The Spirit's Most Important Gift [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. And here is, I think, the first and most important gift of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ in His glory. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. 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. Let our hearts and minds be focused on what God has promised to us. Because the power of God flows not by people making vows and promises to God. The power of God flows by the vows here. And then eventually I became convinced, well that's all the more reason why it should be so powerful because when the familiar takes on new meaning to us then that which maybe once we said only as a comforting thought at a funeral or recited with a sense of like the baby lambs and the shepherd but then you begin to see that there may be something deeper and richer here and that's what's happening. And so we were drawn in to those verses that start with you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

And David follows this with some victorious, celebrative language that fits someone who's been treated as an esteemed guest at a great banquet of a king. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely goodness and steadfast love will follow me or pursue me all the days of my life. Now today I want to begin what I hope will be a number of weeks of talking about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And I hope that whether you have been familiar with the work and the move, the anointings and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for many years, or whether you are brand new to seeking out what the gospel is all about and everything in between, I hope that in coming weeks that what you will discover is that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus.

So some people get a little concerned, you start talking about the Holy Spirit, they go, oh no, that sounds like that's gonna be weird or something. And I just want to start by saying the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and He is a person, He's personal. In the same way you speak of Jesus personally, the Holy Spirit is spoken of personally in the scriptures. The Holy Spirit can be grieved, for example. And so what we're really talking about when we talk of the Holy Spirit is we're talking about what we mean when we say I have Jesus in my heart.

You don't really have a miniature Jesus in your heart, you have the presence of God by means of the Holy Spirit. And for the Christian, the Holy Spirit, the Bible remarkably says He is our helper, our counselor, our teacher, our guide. It's almost hard to imagine that the God of the universe would come up with a plan, send His son to die upon a cross with this aim in mind that you and I could receive the Holy Spirit.

It's astounding, but that is the plan of God. I want to call the series Filled. I want to talk about the anointing, which I think is pictured in the psalm, the anointing of oil upon my head, and the indwelling, my cup overflows, the anointing and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. I like the word filled also, I must just say, because at a very important point in my life in 1993, in which I received prayer at a Pentecostal meeting from a Pentecostal evangelist, and here I was, Presbyterian, and my life had so touched and became, I became, this is one of the things you'll discover in your walk with God. You can have growth in the Lord and experiences of God that are so wonderful that once having experienced that measure of God's grace, you look back and go, I'm not sure I even knew Him before this, but you did, but there are many in fillings of the Holy Spirit, and anyway, but this Pentecostal evangelist, who became such a dear friend of mine, his basic prayer ministry as he prayed for people and lined them up by the hundreds, and this was his ministry to lay hands on them and say filled, and that was the extent of his intercessory prayer, really, for most people.

I'm accustomed to standing there for a long time and trying to figure out all the problems. He would just say filled. My life got touched by that, and I still can hear it in my mind.

He would say it with different expressions. Sometimes it was just filled, and sometimes it was filled. I have been times where I've been in meetings and hundreds of people there, and he's just praying for me, and the sound over the speakers coming forth, filled, and it still sort of intoxicates me just with the presence of God.

That's how I got touched, so the series is called Filled. I want to speak to you today about the first and most important gift of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life, so turn with me to Romans chapter eight, the crescendo of Paul's brilliant theological exposition of what God has done in Jesus Christ, how God has made his own son, Jesus, to be our sin. He didn't just take the penalty. He didn't just take the punishment. He didn't just take the wrath. The scripture Paul exposes to us literally says Jesus became our sin, and the transfer was that all who are in Christ become the righteousness of Christ, and he has been laying out God's plan, his provision, and the means by which he has done this through the cross, and he's not mentioned the Holy Spirit hardly at all until Romans chapter eight, and now he can't stop talking about the Holy Spirit, and this is moving towards the great crescendo of Romans in chapter eight at verse 15. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. The literal rendering of this should be you received adoption as sons. Now lest I forget to say this later, a side point. The reason that it is best not to change the language of sonship here is because it is important in the first century to understand that Jesus really is extremely radical in his view of acceptance and honor to women, and he would have been viewed as a radical feminist in his day because this was a culture in which women were not valued as is still the case in certain cultures around the world, and in that culture it was the first born son who would receive a double portion of the inheritance, so if there were two sons the first born son would get two thirds of the inheritance because he would be expected to oversee the estate, and that first born son was the delight and crowning prize of the family and the whole community celebrated the first born son, so what Paul is saying here is the adoption that you receive in the Holy Spirit, he's not being gender specific here to leave out women, this is saying that in a culture that the most prized person, the person who was elevated and given the great inheritance and who would run the estate was the first born son, what he's saying is in the spirit you must understand your adoption is like that of a first born son, whether male or female, that's the image he's conveying, so the language is that we did not receive a spirit that makes us a slave to fear, but exactly the opposite of that, a spirit that has shown you your adoption like a first born son, and by him, by the spirit, here is what the spirit does, by him we cry, Abba, Father.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. 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. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. The spirit himself, and here is, I think, the first and most important gift of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. In order to paint a picture of what has happened with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon every believer's life, I turn with David to the image of a king with a great banquet, and David and all of us come as the guests who are highly esteemed. You, David said, you prepared this table before. King David, he's such a remarkable man, it's mind-boggling, because he was a king, he was a musician, he was a poet, he was a warrior.

There are not many people like that. He was the youngest of Jesse's sons, and when the Lord said to Samuel the prophet, it's time to anoint the new king, Samuel goes to Jesse's house and looks over all the sons, none of them is the right one, and do you have any other sons? He says, well, I have my youngest, David, he's just, but I mean, in a sense, he was saying it couldn't be him, he's just out in the field keeping the sheep, and Samuel says, let me see him, and when he sees David, the Lord speaks to the prophet and said he is the one, and Samuel pours out the oil on David's head. So in the first place, when David speaks of you anoint my head with oil, he does not speak theoretically. He speaks as one who was anointed as the king, and I love the translation, the English Standard Version, what it says, what happened to David when the oil was poured upon his head, it said the Holy Spirit rushed upon him from that day forth, that's good, that's what we need, because there's time short and we need the Spirit to rush on us today. The Holy Spirit kept rushing upon David. Now, this anointing that David had, this presence that would come upon David would enable David to do miraculous things. He was able to slay Goliath, his brothers and all the army were cowards, that Goliath was taunting them, and a wonderful vivid picture of spiritual warfare where there's a whole army and then there's one giant who's so intimidated to them by the things he's saying that they've sat around figuring out how much Goliath's armor weighs and how big his sword is, and David comes in and says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that mocks the army of the living God?

And he says, what will be done for the person that kills this giant? I like David, he's a real man and he was interested in the reward. He wanted them to repeat to him exactly how much he'd be paid and what about the king's daughter's hand in marriage and he wanted the reward. And David said, I'll fight him. So Saul, they put the armor on David and David kinda clanks around in this armor and says, I don't like it, and take it off, and they're kinda, you're gonna get just smashed anyway but now without armor, but they let him go and it's a picture that David is not going to win this battle naturally but supernaturally.

In fact, David, as he has his confrontation with Goliath, he finally just says to Goliath, the battle belongs to the Lord. As the Holy Spirit had come upon David, this was one of the revelations that he just understood, is that there is a power from on high that can somehow clothe the people of God such that they could do what only God can do. And so David had his victory over Goliath and he became famous for that. He was a musician and he played music that was so accompanied by the Holy Spirit that it would drive out evil spirits that afflicted King Saul. So Saul had David come and play music for him. David experienced God.

And somehow out of his experience of God, David also came to understand the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. I'm saying is that David, though a king, he was incredibly prophetic and he saw in the Spirit things that would come a thousand years later. And part of it was this, God made a covenant with David that was unlike the covenant that he had made with Moses. With Moses and with the people into the Mosaic Covenant, God had said, if you will obey me and keep my commandments, then you'll be my treasure nation and I will bless you. But when God made a covenant with David, he didn't put any requirement on David's obedience in order for David to be blessed. Instead, he just said to David, someone from your house, your lineage, will be the king forever. No matter how much sin, and it turns out there was a lot of sin. But no matter how much sin, must establish your throne forever.

And he said, and I will never take my steadfast love from you. So that's the covenant David was in with God. I mean, here he is in the midst of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, but this is the Davidic Covenant. And so somehow David, in both the experience of the Holy Spirit coming upon him for power and for ministry and revelation, David experienced the nature, the true nature and heart of God. It is the revelation that enables David to say, surely God, you are not pleased with the sacrifices of burnt offerings and rams that I bring.

But it is a contrite heart, a submitted heart that pleases you. No, he knew this. So Psalm 23 is David the king, David the shepherd, and it is David the prophet who sees astoundingly a vision that only would fully make sense a thousand years later at the cross of Jesus Christ. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. He might have, as a shepherd, seen a plateau of green grass for a sheep and it looked like a table. But God had been giving little foreshadowing feasts along the way. The thing that's so exciting about reading the Old Testament is because on every page, something is pointing eventually to Jesus. And the banquet is there everywhere. The banqueting table is being prepared and God's giving little insights.

He's letting us see it in a thousand different ways. Abraham, who was the father of Israel and was called by God up out of the Ur of the Chaldees and God said, look at the stars of the sky. Your descendants are gonna be as numerous as the stars of the sky. And he kept wanting Abraham to know that it's real. And so he came and he told me, you're gonna have a child.

Your wife's gonna be a child in your old age. Well, Abraham was believing this. We're not exactly sure if Sarah believed it right off but three guests came.

And the Bible makes it clear that two of them are angels and one of them was probably the Lord himself. In Genesis chapter 18, look at it sometimes, a funny story. These three guests come and they eventually, one of them, the Lord himself says to Abraham, says, where's your wife Sarah? And he said, well, she's in the tent. And then they say, obviously, Sarah is listening to all of this.

And one says, well, she is going to bear a child in her old age. And the Bible says, Sarah laughed to herself. And so I don't know how loud she laughed but she laughed. And then the Lord says to Sarah, why did you laugh? And now she lies and she said, I didn't laugh. And it's just so funny because the Lord says, you did so laugh.

Did not, did so, did not, did so. And while she is laughing, what Abraham has done is he sent his servant to kill the fatted calf and prepare the table so that they would have a meal, a feast there. Sarah's in the tent laughing in unbelief and the Lord is preparing a table. Alan Wright and today's teaching as we kick off this series called, filled it's the spirit's most important gift. 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 wanna fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org.

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. 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, is this a myth? Is there one gift that rises above the rest? Well, I think that when you start talking about the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, it is so important to know the first, the primal, the fundamental work of the Holy Spirit once you've become a Christian. And that is, he begins to convince you that you're a child of God. He bears witness with our spirit that we are children and have children, then heirs, then co-heirs. And really, in many ways, Daniel, so much of Christian growth is growing into a greater confidence that we are God's own heirs. And the Spirit's whispering that to us and shouting it and leading us and luring us in every other way to convince us. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.