Alpha10-Chinese-video-synopsis
The Alpha Course is called the “Inspiration Course” (启发 qifa 课程) on the Chinese language video.
Title: How to be filled with the Spirit
Question | What do you feel is the deepest level of need that people have?
...two people think for a while, but don’t say anything...it is mysterious...it is different for different people...air and water...cooked rice...love...being with family, fried pork and spicy Sichuan pepper shrimp...a motivation for life 一个生活的动力 ...freedom… psychological care and support from people around them...the instinct to survive 本能生存...a sense of identity 认同感….worth,…..a belief, actually people really need a belief, that is to say your own world, it needs to be independent enough, complete enough...respect, (girlfriend agrees) actually...respect。
1:36 (forest scenes, wife brings out morning coffee to the teacher) People most of all need love. Love is the greatest power in the world. The heart of Christianity is love. God has poured out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. All the work that the Holy Spirit does in our lives is related to love. Every Christian who has truly repented, has the Holy Spirit living in their heart. In Ephesians 5:18 it says: “Be filled with the Spirit”. We already have the Spirit but we need to keep being filled with Him. Looking at it in another way, not every Christian is filled with the Spirit moment by moment. In the original Greek sentence it is a present continuous tense which means “keep being filled with the Spirit”. Again and again. The Holy Spirit is happy to fill us. The problem is whether we want to or not. Even though a person may be a Christian, he might not be filled with the Holy Spirit. This works something like the way a barbecue does. Even though we may have already started the fire, we still need to fan the flames to make them really hot. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. Perhaps burning like the small flame of a match. But we need to let this flame turn into a big burning fire. That is what being filled with the Spirit is like.
3:40 TR asks LZ if she has been filled with the Spirit. She says “Yes, when I. was filled with the Spirit I felt very full of love, which enabled me to go beyond my own limitations. I was also better able to understand the needs of others, to be more patient and accepting of them.
4:00 Teacher continues: People have different feelings and views of the Holy Spirit’s filling. From Scripture we can see five different kinds of situations. Maybe your situation is like one of them?
1. One kind of person is hungry to be filled. Maybe you have heard about being filled with God’s love and really want it. This can be like the experience of the disciples whom Jesus told wait and pray. On the day of Pentecost (Animated Cartoon: “ Acts 2 says: 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.”
If you long for Spirit filling, you will be filled.
2. People willing to receive. Perhaps you may be thinking. I’m not really longing for this, but I’m willing to open my heart to receive. this is something like Bible’s description of the Samaritans who had received the word. Peter and John traveled there. ANIMATED CARTOON Acts 8 says: 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:15-18.
If you are willing to open your heart, you can receive the Holy Spirit today.
3. (6:29) The third kind of people are those who resist the Holy Spirit. Maybe you are thinking. I really don’t like this. I don’t understand why I should come here. This is all nonsense. (无稽之谈 Wújī zhī tán ) Actually there has never been anyone as hostile to Christians as the apostle Paul. He persecuted Christians. Acts 8:3 says: “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. When Stephan, the first martyred Christian [ 殉道] was being harmed, Paul (aka Saul) was happy. ANIMATED CARTOON Saul went to Damascus to remind the Jews there to watch out for the Christians. While on the road, he met the resurrected Jesus. His eyes were suddenly blinded. God sent a man named Ananias to pray for him. Ananias said: ”Brother Saul, The Lord who appeared to you on the road was Jesus. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. From Saul’s eyes something Iike scales fell off. He could see again.Then he got up and was baptized. After eating he regained his strength. He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for a few days, preaching Jesus in the synagogues there. He said that Jesus was God’s Son. Such a great enemy of Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit after he met Jesus. Even more, he immediately began to tell the crowds Jesus was alive. He had met him. He loved him.
8:29 (Testimony Zhou Yu) I once thought that I was really like a philosopher. I read many philosophical books trying to understand the meaning of life from the angle of philosophy. I searched, I read books and smoked cigarettes. That was the university life in those days. I felt stifled and could find no meaning in life. My classmates thought I was too serious. I thought so, too. Then at university I met some Christian students. I saw that they were very happy and had a lot of hope. That is the time I realized that it is only in knowing God that life has meaning. They also told me that the Holy Spirit came from God and helps us to understand the truth. I was very curious about this and really wanted to know this Holy Spirit. I had no idea that this would happen when I was baptized. It was pretty cold then in a small bathroom in the student dorms. Then my pastor poured a bucket of cold water all over me. Wow, that was shivering cold! Then my mouth spoke out a language that I did not know. But most importantly, I felt on the inside a kind of warmth, a kind of joy. It was a kind of...of...sort of a freedom inside. I felt like I was being hugged by love itself. Later I understood that these kinds of things happen when the Holy Spirit fills you. I discovered that the Holy Spirit is a friend who is always with you. So there was no more need for cigarettes. The addiction was gone. For me this was a life changing experience. But at the same time it is a very natural experience. I no longer feel that I am a stranger to the Holy Spirit. Now I feel that he is a close friend.
4. (10:54) The fourth kind is the person who is not yet informed. 不知情的人 You might say, I have been to church, or go often, but you’ve never heard anything about this kind of thing. Acts 19 describes this kind of story. Paul came to a city called Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit….Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
5. (11:46) The Hopeless Person. You may think, A kind of experience like being filled with the Holy Spirit will never happen to me. Or you might be one who says “I’m only someone with a little bit of interest in faith. I’m not anything like those really devoted people.” Acts 10 tells about a Roman named Cornelius. One day God sent an angel to speak to him, telling him to invite a man named Peter to come visit him. So Peter went to Cornelius’s home to tell them the good news of Jesus. Both Jews and non-Jews (called Gentiles) were there. Then an amazing thing happened. This is how Acts 10: 44-47 describes it: While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. ...Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” The Jews had thought that the Holy Spirit would only be poured out on Jews. But the Bible declares that this is not true. The Holy Spirit is for everyone, regardless of race or color. 并不分种族肤色.
13:15 (Hosts walking by the water) LR - I was the fourth type of person. I had never heard until I was filled with the Holy Spirit. But on the day I was filled with the Spirit, I felt deeply that I was loved and had worth, regardless of race or color. I was that type of person: when I hungered more and more for the Holy Spirit and opened my heart further to him, I was able to experience more of him.
14:04 (Teacher and wife walking in forest) The feeling of being filled by the Holy Spirit is to experience his love. God pours out the love of God in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We don’t know all the details 详情 of the day of Pentecost, but when the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit they had an external, bodily reaction. Peter said there was something that seemed to be fire and the sound of wind. Sometimes when people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they feel a kind of fire burning inside of them. Of course this is not a real fire. When some people are filled they they feel heat in their palm 手掌 or arm 手臂 . I know this has nothing to do with the room temperature.
I like being in nature, leaving the noise, busyness and pollution of the city. The gentle blowing of a breeze 清风拂面 feels really good. It can cheer you up 为之一振 and make you feel full of vitality. Wind in Hebrew is “Ruach”, which also means “breathing” and “Spirit”. When a person is filled with the Spirit, it is as if God’s breath is blowing his life into us. Some people can feel trembling eyelids 眼皮颤动 (chàn) or continuous deep breathing. Some people even feel wind blowing on them. These are all normal occurrences. They are your body expressing on the outside what is happening on the inside. However these bodily reactions do not necessarily happen to everyone. If it does happen do not be puzzled or afraid. Or if it doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. The important thing is that you are experiencing God’s love in your deepest heart. The cross helps us to know God’s love. Because Jesus died for you, this is how you know that God loves you. We all have needs and we all hunger for love, for caring. Whether you are insanely rich 富可敌国 or have nothing, you can still experience God’s love through the Holy Spirit. Let us praise God from our inner being and express our love to him. Just like those Gentiles who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They all spoke in tongues. They opened their mouth and praised God. Those who rejoice in God can’t help but praise God. 情不自禁 Praise is a method of expressing love to God. Different nations have different ways of praising God. Some by music that intertwines into a harmonious symphony. 交织成和谐的交响乐 Praise not only expresses our gratitude to God, it also helps remove our distance from other people.
17:16 Fu Jiming 符基明 discusses worship. Worship is a wonderful thing. Through worship we can feely make requests to God, and express our thanks and love. The method or manner we use to worship is not what is most important. Worship is not only singing a song. Or only going to church on Sunday to sing or clap to the music. True worship is giving thanks, worship, praise and love to God every day. We use our lives to worship God when we experience God’s love through the power of the Holy Spirit.
18:42 (Teacher) Sometimes words are not enough to express our feeling. Maybe you have also experienced this. You want to express a feeling but just can’t find the right words.字眼 This can happen when talking with people and even more when talking with God. Acts 10:46 tells us that some people who were filled with the Holy Spirit could speak in “languages”/ “tongues”). This was a kind of language coming from the Spirit, a new kind of language, a language of love not limited by speech or vocabulary. Speaking in tongues comes from a deep desire to express thanks to God. But I need to explain one thing. Speaking in tongues is not a must for every Christian. It is not the mark (标签) of being a Christian. Nor is it a necessary sign (标志) or the only sign that you are filled with the Spirit. This has nothing to do with whether your faith is real or not. Nor does it mean that you are a more ‘spiritual’ person.
So why do we bring up speaking on tongues now? Because it is often the first supernatural gift people receive. In the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” This speaks of two kinds of languages. One kind refers to languages of this world. The other refers to the languages of angels. The second one is a kind of prayer language. A language that you do not understand. It bypasses the mind. Sometimes we see people receiving a spiritual gift, then speaking a language which we can identify as another nation’s language. But most often there is a language which we cannot understand. That is the language of angels. In first Corinthians 14:2 Paul says” “Those who speak in tongues, are not speaking to people but to God…” In other words, speaking in tongues during prayer is speaking directly to God, expressing the feelings of the heart. But no matter what else, if there is no love, then it is just empty talk. Love is the most important.
Now, concerning speaking in tongues we have to avoid two opposite problems, both of which deviate from the Bible’s teaching. (偏差 piānchā bias, deviation). First Corinthians 14 clearly teaches this. The first problem is abusing the gift of speaking in tongues. (滥用) Paul said not to constantly speak in tongues during the meeting. Perhaps receiving this gift caused the believers to get too excited. Some today even speak in tongues when they preach. When they do this, nobody can understand. Paul said this has absolutely no benefit: “Speaking five words with understanding is better than 10,000 sentences with tongues.” The other area of deviating from scripture is to oppose speaking in tongues. 抗拒 Paul said: “Do not forbid speaking in tongues”. If tongues are spoken publicly they must be translated. That means that someone stands up to explain what the message meant. Paul tended to encourage the private practice of speaking in tongues. He affirmed that he spoke in tongues more than most of the people. He said that we should pray with the spirit and sing with the spirit. We can all participate in this. 我们都可以参与在其中
22:27 (Testimony Liu Yilin) My deepest experience of the Holy Spirit was probably the beginning of last year. I had the biggest incident of my life, because I broke up with my boyfriend of eight years. I was devastated. I stayed in my home crying three days. I felt that my life had collapsed.崩塌
This also caused me to lose some of my faith in God. If you really care 在乎 for me how could you let so many years of affection suddenly end. At that time I felt that there was no way I could stay home alone. Thankfully I had a very good friend at church. I gave her a call and told her I was in a was feeling terrible, 我的心情太糟 and asked to stay with her for a few days. One day while staying with her, she said she was going to go eat with a couple of friends, and asked me to come. While we were eating I suddenly told them I had been dumped, and asked if they could comfort me a little. This was quite different from my normal personality. These girls, who I didn’t even know yet, offered to pray for me. I said: “Okay, lets do it.” These two girls each held one of my hands and began to pray in tongues. This was like a series of sounds that I couldn’t understand. 连串One gave me a translation beginning with: “My dear daughter”. My heart really shook and I cried. She said, “Actually you do not fear your breakup, you fear that no one will love you.”I had not realized this fear, but when God spoke that out, I knew that what he described was indeed me. Then during that time,(期间) I received many personal messages from these people who did not know me. I can confirm they were messages from God because they involved things that nobody else knew about. Those two friends really did not know me. Then I realized that this was actually direct knowledge of God’s love for me, his will for me, and his plan for me - that they are all the best. So I was willing to receive what God had arranged for me.
25:15 (Teacher and wife walking in the woods) Summing up, being filled with the Holy Spirit is letting our reason, feelings and will be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we should keep being filled by the Holy Spirit, to be better able to live the life of God’s children in his manner and power. Are you willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
I will mention several attitudes that block us from being filled with the Spirit. The first is doubt. Doubt is thinking that this could never happen to me. If this is your attitude, you need to remember that Jesus said he will give you what you ask for:
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”
The second barrier is Fear. You believe that you are able to receive, but I’m not sure that I want it. Perhaps you worry the something terrible will happen, or something bad. Actually, you can relax. Here is what Jesus says in Luke 11:11-13 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
God does not give you terrible things. He gives things that are amazing and wonderful. The Holy Spirit is indeed that.
The third barrier is to feel you are not worthy. You may feel that because you recently became a Christian, you still don’t understand much. You don’t know a lot about how to pray. You may even think I still have many problem areas that haven’t changed yet. My life is a mess. But Jesus says how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The Holy Spirit is not only given to mature Christians. Instead he is give to those who ask for him. So how can we not ask God? Right now, I ask you to pray together with me to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. We can also open our arms as a symbol that we are willing to open up the door of our heart, that we are willing to receive.
Now, let us lift up our hands to pray: “Lord, Today I want to open up my heart to welcome your Holy Spirit. To receive the blessing that you give me. To receive the filling of the Spirit. Holy Spirit I ask you to come.”
Title: How to be filled with the Spirit
Question | What do you feel is the deepest level of need that people have?
...two people think for a while, but don’t say anything...it is mysterious...it is different for different people...air and water...cooked rice...love...being with family, fried pork and spicy Sichuan pepper shrimp...a motivation for life 一个生活的动力 ...freedom… psychological care and support from people around them...the instinct to survive 本能生存...a sense of identity 认同感….worth,…..a belief, actually people really need a belief, that is to say your own world, it needs to be independent enough, complete enough...respect, (girlfriend agrees) actually...respect。
1:36 (forest scenes, wife brings out morning coffee to the teacher) People most of all need love. Love is the greatest power in the world. The heart of Christianity is love. God has poured out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. All the work that the Holy Spirit does in our lives is related to love. Every Christian who has truly repented, has the Holy Spirit living in their heart. In Ephesians 5:18 it says: “Be filled with the Spirit”. We already have the Spirit but we need to keep being filled with Him. Looking at it in another way, not every Christian is filled with the Spirit moment by moment. In the original Greek sentence it is a present continuous tense which means “keep being filled with the Spirit”. Again and again. The Holy Spirit is happy to fill us. The problem is whether we want to or not. Even though a person may be a Christian, he might not be filled with the Holy Spirit. This works something like the way a barbecue does. Even though we may have already started the fire, we still need to fan the flames to make them really hot. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. Perhaps burning like the small flame of a match. But we need to let this flame turn into a big burning fire. That is what being filled with the Spirit is like.
3:40 TR asks LZ if she has been filled with the Spirit. She says “Yes, when I. was filled with the Spirit I felt very full of love, which enabled me to go beyond my own limitations. I was also better able to understand the needs of others, to be more patient and accepting of them.
4:00 Teacher continues: People have different feelings and views of the Holy Spirit’s filling. From Scripture we can see five different kinds of situations. Maybe your situation is like one of them?
1. One kind of person is hungry to be filled. Maybe you have heard about being filled with God’s love and really want it. This can be like the experience of the disciples whom Jesus told wait and pray. On the day of Pentecost (Animated Cartoon: “ Acts 2 says: 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.”
If you long for Spirit filling, you will be filled.
2. People willing to receive. Perhaps you may be thinking. I’m not really longing for this, but I’m willing to open my heart to receive. this is something like Bible’s description of the Samaritans who had received the word. Peter and John traveled there. ANIMATED CARTOON Acts 8 says: 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:15-18.
If you are willing to open your heart, you can receive the Holy Spirit today.
3. (6:29) The third kind of people are those who resist the Holy Spirit. Maybe you are thinking. I really don’t like this. I don’t understand why I should come here. This is all nonsense. (无稽之谈 Wújī zhī tán ) Actually there has never been anyone as hostile to Christians as the apostle Paul. He persecuted Christians. Acts 8:3 says: “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. When Stephan, the first martyred Christian [ 殉道] was being harmed, Paul (aka Saul) was happy. ANIMATED CARTOON Saul went to Damascus to remind the Jews there to watch out for the Christians. While on the road, he met the resurrected Jesus. His eyes were suddenly blinded. God sent a man named Ananias to pray for him. Ananias said: ”Brother Saul, The Lord who appeared to you on the road was Jesus. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. From Saul’s eyes something Iike scales fell off. He could see again.Then he got up and was baptized. After eating he regained his strength. He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for a few days, preaching Jesus in the synagogues there. He said that Jesus was God’s Son. Such a great enemy of Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit after he met Jesus. Even more, he immediately began to tell the crowds Jesus was alive. He had met him. He loved him.
8:29 (Testimony Zhou Yu) I once thought that I was really like a philosopher. I read many philosophical books trying to understand the meaning of life from the angle of philosophy. I searched, I read books and smoked cigarettes. That was the university life in those days. I felt stifled and could find no meaning in life. My classmates thought I was too serious. I thought so, too. Then at university I met some Christian students. I saw that they were very happy and had a lot of hope. That is the time I realized that it is only in knowing God that life has meaning. They also told me that the Holy Spirit came from God and helps us to understand the truth. I was very curious about this and really wanted to know this Holy Spirit. I had no idea that this would happen when I was baptized. It was pretty cold then in a small bathroom in the student dorms. Then my pastor poured a bucket of cold water all over me. Wow, that was shivering cold! Then my mouth spoke out a language that I did not know. But most importantly, I felt on the inside a kind of warmth, a kind of joy. It was a kind of...of...sort of a freedom inside. I felt like I was being hugged by love itself. Later I understood that these kinds of things happen when the Holy Spirit fills you. I discovered that the Holy Spirit is a friend who is always with you. So there was no more need for cigarettes. The addiction was gone. For me this was a life changing experience. But at the same time it is a very natural experience. I no longer feel that I am a stranger to the Holy Spirit. Now I feel that he is a close friend.
4. (10:54) The fourth kind is the person who is not yet informed. 不知情的人 You might say, I have been to church, or go often, but you’ve never heard anything about this kind of thing. Acts 19 describes this kind of story. Paul came to a city called Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit….Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
5. (11:46) The Hopeless Person. You may think, A kind of experience like being filled with the Holy Spirit will never happen to me. Or you might be one who says “I’m only someone with a little bit of interest in faith. I’m not anything like those really devoted people.” Acts 10 tells about a Roman named Cornelius. One day God sent an angel to speak to him, telling him to invite a man named Peter to come visit him. So Peter went to Cornelius’s home to tell them the good news of Jesus. Both Jews and non-Jews (called Gentiles) were there. Then an amazing thing happened. This is how Acts 10: 44-47 describes it: While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. ...Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” The Jews had thought that the Holy Spirit would only be poured out on Jews. But the Bible declares that this is not true. The Holy Spirit is for everyone, regardless of race or color. 并不分种族肤色.
13:15 (Hosts walking by the water) LR - I was the fourth type of person. I had never heard until I was filled with the Holy Spirit. But on the day I was filled with the Spirit, I felt deeply that I was loved and had worth, regardless of race or color. I was that type of person: when I hungered more and more for the Holy Spirit and opened my heart further to him, I was able to experience more of him.
14:04 (Teacher and wife walking in forest) The feeling of being filled by the Holy Spirit is to experience his love. God pours out the love of God in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We don’t know all the details 详情 of the day of Pentecost, but when the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit they had an external, bodily reaction. Peter said there was something that seemed to be fire and the sound of wind. Sometimes when people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they feel a kind of fire burning inside of them. Of course this is not a real fire. When some people are filled they they feel heat in their palm 手掌 or arm 手臂 . I know this has nothing to do with the room temperature.
I like being in nature, leaving the noise, busyness and pollution of the city. The gentle blowing of a breeze 清风拂面 feels really good. It can cheer you up 为之一振 and make you feel full of vitality. Wind in Hebrew is “Ruach”, which also means “breathing” and “Spirit”. When a person is filled with the Spirit, it is as if God’s breath is blowing his life into us. Some people can feel trembling eyelids 眼皮颤动 (chàn) or continuous deep breathing. Some people even feel wind blowing on them. These are all normal occurrences. They are your body expressing on the outside what is happening on the inside. However these bodily reactions do not necessarily happen to everyone. If it does happen do not be puzzled or afraid. Or if it doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. The important thing is that you are experiencing God’s love in your deepest heart. The cross helps us to know God’s love. Because Jesus died for you, this is how you know that God loves you. We all have needs and we all hunger for love, for caring. Whether you are insanely rich 富可敌国 or have nothing, you can still experience God’s love through the Holy Spirit. Let us praise God from our inner being and express our love to him. Just like those Gentiles who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They all spoke in tongues. They opened their mouth and praised God. Those who rejoice in God can’t help but praise God. 情不自禁 Praise is a method of expressing love to God. Different nations have different ways of praising God. Some by music that intertwines into a harmonious symphony. 交织成和谐的交响乐 Praise not only expresses our gratitude to God, it also helps remove our distance from other people.
17:16 Fu Jiming 符基明 discusses worship. Worship is a wonderful thing. Through worship we can feely make requests to God, and express our thanks and love. The method or manner we use to worship is not what is most important. Worship is not only singing a song. Or only going to church on Sunday to sing or clap to the music. True worship is giving thanks, worship, praise and love to God every day. We use our lives to worship God when we experience God’s love through the power of the Holy Spirit.
18:42 (Teacher) Sometimes words are not enough to express our feeling. Maybe you have also experienced this. You want to express a feeling but just can’t find the right words.字眼 This can happen when talking with people and even more when talking with God. Acts 10:46 tells us that some people who were filled with the Holy Spirit could speak in “languages”/ “tongues”). This was a kind of language coming from the Spirit, a new kind of language, a language of love not limited by speech or vocabulary. Speaking in tongues comes from a deep desire to express thanks to God. But I need to explain one thing. Speaking in tongues is not a must for every Christian. It is not the mark (标签) of being a Christian. Nor is it a necessary sign (标志) or the only sign that you are filled with the Spirit. This has nothing to do with whether your faith is real or not. Nor does it mean that you are a more ‘spiritual’ person.
So why do we bring up speaking on tongues now? Because it is often the first supernatural gift people receive. In the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” This speaks of two kinds of languages. One kind refers to languages of this world. The other refers to the languages of angels. The second one is a kind of prayer language. A language that you do not understand. It bypasses the mind. Sometimes we see people receiving a spiritual gift, then speaking a language which we can identify as another nation’s language. But most often there is a language which we cannot understand. That is the language of angels. In first Corinthians 14:2 Paul says” “Those who speak in tongues, are not speaking to people but to God…” In other words, speaking in tongues during prayer is speaking directly to God, expressing the feelings of the heart. But no matter what else, if there is no love, then it is just empty talk. Love is the most important.
Now, concerning speaking in tongues we have to avoid two opposite problems, both of which deviate from the Bible’s teaching. (偏差 piānchā bias, deviation). First Corinthians 14 clearly teaches this. The first problem is abusing the gift of speaking in tongues. (滥用) Paul said not to constantly speak in tongues during the meeting. Perhaps receiving this gift caused the believers to get too excited. Some today even speak in tongues when they preach. When they do this, nobody can understand. Paul said this has absolutely no benefit: “Speaking five words with understanding is better than 10,000 sentences with tongues.” The other area of deviating from scripture is to oppose speaking in tongues. 抗拒 Paul said: “Do not forbid speaking in tongues”. If tongues are spoken publicly they must be translated. That means that someone stands up to explain what the message meant. Paul tended to encourage the private practice of speaking in tongues. He affirmed that he spoke in tongues more than most of the people. He said that we should pray with the spirit and sing with the spirit. We can all participate in this. 我们都可以参与在其中
22:27 (Testimony Liu Yilin) My deepest experience of the Holy Spirit was probably the beginning of last year. I had the biggest incident of my life, because I broke up with my boyfriend of eight years. I was devastated. I stayed in my home crying three days. I felt that my life had collapsed.崩塌
This also caused me to lose some of my faith in God. If you really care 在乎 for me how could you let so many years of affection suddenly end. At that time I felt that there was no way I could stay home alone. Thankfully I had a very good friend at church. I gave her a call and told her I was in a was feeling terrible, 我的心情太糟 and asked to stay with her for a few days. One day while staying with her, she said she was going to go eat with a couple of friends, and asked me to come. While we were eating I suddenly told them I had been dumped, and asked if they could comfort me a little. This was quite different from my normal personality. These girls, who I didn’t even know yet, offered to pray for me. I said: “Okay, lets do it.” These two girls each held one of my hands and began to pray in tongues. This was like a series of sounds that I couldn’t understand. 连串One gave me a translation beginning with: “My dear daughter”. My heart really shook and I cried. She said, “Actually you do not fear your breakup, you fear that no one will love you.”I had not realized this fear, but when God spoke that out, I knew that what he described was indeed me. Then during that time,(期间) I received many personal messages from these people who did not know me. I can confirm they were messages from God because they involved things that nobody else knew about. Those two friends really did not know me. Then I realized that this was actually direct knowledge of God’s love for me, his will for me, and his plan for me - that they are all the best. So I was willing to receive what God had arranged for me.
25:15 (Teacher and wife walking in the woods) Summing up, being filled with the Holy Spirit is letting our reason, feelings and will be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we should keep being filled by the Holy Spirit, to be better able to live the life of God’s children in his manner and power. Are you willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
I will mention several attitudes that block us from being filled with the Spirit. The first is doubt. Doubt is thinking that this could never happen to me. If this is your attitude, you need to remember that Jesus said he will give you what you ask for:
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”
The second barrier is Fear. You believe that you are able to receive, but I’m not sure that I want it. Perhaps you worry the something terrible will happen, or something bad. Actually, you can relax. Here is what Jesus says in Luke 11:11-13 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
God does not give you terrible things. He gives things that are amazing and wonderful. The Holy Spirit is indeed that.
The third barrier is to feel you are not worthy. You may feel that because you recently became a Christian, you still don’t understand much. You don’t know a lot about how to pray. You may even think I still have many problem areas that haven’t changed yet. My life is a mess. But Jesus says how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The Holy Spirit is not only given to mature Christians. Instead he is give to those who ask for him. So how can we not ask God? Right now, I ask you to pray together with me to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. We can also open our arms as a symbol that we are willing to open up the door of our heart, that we are willing to receive.
Now, let us lift up our hands to pray: “Lord, Today I want to open up my heart to welcome your Holy Spirit. To receive the blessing that you give me. To receive the filling of the Spirit. Holy Spirit I ask you to come.”