The Apostle Paul commands in Ephesians 5, verse 18 that we be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And therefore I'd like to try to answer two questions this morning.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

And how can a person be filled with the spirit.

And I think it might help you follow me

if I tell you in advance where I'm going.

So I'll start with my conclusions and then give you the biblical support. I think being

filled with the Holy Spirit means basically having great joy in God. And since the Bible teaches that the joy of the Lord is your strength, that means

that being filled with the Holy Spirit will also imply that we have great power

for the overcoming of besetting sin and for boldness in witness. Basically though, fullness of the Holy Spirit means radiant joy in God because the spirit who fills us is the spirit of joy that flows between the father and the

son because they have so much delight in each other.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be caught up into the radiance of the Holy Trinity so that we love and delight in God with the very love

and delight that he has in himself, the Father, in the son, and the son in the father.

They come to us, make their abode with us, commune with us, so that we love and delight in God with the very love of God.

And in answer to the second question, how do we arrive at such a position?

I believe the New Testament answer is by trusting in the God of hope,

really believing that God rains and that not a sparrow falls to the ground

apart from his will and that he rules this world for you and for everybody

who trust him.

If you believe that, you will be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Now, we live in a day when Pentecostalism has swept the third world in many places and is going great

guns in our own country and therefore I feel an obligation to offer an interpretation not only of the little text,

...