Bible Study - Never Alone (4) - Filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:8-21 - June 26, 2022

 

Bible Study – Never Alone (4) – Filled with the Spirit – June 26, 2022

This is lesson four (4) in our series entitled, “Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives.”

Our focus scripture is Ephesians 5:8-21

The Holy Spirit enables us to live as fully devoted disciples.

All who have been born-again have the Holy Spirit within them. It is the Holy Spirit WHO enables all Spirit-born believers to live as GOD’S Children and to live upon earth as HE desires for them to live.

The Hoy Spirit is light, therefore all who have the Holy Spirit are also light.

The Apostle Paul was writing to the Christians in the church in Ephesus.

Let’s read Ephesians 5:8-14:

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— ⁹ for the fruit of the light^[c] consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰ testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. ¹³ Everything exposed by the light is made visible, ¹⁴ for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore, it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.

There are two worlds within the world in which we live. There is the world of darkness, ruled by Satan and his angels and there is the world of light, ruled by GOD. The passion of JESUS defeated Satan and GOD judged him, as we read in John 16:7-11:

⁷ Nevertheless, I (JESUS) am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor (THE HOLY SPIRIT) will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: ⁹ About sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged.

JESUS’ won the victory over sin and eternal death when HE gave HIS sinless life upon the cross and shed HIS blood. However, every person to ever live MUST be “born-again” by the Holy Spirit, through faith in JESUS, to escape eternal death and receive eternal life. It is the shed, sinless blood of JESUS that is the power to make this transformation eternal. When JESUS gave HIS life for sin on the cross, Satan was defeated, judged and defeated by JESUS. Proof that JESUS paid the sin debt, in full, is that GOD raised JESUS from the physically dead to be eternally alive. JESUS is the first fruit of the resurrection of all who place their faith in JESUS. JESUS is the first to be resurrected from the dead to have eternal life.

Yet, GOD left Satan in the world. Why? The physical world is ruled by Satan and it is in darkness. The same physical world is ruled by JESUS, WHO is the light in the dark. There is a stark contrast between the darkness of sin and the true light of salvation in order to get the attention of all who seek truth, which is the true light of JESUS. It is the Holy Spirit that probes the hearts of all people to woo them to see the light of JESUS and accept HIM as their Savior. All people have a choice.

Sin came into the world when Eve and Adam made the decision to eat the forbidden fruit. Since Eve is the mother of all people, eternal death was passed onto all humans, thus all people must be redeemed. JESUS is the only redemptive power for people of all races to receive eternal life through Spiritual birth e.g., Born-again. Spiritual birth (being born-again Spiritually) comes only through faith in JESUS.

All who have been born-again have the Holy Spirit and are “light in the LORD”. Notice, are light! Thus, all who have been born-again are to “walk as children of light.”

⁹ for the fruit of the light^[c] consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰ testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Those who walk in the light produce fruit. In Galatians, Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

This is the fruit or product that those who walk in the light produce as they go about their daily life. WOW! Does a fruit tree have to worry and ponder what type of fruit it will produce? NO!!! Neither do those who are Spirit-born. Those who are Spirit-born are planted in GOD’S vineyard and GOD decides the fruit they produce. The Holy Spirit is the power or GOD’S Seed that activates the Spiritual germination process.

All born-again people are lights in the world of darkness.

I pondered this and asked the LORD, “How does someone who walks with YOU put this in effect?”

Later, I accompanied my precious wife to a routine follow up visit to the Gibbs Cancer Center. As I entered and saw all the people who had appointments or came with those who had appointments, the Holy Spirit, in that precious still small voice said, “You asked ME how you could you be light? Look around and pray for all the people you see. Some are being treated, some are care givers, loved ones, nurses, technicians, doctors and various medical personnel.” WOW! That was an eyeopener.

Yes, some had cancer and were getting treatment, some were care givers, some had various duties to perform to make certain treatment was being administered correctly. They all needed prayer including the maintenance and hospital administrators, with a special prayer of thanks to the Gibbs.   

This was an example of how we can be called into action by GOD as we walk through life. Just look around, listen and respond as the Holy Spirit reveals where and when GOD desires for us to respond e.g., when we hear a siren, it means that an emergency is taking place somewhere, pray. Pray or respond as prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we who know the truth are on call 24/7 to pray and respond as prompted by the Holy Spirit.

I prayed, as led and GOD was pleased. I did not have to speak a word out loud to anyone only to pray. We are the light and light expose the things that are hiding in the darkness. GOD heals by the touch of HIS hands or through medicine, surgery and physical therapy.

But there is so much more to being the light, as we walk through life. We can encourage and practice the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, that GOD had given to us to be used as HE directs.

All of us came from darkness and into the marvelous light of GOD through faith in JESUS.

I will copy our opening scripture again:

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— ⁹ for the fruit of the light^[c] consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰ testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. ¹³ Everything exposed by the light is made visible, ¹⁴ for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore, it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.

Oh yes, it is time that all Spirit-born people rise up from our sleep and from the dead and let our light shine in a world that is in darkness.

Ask GOD to reveal to you how you can let the light of CHRIST shine though you – HE will because HE has called those who are Spirit-born to be the light.

The church is an institution and as such tends to cover up things that take place that are wrong. Some of these things are evil and are covered by darkness. But we who have been Spiritually born into GOD’S Family are to shine the light of GOD on the things that are hidden and expose them. This is not to destroy the institution but to expose and destroy the darkness that invades the institution, so the intuition can be trusted.

¹⁰ testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

All Spirit-born people are called to test and evaluate that which is pleasing to our LORD. Satan loves nothing more than to get our institutions to spend their time, resources and efforts on “fruitless works of darkness.”

It is time for all who have been called by GOD to leadership roles to test what is pleasing to our LORD. It is time for the leadership in an institution and its members to ask the Holy Spirit to shine the light of JESUS into all the dark places and expose any issue that needs to be brought into the true light. Time is of the essence.

Let’s read Ephesians 5:15-18:

Consistency in the Christian Life

¹⁵ Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— ¹⁶ making the most of the time,^[d] because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 

Being the light of CHRIST carries responsibility. Spirit-born people are to walk/live wisely. True wisdom comes from GOD. True wisdom is knowledge applied to GOD’S plan. The Holy Spirit takes wisdom and applies it in our lives as we go through each day.

How much time do we have? We all have 24 hours per day. How does Satan want us to us that time? If you said to twiddle it away, you would be correct. GOD tells us to redeem the time by making every moment we have count for HIM. GOD has work for all Spirit-born to do.

Satan will do all he can to distract us, or neutralize us by getting us to participate in the fruitless works of darkness, hooked on drugs, alcohol, pot, games, keeping busy, sex, embezzlement, gambling, etc. The list goes on because as a Spirit-born person you are Satan’s target. Darkness wants to rule but light rules over darkness. People of the light are to expose them.

Spirit-born people, do not let anything distract you from following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you need to confess and deal with. Satan will bring to your mind many things and over whelm you and likely get you to focus on that which is not your major issue. This is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals the area a Spirit-born person needs to focus.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Gee, when will we get full?

All Spirit-born people should ask GOD to search and reveal the core of their being. Have sins of our forebearers been visited upon them? Have they opened themselves up to the occult/dark world through tarot cards, Ouija boards, horoscopes, fortune tellers, talking off warts and the list goes on?  

When we empty out all that we have either know or unknowingly allowed into our lives that must come out and make room to be completely filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a process called sanctification or being made pure to be used by GOD. We are to fully reflect JESUS in our lives as we live in a world filled with darkness. We may be the only light some may ever see.

GOD calls some to lives of seclusion and meditation as in a convent or cloister but HE also calls Spirit-born people to serve every day as they live among the masses. When Spirit-born people are living in the world, they are to keep their eyes upon JESUS and fellowship with fellow Spirit-born people.

Spirit-born people are to study GOD’S Word, pray, respond as led by the Holy Spirit and to grow and mature as GOD’S chosen people of the light in a world of darkness.

It is vital that Spirit-born people come together to worship and fellowship. We know of groups who have tried to do this and it seems that they can morph into self-serving clans or cults. Satan will do his best to make sure that a true group, walking in the light, is disrupted.

Let’s read Ephesians 5:19-21:

¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

As Spirit-born people, we are accountable to GOD and to each other in a world of darkness. We are the light of the world. We are to support each other as we walk through life.

We are also a sweet-smelling fragrance to the world, as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16:

¹⁵ For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

¹⁶ To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things?

Spirit-born people are to stay focused. How? Stay connected with fellow Spirit-born people and with JESUS. Stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Ask GOD to clean out that which does not need to be in your heart and replace them with that which is pure.

Ask GOD to clean the eye-gates of your mind/heart and dump out that which corrupts and allow in that which is pure and glorifies GOD.

Spirit-born people are the light!

Blessings!!!