2 ~ The Smooth Stone of Spiritual Power
When did we become a part of the body of Christ?–when we were saved. When did we receive the baptism of the Spirit?–when we were saved. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” What is the evidence then of being filled with the Spirit? The evidence of being filled with the Spirit is not in the speaking of tongues. Many people have the false notion today that if you speak in so-called unknown tongues it gives you a spiritual merit badge and that if you speak in tongues, it makes you more spiritual than others. I would remind you that the only time tongues is mentioned in the New Testament is in connection with a problem church. Those people who spoke in tongues were in arguments about preachers and were in a four-way split in that church. They were guilty of gross sexual sin. They were declared to be carnal Christians. They had many things which we would not dare want to imitate in a church today. (SB, 39-40)
First Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 deals with spiritual gifts, one of which is speaking in tongues. I would remind you that it is one of the lesser gifts, and Paul said it was one of the least desirable gifts and one of the most controlled gifts. It was only to be used in an assembly when someone could interpret. (SB, 40)
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The evidence of being filled with the Spirit is not speaking in tongues. The evidence of being filled with the Spirit, according to the Word of God, is that you will speak the Word of God with a holy boldness. . . . when the promise of the Spirit came, Simon Peter, who had warmed himself by the fire and denied he was a follower of Jesus, stood up on the day of Pentecost and with a holy boldness said, “Hiim, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up . . .” (Acts 2:23-24). Simon Peter became a bold servant of the Lord. (SB, 43-4)
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The Word of God teaches that the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is that we will speak with a holy boldness for God. (SB, 48)
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A process for being filled with the Spirit:
Desire – Desire to be filled with the Spirit — John 7:37-39a, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive . . .). (SB, 49-50)
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Ask for his fullness – Luke 11:11-13, “. . . If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (SB, 50)
Make room — We say, “Lord, fill us with thy Spirit.” Yet we are so full of our own plans and ambitions that we have not made room for his fullness. He abides in us, but just in the guest room of our life. He does not have every key to every door of our living, because we have not been willing to yield ourselves. (SB 53-4)
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Believe and Receive — Paul admonished “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). Most of us have a desire to do this but many of us do not know how to “walk in the spirit.” The key is found in the message of Paul to the Colossians. “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” How did we receive Christ Jesus? By faith! How are we to walk in him? By faith! We walk in the Spirit the same way we received Christ. We are to walk in the Spirit by faith. It is a matter of believing and receiving. (SB, 54)