybody. And I knew things were going poorly when Bob leans over, kind of leans over and he goes, and guys, let's start, "with encouragement." And everyone's looking around like, "Yeah, we should start there." And in that moment I just kind of go, "Oh, okay." So we know in part, we prophesy in part, right?
28 · The unit extracts the theological lesson from the illustration: partial accuracy does not negate genuine value, and testing through Scripture and wisdom allows us to receive what is good while discarding what is erroneous
So again, not— but did that negate the deep encouragement that I felt like the Lord gave through that lady to me at a time where I really needed it? No.
Like, that was so helpful. I was grateful for it. But we also know that it's not infallible. And so scripture says, test everything, right? Don't despise it, but test it and hold on to what seems good.
When we sift it through the word and when we sift it through wisdom, what remains is what we hold on to.
29 · The unit applies the teaching on prophecy to the broader category of spiritual gifts
So let me just encourage you. Where has the Lord gifted you? This is specifically applied here to prophecy, but there's a very broad selection of gifts in the New Testament that we could apply this to. The Apostle Peter says that there's generally speech gifts and then there's service gifts.
So, speech gifts are things like Spirit-filled teaching or a word of wisdom, meaning somebody who has wisdom who shares a timely piece of advice. I've been saved by a number of those. A word of knowledge, somebody who knows a lot of things. So you might think like, "Oh, that guy, he just knows a lot about the Bible. He's not very Spirit-filled." No, he probably is.
Encouragement is a wonderful gift that we often think, "Oh, I just have the gift of encouragement. They have the gift of miracles." No, encouragement is a miracle through the power of the Spirit. So speech gifts. Service gifts. Now some of these can seem spectacular, some can seem very ordinary.
God can give a gift of healing when we ask for it. Can do miracles at times. There are some folks, some Christians that have a spiritual discernment about the enemy being at work in an area or the Spirit being at work in an area. I'm thanking God for them. But there are also so many gifts that we don't think of as spiritual gifts.
The gift of administration. The fact that we have an organized meeting every Sunday is only because of the gift of administration. Administration. And you might think like, "Ah, well, I can't wait to get to church when the band's kicking in and then we're really rolling." No, no, no.
The only reason you're even there in that moment is the gift of administration has been at work before you got here. So we want to thank God for it. The gift of service, the gift of compassion, the gift of mercy— these are all gifts. And the Bible says that all of these and more— these are just samples of these kinds of gifts. And yet when the Spirit comes into the Christian's life, He not only gives them a daily relationship with him, he gives them gifts and empowers them. So Spirit-filled math, again, is you're a 2, maybe your gifts naturally are a 2, but when you minister, it feels like a 6 or an 8 or a 10, right?
That the Spirit is with you in that moment, making more out of your gift than is there in the natural. That is a gift from the Spirit. So, the point is this, that sometimes like the Thessalonians, we will focus on some gifts and neglect others. The Thessalonians appeared to prefer a non-spectacular Christianity and be suspicious of a spectacular Christianity where they would say, "Listen, if you've got some weird gift like miracles, please sit in the balcony and work your miracles up there." where the rest of us can have a nice orderly meeting. But in Corinth, it was the opposite.
It was like, come on down, man. If you speak in tongues, if you have prophetic words, if you've ever raised somebody from the dead, come on down. And we're going to seat in order of most spiritual to least spiritual. And you, brother, you just sit in the backyard. Like that.
That's the way Corinth was. So every church, every Christian is going to be tempted to emphasize one or the other. Hold on to some gifts and demean other gifts. And Paul is reminding us, don't despise any gift of the Lord. Use them well, receive them as a gift, and govern them with the Word.
30 · The unit transitions from the second mark (receiving) to the third and final mark (rejecting) by introducing 1 Thessalonians 5:22's command to abstain from every form of evil
All right, last, rejecting. This will be brief. Last mark of the Spirit-filled life is rejecting. Verse 22, abstain from every form of evil.
31 · The unit expounds 'abstain from every form of evil' (1 Thess 5:22) by connecting it to 1 Thessalonians 4's call to holiness and purity
Now, this, I hope, helps you see that the Spirit-filled life is not all just in the category of kind of spectacular things. Much of it is ordinary, but ordinarily supernatural. Supernaturally ordinary, you could say. Abstain from every form of evil. Now, in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul, I think, is calling back to that. He says that we are to live to please God and we are to control our bodies in holiness and honor.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 says, "For God has not called us to impurity, for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God who gives his Holy Spirit to you." So, another way we can fail to embrace the Spirit's work in our life is by embracing sin. This is what we saw in Ephesians 5:18. He says, "Don't be drunk with wine," but be filled with the Spirit. Meaning there will be something that's filling up your life, and if sin is filling up your life, you will not be filled with the Spirit.
The Bible is very clear that Jesus has paid for our sins, right? We, as a Christian, your sins have been forgiven, but active sin hinders your relationship with God. And so to live a Spirit-filled life means rejecting sin and pursuing the things of God. The Lord.
32 · The unit applies the teaching on rejecting sin by framing it as good news—the Spirit enables unlimited growth in holiness across all areas of life
And this is good news for every Christian because it means that your ability to grow in holiness, your ability to grow as a husband, to grow as a wife, to grow as a father, to grow as a mother, to grow as an employer, employee, your ability to grow in those things is not limited to whatever you can work up within and of your own self.
It's not like, well, listen, I got this much patience when I was born and it's already wearing thin. Right? I don't got more of that, so I'm just going to get crankier as I get old. No, that's— in the Christian life, you say this. Well, listen, this may be where I am in my personality, but I have the Spirit, so I can grow.
Right? There is no area of the Christian life that you cannot grow to look more like Jesus because the Spirit is at work in you. That is spiritual math. Right? 2, maybe you're a 2, plus 0 in the natural, you might think, well, that just equals 2.
That's all I'm going to be. No, 2 plus the Spirit equals infinity, right? 2 plus 2 equals— 2 plus 0 equals 4. 2 plus 0 equals 10. There is no area the Spirit of God cannot give you grace to change.
But we must cooperate with it. We must lean into it. I've got a 3-year-old who sometimes does not want to get dressed. Does anybody have a 3-year-old that doesn't want to get dressed? And so sometimes the 3-year-old will just— I'll be like, all right, come on, buddy.
We got to put your clothes on. And he'll just go like this. OK. And it's kind of like, no, you're going to have to help me. Like, put your foot up. Lift your foot up, buddy.
And he's like— you know? And you're like, OK, this is not— meaning we want the Christian life to be like that. Like, OK, God, I've been so impatient lately. Make me patient. Waiting, I'm so ready.
Let's do it, Lord. And he's like, lift your foot up. And we're like, no, okay. Right? We've got to cooperate with the work of the Spirit.
In Galatians, it says, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Meaning walk with the Spirit. The Spirit is at work in you. Walk with that work. Cooperate with that work going on in you.
33 · The unit begins the sermon's conclusion by citing John Piper to restate the main thesis: Christianity is not merely intellectual or ritual but the life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit
So let me end with this. Piper has this great— John Piper has this great phrase I want to read. At the end in summary. He says this: Christianity is not merely an array of glorious ideas. Hear that.
It is not merely the performance of rituals and sacraments. It is the life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe. And church, that's my burden for us today. My burden for us is that we as a church would be a supernatural church, that we would be supernatural Christians, that we would live lives marked by deep, abiding relationships with God that, that allow us to experience communion with God and give thanks regardless of our circumstances, that we receive all of the gifts that God has given to us that we might build one another up, and that we are also faithful to put away sin, that we might look more like Jesus, knowing the Holy Spirit will help us do that work.
34 · The unit transitions from the conclusion to communion preparation by calling the congregation to self-examination in light of the sermon's three marks
And so every Sunday, here's what we normally do, but we're going to take an intentional moment here. Every Sunday, the Spirit is at work as his word is preached. The same Spirit that wrote this word is at work in your heart, Christian. So a helpful practice every week is to ask, "Okay, Lord, what are you putting your finger on today? Is there any way that I need to change? Any area of unbelief you want me to change in or grow in?
Is there any sin that's holding me back from pursuing the things of the Lord? Is there any gift that I've neglected or gift that I've demeaned?" What's the Lord doing with you today? We're in a season leading up to Easter where we're taking communion every week, and communion is a wonderful moment to pause to pause and to just seek the Lord and confess anything the Lord has brought to mind. We want to embrace the work of the Spirit here. So, let me just ask you this.
Is there an area the Lord is calling you to change in today? Hear the heart of Psalm 51. The psalmist prays, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my So in this moment, just take a moment, church, and just say, "Lord, is there anything— is there anything you're putting your finger on?
Is there any area you want me to change?" Let's take a moment for that now.
35 · The unit follows the silent self-examination with gospel assurance from Titus 3, grounding the Spirit's convicting work in God's mercy and the washing of regeneration
[Silent pause]
And the good news is this, that the Lord is bringing that area to mind. It is through his Spirit and through his gracious pointing it out that we might be changed. And we are assured of our pardon in Titus 3. It says, "When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So, friend, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are invited to participate in this communion and shared meal.
If you're not yet a Christian, we would simply ask you to observe, to feel the invitation of it, and to see the picture of the gospel here, that as we symbolize the body of Christ given for us and His blood shed for us, that we might be cleansed and saved.
36 · The unit administers the communion elements using the words of institution from Jesus' Last Supper
Now, please take the bread in your hand, church. Scripture says, "The Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take, eat. This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'" Please eat the bread.
And in the same way, he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me." Please drink the cup.
37 · The unit concludes the communion liturgy by framing it as proclamation of the gospel and sets up the closing song
Now please stand. Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord until he comes. So, as we close church, we will kind of retell the story of the gospel yet again. And as we do it, may the Lord do two things in you. May he help seal in your mind whatever area he's calling you to change in, and may he help you remember how deeply loved you are in Christ as we rehearse the story of your salvation.