The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket. One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles. Wilbur and Orville Wright's first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds. And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often. Carriages would pass them with their passengers shouting, 'Get a horse!' The beginning of anything is basic but fundamental to what happens next. The Las Vegas Pyramid has the world's brightest light seem from space 120 times brighter than neon. The fastest speedboat 'spirit of Australia' went 316.7 mph. The longest flight is 18 hours from New York to Singapore. The fastest road car today takes 2.6 seconds to go from 0-60 mph. A far cry from 'get a horse.' In the same breath there are five basic and key elements to the beginning of a Christian life that fundamental to what happens next.

1. Repentance from sin / dead works

2. Faith towards God

3. Baptism in water

4. Baptism in the Holy Spirit

5. Being added to a church

As much as these elements are the beginning of the Christian discipleship they are separated by years in most cases. They should be separated by weeks at the most. Our church has to be intentional about this.

Be filled with the Spirit was Paul's emphasis to people who had already experienced the five fundamental beginnings of Christianity. Understand what context he spoke into. Ephesus had a population of 300 000. It was massive in New Testament proportions. In the center of the city was a temple dedicated to Diana the goddess. It had dominated the city for 513 years prior to Paul's writing. All the roads in Ephesus lead to the temple.

She represented fertility, farming, family the four seasons and all the elements. Her body was made from gold, silver, ebony and black stone. Her entire body was covered in breasts and her name meant 'female butcher.' There was a temple high priest and many eunuchs. There was a high priestess and her priestesses who prostituted themselves with the people for temple money. Like major sports events, concerts and disasters there were many who cashed in on the goddess Diana and her temple. Like the sale of US arms to foreign countries use against the US you cannot deal with just one thing but a web of things. The structure and infrastructure of Ephesus was complicated. Their economy was funded by occult practice, which funded their schools and created jobs.

Paul is not making a plea for being tea-total. He is teaching this to the church of believers that are active against occult practice to be filled with the Spirit as if they did not know. He is addressing a cultural problem where people in the city around the temple and goddess Diana used alcohol to pass off as a form of inspiration. He said that it leads to ruin, debauchery or dissipation. The Greek word is 'asotia.' The Greeks put the expression 'a' as we use the expression 'un' where you have happy and unhappy or profitable and unprofitable or clean and unclean. 'Sotia' meant saved as 'asotia' meant unsaved. Paul was saying that to get drunk on wine inspiration was not saved but unsaved. But he carried on to say we must be filled with something. That something is a someone who is the person of the Holy Spirit. Paul is talking to believers about being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is shocking to realize that people who have already been baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues are not filled with the Holy Spirit. He is not asking them to repeat the experience of their baptism but to continue that way. Have you ever wondered why people begin with sincerity, excitement, enthusiasm, dedication and commitment only to fade away?

English language used to be thoroughly taught years ago but with the decline in the spoken word any public speaker is told to communicate on a 6th grade level. I want to treat you better than that. A verb is the most important part of a sentence because it is the action of what is happening. The verb here is 'filled.'

1. The mood of the verb gives you the emotional context. It is not a suggestion like some pastoral advice 'take it or leave it' but a command impressing it with force into the believer. "…be filled with the Spirit."

2. The verb is plural so it is all-inclusive applying to everyone equally and every succeeding generation where no one is exempt. "…be filled with the Spirit."

3. The verb is a passive voice. You need to submit or yield to the Holy Spirit to be filled. You have to 'let' him because he will not force you. Your decision has to be 'I will let him fill me.' "…be filled with the Spirit."

4. The verb is continuous. (Illustrate) This cup is full but when I empty it the cup is not full anymore. There is evidence that it was full but not anymore. Its testimony is 'I was filled' which is yesterday's news not 'I am filled', which is today's news. The cup must be in a place of being filled.

There have been too many poor examples of what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the framework for many. The difficult task it to teach something into a culture that is no longer part of that culture. You can be filled with the Holy Spirit and not get weird. Your voice does not have to change when you pray, praise or prophecy. You would never walk down isle four of Safeway and say to passing customers 'behold I will show you a special deal on isle five if you would just walk with me.' Being filled with the Spirit is normal for the believer. But there are too many with pickled heads whose faces are so long their chin gets carpet burns. It should be a different look. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs…" This is not a church service but a community of believers who know how to communicate without being weird.

Winners do not whine and whiners do not win. Winners (v20) "…always give thanks to the Father for everything…" All things work for the good for those who love the Lord but not all things are in and of themselves good. That is why winners hang out with winners and whiners hang out with whiners because winners know how to (v21)"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." The Body grows as each part does its work. What part are you playing? People support and submit to each other carrying their own weight and the weight of someone else.

'Him' is the Holy Spirit. The word 'cry' is the same one that is used when the disciples saw Christ walking on the water and thought he was a ghost. How would you cry out if you had seen a ghost? It would not be a cry of terror but intensity of the moment that you are who God says you are. (Romans 8:2) "…Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." The English game of bowls is about rolling a black ball with a bias at a smaller white ball. The nearest to the white ball wins. The black ball has a bias that prevents it from ever going straight. Being free from the law of sin is to have the bias removed and God makes your paths straight. He takes out the sinful heart with a bias towards sin and gives you a new heart with no bias towards sin but a bias towards God. They Spirit filled believer has something to shout about.

This is the very basic foundation of Christianity and the life that is should not be separated in understanding by years. The intension is to teach you.

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