Week 3 - SEEK IT
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How’s your memory work coming along?
Acts 4:31 (NIV)
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
NEED IT
As we partner with Jesus in mission to those around us, we need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
BELIEVE IT
Just as Jesus ministered through the Person and power of the Holy Spirit, so can we.
And now …
SEEK IT
Because we continually need the filling of the Holy Spirit, we need to continually seek it.
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
Ephesians 5:18-21 (ISV)
18 Stop getting drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit. 19 Then you will recite to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts; 20 you will consistently give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah; 21 and you will submit to one another out of reverence for the Messiah.
Digging Deeper
Under the Influence
According to this passage, what are the results of being drunk?
According to this passage, what are the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit?
From the following passages, what are other results of being filled with or being under the influence of the Holy Spirit?
Acts 2:1-4 (NLT)
1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 4:5-13 (NIV)
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:29-31 (NIV)
29 “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 13:49-51 (NIV)
49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Once again, from the above passages, what are the results of being filled with or being under the influence of the Holy Spirit?
Keep On Being Filled
Ephesians 5:18 (ISV)
Stop getting drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit.
How does one get drunk and stay drunk?
How does one get filled and stay filled with the Holy Spirit?
Just as you need to keep on drinking alcohol to stay drunk, so too you need to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit to stay under the Spirit’s influence. This is what we see in the early church. In the passages we just read from Acts, the early disciples were repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit.
The filling of the Holy Spirit, then, isn’t just a one-time event or experience. It’s an ongoing need and an ever-growing relationship of dependence on and obedience to the Holy Spirit. So to speak, there’s always more of the Spirit to fill us and there’s always more of us the Spirit can fill.
What NOT To Do
Here are things to NOT do if seeking the filling of the Holy Spirit.
1. Resist the Spirit through persistent unbelief and disobedience.
Acts 7:51 (NIV)
You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
2. Grieve the Spirit through unconfessed sin.
Ephesians 4:30-31 (NIV)
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
3. Extinguish the Spirit’s fire by rejecting His gifts.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NIV-1984)
19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
Do any of these describe you? Why?
Can you be full of yourself and full of the Holy Spirit at the same time?
What TO Do
Here are things TO do when seeking the filling of the Holy Spirit.
1. Keep seeing your ongoing need for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 (ISV)
Keep on being filled with the Spirit.
2. Keep believing that just as the Spirit filled Jesus and the early church, the Spirit will fill you.
John 14:12 (NLT)
I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
Acts 1:8 (NLT)
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Keep in mind that all of God’s gifts, like the gift of the Holy Spirit, come by grace through faith. This isn’t just true at the beginning of the Christian life but throughout the Christian life. You never earn the right to be filled with the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is always received as a gift through faith.
3. Keep asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 11:9-13 (ISV)
9 So I say to you: Keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you, 10 because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of the fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, would he give him a scorpion? 13 So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who keep asking him!”
Why does God value persistent asking?
Why does God value persistent asking specifically for the Holy Spirit?
4. Keep obeying the Spirit’s leadings. (We’ll look into this more next week under TRY IT.)
Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Which of these 4 things to do when seeking the Holy Spirit is most important for you to focus on?
Pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
What do you need the filling of the Holy Spirit for right now?
Lay hands on each other and ask for the filling of Holy Spirit.
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
Luke 11:9-13
Zechariah 4:6
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?