The Spirit of Jesus [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity who has increasingly more of us. For the question, the real question is not, do you have the Holy Spirit?

The real question is, does the Holy Spirit have you? That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Filled, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource today. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org. That's pastoralan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. To conserve his energy and efforts to break the four-minute barrier, he would try it at another meet. However, right before the race, the winds died down and he decided that he would run. Two other runners, Brasher and Chattaway, were running and they provided a pace for the race. Both went on to establish their own track careers. And the race was broadcast live by BBC radio and was commented on by Harold Abrams, who you may remember from the well-known movie, Chariots of Fire.

And here's what the commentators say. Ladies and gentlemen, here's the end of the race. Here is the result of event nine, the one mile. First, number 41, R.G.

Banister, amateur athletic association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford. With a time which is a new meeting and track record. And which, subject to ratification, will be a new English native, British national, all comers, European, British empire, and world record. Sound like a heavyweight boxing match introduced. And the announcer is just enjoying it because he knows what he's going to do.

He's going to drag it out. And he says, the time was three. And that's what had never been spoken in the history of humanity. And they said that the 3,000 spectators, when they heard the word three, they broke into an uproarious applause and drowned out the rest of the announcement. Banister's time was three minutes, 59.4 seconds. He'd done it. He'd broken the four minute mile to bear many people had thought was impossible.

And what happened after that was what was fascinating about it. Just 46 days later, nobody had ever broken a four minute mile. But then 46 days later, Jim Landry of Australia broke the, broke the mile, broke the record. And just two months after that, both Landry and Banister both broke four minutes in the same race. And then after that, it's like everybody's running a four minute mile.

Thousands of people. High school students have run a four minute mile. A Kenyan in 1997 ran two miles in less than eight minutes.

In fact, there have been, since 1954, many a race where the field was so competitive that everybody in the race broke the four minute mile. We're like that though. The thing that seems impossible and then someone in your presence does the impossible. There's a champion, an advocate, a helper, and somehow we just, we're filled with courage and faith. Oh, it can be done. Okay.

Well, let's all go to outer space then. It makes me think of marvelous story of David and Goliath. What a story. David is Israel's champion. Goliath is the Philistines champion. And you know the story.

David's the youth. He wasn't even in the army and he goes with provisions for his brothers. But while he's there, he sees this Philistine giant taunting the army of Israel. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that taunts the armies of the living God? Well, he's Goliath and he's giant and he's going to kill us all. So what will be done for the person that kills the giant? Well, the king will give his daughter in marriage and much riches and there'll be no taxes. Well, that was more than enough right there.

Tax-free living. And David says, I'll fight him. Saul sends out David in his armor. David says, I can't go in these.

I'm not used to them. So he takes five smooth stones from the stream and he takes a slingshot. And the Philistine looked at David and saw he was only a boy ruddy and handsome and despised him. And Goliath said to David, am I a dog that you come at me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

Come here, he said, I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. And all the Israelites we know are back cowering. Oh, poor David. But David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. That was a bold boy, wasn't it? And he says, today, this day, all the whole world will know that there's a God in Israel.

You see what he's saying? What David realizes is there's something more important than just killing this one giant. What's more important is the whole world's going to know that God has power.

The whole army that's been cowering in fear is going to be changed today. And sure enough, David killed him with a stone and then ran, stood over him and took the Philistine's sword, cut off Goliath's head with Goliath's own sword. Now that's plundering the enemy. And here's my favorite part of the story. What happened next? When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. They ran for their lives.

What had happened? It was just one soldier, Goliath, oh he's a giant, so what? But thousands of soldiers, a great army that had been confident the days before, suddenly their hearts melt like wax, they turn and they run. And what do the Israelites do? The men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout.

We always knew we could do it. Go get them. They're on the run. And they pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. In other words, they ran them a long way and they killed a bunch of them.

Their dead were strung along the road. And when the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they're coming back high-fiving each other. And it says they plundered their camp. So they got rich on the way back taking everything out of the Philistine camp. Because they had a paraclete in David, an advocate who would represent them, who would help them, who would champion them. Because of that help, they were given courage to do what they always would have been able to do anyway, by the power of God. Such is the ministry of the parakletos, the Holy Spirit.

He comes to encourage us. As long as the disciples had Jesus there with them, they were encouraged. They might get afraid, but Jesus wasn't afraid. The storm was raging at the sea, but Jesus was sleeping in the boat.

And he could calm the wind and the waves. They might be hungry, the crowds might be hungry, but Jesus could feed them. They might be confused, but Jesus could teach them. And when they were persecuted, they'd look over and they'd see Jesus, their advocate, and they'd realize that he was not afraid nor daunted in any way by the taunts and persecutions that were leveled against him and the disciples. But as soon as Jesus was gone, they're cowering for fear of the Jews locked up in a room. As soon as Jesus is crucified, they're terrified again. They feel alone, and their hearts have melted, and they are confused. But Jesus said, I'm not going to leave you alone.

There's going to be another advocate, another helper that's going to come alongside of you. And on Pentecost day, what happened to these disciples was incredible, because how can you go from being courageous with Jesus and then cowardly without Jesus, and then suddenly they are filled with more courage than they ever had while they were with Jesus in person. It's because Jesus had returned to them. He had returned in the power and presence of the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit had come and had come upon them and filled their lives to abide within them, and he began teaching them and reminding them of everything that Jesus had ever taught them, and everything started making sense to them, and they're saying to each other, oh, so this is what Jesus meant when he said, if you just had the faith of a mustard seed. Oh, so this is how Jesus was instructing us not to live by bread alone, but by every word. Oh, I understand it now.

Oh, I see it now. And they got filled with a boldness. There's suddenly a people that were locked up in a room for fear.

Didn't he want anybody to find them? Now stand out in the open and proclaim Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God, and thousands of people start coming to Christ, and the people all around them, they're fearful of this. The Jews, they begin to persecute them, but the disciples don't even care. They might be persecuted. You might be killed, but there's something that has happened inside of them.

What has happened? Jesus has come back to them in a way that they could have never imagined it was greater than what they had when they were with him on the earth. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.

Thankfully, God has never expected you to live the Christian life by your own strength. He has sent a helper, and every single Christian is invited to live a supernaturally empowered life through the continual infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a special bundle alongside the audio teaching, Pastor Alan has also written a booklet. Both the audio and the booklet not only explain the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but will nourish, inspire, and draw you nearer to the God who longs to immerse you in his love and power.

Discover how to be filled with the Spirit and get ready for your life to be filled with fresh love, joy, and power. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860, or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Because you get an advocate who's with you all the time, a helper who's showing you, a champion who's in front of you, you're just saying, well the four-minute mile can be broken. Yeah, let's run. You're saying, yeah, cancer can be healed. Let's pray.

Yeah, depression can lift. Let's move on in worship. You see, what happens is the advocate is with us, loving us, comforting us, but he is Jesus' presence to us, championing who we are in Christ.

What a glorious thought. Now from these three simple theological affirmations that Jesus has come in the Holy Spirit, He's the Spirit of Jesus, which says to us that He is a person, which says to us that He is Jesus' present to us, and which says to us that He is another helper in the way that Jesus was. Of all the other theology that we must do, that's a good beginning point for the Holy Spirit to understand who He is. But from this, I want to just point you simply to three incredible, mind-staggering possibilities that simply must be true if what I have said about the Holy Spirit is accurate. Number one, that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ is present to us as Jesus.

It must mean this. You and I can be in the same way and even more so, discipled by Jesus just as Mark and Matthew and Luke were. That the seemingly special privilege that they had of walking with Jesus for three years on the earth, seeing how He thought, how He taught, how He worked, how He ministered, how He loved, by being with Him they were being discipled.

That's the way Jesus discipled. And by the presence of the Holy Spirit, we have the opportunity to be discipled by Jesus every moment and every day. He will take from what is mine, He will give it to you. In fact, He is saying some of the limitations that we have in interacting in the flesh are going to be overcome because this is going to become a Spirit unto Spirit revelation.

He'll remind you of everything I've said and He'll show you what it's all been about. And you'll keep getting discipled by Jesus. To me that is pure bliss to think that there is a sense in which the disciples didn't really know Jesus that well until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and then they really knew Jesus. The Holy Spirit has come so that every day you can get to know Jesus better.

Follow Him in every way. Secondly, He is the same Spirit who filled, anointed Jesus and so the same Spirit that enabled Jesus to sleep in a boat during a storm and have peace. The same Spirit by which Jesus received words of knowledge, released miracles and proclaimed the Word of God with authority.

He is the same Spirit who indwells and fills every believer. Luke chapter 4 verse 1 says Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert. Luke 4 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about Him spread through the whole countryside. Luke chapter 10 at that time Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit even the joy of Jesus was accredited to the presence of the Holy Spirit that filled Him. So when you read the New Testament it doesn't really appear that Jesus ministered miraculously nor even the supernatural joy that He had came because He was positionally the Son of God.

But instead He lived fully human fully God but He lived with the Holy Spirit without measure accompanying Him and empowering Him. In other words Jesus did His miracles and Jesus had the fruit in His life of joy and peace because of the presence of the Holy Spirit and without sin Jesus had no distraction, He had no confusion, He had no chaos nor any deception that ever pulled Him away from perfect fellowship with the Holy Spirit who was upon Him and in Him. Well this is tremendously encouraging to us as believers because what this says to us is that the same Holy Spirit by whom Jesus walked on water fed 5,000 and raised the dead. This is the same Holy Spirit who indwells us which is to say believers nothing is impossible. We are to live reminded that He is not a power that we go and grab and somehow manipulate. So still the gifts of the Spirit are as the Spirit wills but in relationship to the Holy Spirit we live and move with a confidence that there is no difference from the way that miracles were worked in Jesus' ministry and the way in which miracles are worked in Jesus' body on earth today through the church.

And the disciples started discovering that right away as they began ministering the gospel, nothing's impossible. And the final staggering thought that is the most precious of them all is that if the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus then that means that the whole character and nature of Jesus is empowered and released by the Holy Spirit within us which is to say though it is staggering to think of it that every single day we can by the Holy Spirit be conformed more and more into the very character of Jesus until one day it's perfected in us in heaven. The love, the joy, the patience, the peace, the kindness, the goodness, the faithfulness, the gentleness, the self-control, all the fruit that form the character of Jesus' Spirit filled life. All of that, the very character of Christ, is available to us because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus.

That's good news. Alan Wright and today's teaching on Filled with the Holy Spirit. And Alan is back here in a moment with additional insight on this for your life in our final word today. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Someone once said, doing your will by your power is humanism. Doing God's will by your power is religion.

But doing God's will by God's power, that's Christianity. Can anyone love his enemy just by deciding to be nice? Can anyone produce peace that passes understanding by mental discipline?

Can anyone heal depression by just trying harder to be happy? Of course not. In fact, almost everything about New Testament Christianity is impossible by human power alone. Thankfully, God has never expected you to live the Christian life by your own strength. He has sent a helper and every single Christian is invited to live a supernaturally empowered life through the continual infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a special bundle alongside the audio teaching, Pastor Alan has also written a booklet. Both the audio and the booklet not only explain the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but will nourish, inspire, and draw you nearer to the God who longs to immerse you in his love and power.

Discover how to be filled with the Spirit and get ready for your life to be filled with fresh love, joy, and power. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, as we've listened to your teaching, that being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't require jumping through a lot of hoops. It's simply receiving the Spirit of Jesus.

It is. And you know, one of my favorite terms biblically for the person of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Because when we talk about having Jesus in my heart, we're really talking about not having Jesus in the flesh, in our heart. We're talking about the Spirit of Jesus. That's who the Holy Spirit is. So we put together a booklet, Daniel, because so many people are always asking the question, what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? But more importantly, how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? We are not designed as Christians to live the Christian life by our own power.

I always thought it was one of the most cruel things we could ever do to people to say, listen, here's what a Christian is. They love people. They have joy. They have peace. They do good things for other people. They follow God in all of His commands. And then not tell them that this comes not by your own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so I very much want people to understand, put away some of the misconceptions about this and hear a good, solid, balanced, biblical perspective, how anyone can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.