How Much More: How To Live With More of the Holy Spirit

Okay, you guys. I want to start with a testimony of a time in my life. There was a time of great lack. It was a time of incredible need. It was a time that has been among many times in my life. I have cried out to God and asked for more of the Holy Spirit. I'm grateful. This is one testimony among many that I could share with you. This is a more recent testimony. So this particular experience of crying out for more of the Holy Spirit came after many years of incredible challenge that I personally have walked through. We as a church here had walked through and I was in a week during those years. It was especially challenging, high pressure, incredible need for God week. It was last October. It came to October 10th. It was a Friday night. It happened to be Catherine's and my 33 anniversary. Else have to be a prayer

and worship meeting here. We were under enough pressure. We basically looked at each other and said, this is not going to be a very fun anniversary dinner. If we go out, let's just go to the prayer and worship night at rest. So we showed up here utterly exhausted. We have been fasting. We have been praying. We've been crying out to God to meet us. Many here have been fasting and praying for so many things in the Lord. And I got here about 20 of us, which basically at that point you're in the BB banging around in the barrel status in this massive space. But 20 faithful souls gathered here on a Friday night. And honestly, it's like the first note of sung worship began. And immediately I was sort of wonderfully jerked out of me a little self-pity and a whole lot of self need and crying out to God and the spirit of God fell in power and worship.

And I realized, Oh my word, something's happening here. This literally feels like the same space when a thousand people are packed in here at 6 a.m. on Easter day morning. It's electric. It's it's full and others are sensing it from the Lord as well. And father Brett was leading the prayer meeting and worship time. And he had us come up and where people are kneeling here, people are there where some of us are kneeling in front of the altar like we sometimes do. And as I'm kneeling, I'm sending the Lord. So just just just go all go all in. So I I just spread myself out in prayer and prostrate there before the altar. And it was literally in that moment, like somebody took six heavy sandbags, starting with my ankles and placed them on my frame from my feet to my head. Physically speaking, I couldn't move. Now, that could be concerning, but it was very

consoling. Maybe a little like being tucked in when you're a kid. And I I couldn't I couldn't get my head up off the floor and I was trying, I I was actually in part just ministered to by what God was doing and in part curious, like I get my head up. I can't get my head up. Well, what are you doing in it? The Lord just began to minister a sense of closeness, a sense of the Holy Spirit's ministry to me. I begin to have a sense of maybe some things that he shares and things with me about ministry and our churches. And I share those with our leaders and working through what was of the Lord. What was God? It's all this is happening. And it's really, really powerful. And it's happening. And I'm losing track of time. But I'm realizing I can only see this way because my head's this way. Nobody else is around

anymore. They're moving out. I realize, oh, no, Father Brett's going to preach. And I know, Father Brett, I know what he'll do. That rascal will actually just stand astride of me as if it's no big deal and just preach the gospel. And while I think that's also like I didn't want to be the one, you know, at his feet. I mean, I love being at Father Brett's feet, but I was like, God, now I'm actually I know you all may not think I get awkward, but I'm feeling awkward. I'm feeling like, ah, I mean, I can't move some. I'm hoping like somebody please come. I'm like, this is getting embarrassing. And and sure enough, my wife, she's going to come to my rescue. So Catherine comes up to me. I'm like, oh, praise the Lord. Now, before I tell you what Catherine asked me, I need to explain something about Catherine. Catherine is a very spiritual woman.

She loves the Lord. She actually believes deeply in the power of God. But one thing Catherine can't stand is spiritual pretense. She can't stand it when somebody spiritualizing something. And she's always a little curious, like it's just being put on what's going on here. So you need to know that before I tell you the question, she's going to ask me. You also need to know that I have never thrown my back out and had to lie on the floor. You need to know that I've never been so tired just to stretch out and take a nap in front of the altar.

Now, if you're staying up all night with some of you crazy people on Easter Day, I have maybe taken a short nap over there in a private way. So Catherine comes up and she leans down. I think she's going to say something like, what are you hearing from the Lord or praise the Lord? This is an answer to our prayers. And she says, so is this spiritual or is this physical? I'm like this. It's spiritual.

I keep with my hand, but I want to. This is the Holy Spirit. Oh, she says, no, no, no, I say, my son, Ellison, was leading worship. Get, get Ellison to help pick me up. Like somebody's got to pick me up. Brett's going to preach and I don't want to be here when he preaches. Ellison is leading worship. Totally worthless to me. Father Brett finally comes over, has mercy on me. He tries to pick me up, but I have no body tone. I can't help him. So God bless that man. He kind of awkwardly gets me up and he literally dragged me with my heels going like this over to my chair. And I just am there with the Lord about an hour. I'm finally able to sort of drive home. Okay. So let me share the risk in sharing and starting with that testimony. When I teach about how to ask the Holy Spirit for more,

here's the risk of sharing that testimony is that it is a bit of an unusual testimony. And you might think that what I'm teaching on this morning is that you should have that experience that that's actually what it means to ask for more of the Holy Spirit. That's not what I'm teaching on this morning, but here's the risk of just sharing that risk.

The risk of sharing that risk is you might also think, Oh good. So I'd be off the hook for that ever happening to me. I hope that as I teach through Jesus's invitation, that your heart will be to be on the hook. I hope that your heart will be that whatever the Holy Spirit desires to do in my life of love to others, in my evangelism, in my mission, in wonders inside, whatever he wants to do, I actually want exactly that because I want him and I want more of him. And I believe Jesus's invitation when he says, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those of you who ask him, we're starting a series this morning called how much more. It's a series that I'll be teaching whenever I'm up preaching from this month through next January. We'll do a how much more serious fundamental to understanding how much more the more of God, the more that

God does in our lives, the abundant Christian life fundamental to it is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything else I'm going to teach on will come back to this. This is why we're starting here. We're also starting a ministry year. We're starting a new season of ministry as students come back and as we move into the fall. God willing, we're starting a year of waiting on God together as a church. We typified this in the spring as this. Let this be a year where we're preparing the way for the Lord to come in power to our church. We're in a place of great need. We need a new senior pastor. We've been trying for a year and a half. We don't have that leader yet.

How much more with the Holy Spirit will the father give the Holy Spirit to those of us who ask him. So I am intentionally trying to queue up a year of asking a year of the Holy Spirit, a year of hundreds of testimonies of the power of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Praise the Lord. So turn to Luke 11. It was just read for us next week. We're going to work on how much more and the life of prayer. OK, so next week we're going to work on that section there versus five through ten.

Today we're going to work on verses 11 to 13 foundational to the verses that come before it. We're going to break this passage into three parts. Number one is ask for more. Verse 13 there. What I want to do is a kind of biblical theology of asking for more a biblical theology of more. That would be where most of the energy is going to go this morning. Then we're going to look at verses 11 to 12. Ask for him. I will do some not nearly enough, but some on who is the Holy Spirit and who is it that we're asking for as per Jesus's invitation. And finally, I'll conclude with how more can become less.

How more the Holy Spirit can in our lives become less of the Holy Spirit. What father among you, if his son asked for a fish instead of a fish, give him a serpent. Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion. Verse 13. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Let's look at this. First, let's work on asking for more. Let's talk about the biblical reason to ask for more. In verse 13, both the words more and ask are

used. So we have an understanding of why more is so important. Based first on the character of the father, based second on the call of the Christian. OK, so we're going to work on more. It's first based on the character of the father, according to Jesus, and second is based on the calling of the Christian. What Jesus is doing. You don't have to understand all the parable and some folks like there's a scorpion look like an egg. I think that's fine. But the purpose of this parable is actually very simple. Fathers who have sinful natures.

If their children ask them for something, unless they're completely and totally warped, are going to give their child something good for them, and particularly if their child is hungry, they're going to give them food. That's a baseline understanding. The point is, how much more will your heavenly father do? Just his point is, let me yet again reveal to you the character of the father. Whenever we think more and we think, is it right to ask for more? Is it right to want more? We go to the character and the fundamental attributes of God, the father, and one of his attributes is abundance. One of God's attributes is more. He is the generous father, the father who spoke creation into being. We're more upon more upon more has been given us in the beauty of nature, in the beauty of God's word, in the beauty of humanity. He's the God of more who says to nature and designs nature be fruitful

and multiply more. He says to male and female made in the image of God in holy marriage, be fruitful and multiply. Isn't it ironic that in a society in a season of such incredible prosperity we can feel like we have so little? Isn't it amazing that if we're really honest there's still a craving, longing, maybe even as per these two parables that are about hunger, hunger for more. And we have a father who is more and he loves to give more. This is fundamental to who our father is revealed to us to be, but not just our father. This is the character of the father. But we learn something about the Christian life from Jesus

to those who ask him. Very important premise there. The father is more. The father is more to those who ask him. So what Jesus is doing here, he's making clear there will be those who ask the father for more of the Holy Spirit, who are my followers, and there will be those who won't, who don't. Maybe they don't know that they can. One reason why I'm teaching it this morning. But there will be askers and there will be non askers. That's part of the Christian life. Understand that part of your Christian life is learning the ask. It's learning how to ask for more of the Holy Spirit. It's learning when to ask for more of the Holy Spirit. One of the key qualities of the Christian is that they are an asker. They understand that that as more and abundance is fundamental to who the father is. So based on that, we are then those who ask the father.

This animates our Christian life. This makes our prayer life extremely interesting. This makes discernment and fellowship with each other extremely powerful. We're going to galvanize the whole church around asking God. We've done this for decades. You know how exciting it is to ask God together and then see God provide together. And then you look at each other and go, he did it. God provided. It turns out the Bible is true. Hallelujah. Oh, I pray there'll be hundreds of more testimonies. I pray that my little story about Abigail off the floor will be child's play compared to the testimonies you're going to have after this fall, seeking the Lord completely, the father who's generous, asking for more. Let's be clear about a proper biblical more and an improper biblical more. I'm going to give you a quote from a theologian. I really appreciate Father Simon Ponsonby. He's an Anglican theologian, and his book more has been a great help to

me as I thought about this. Father Simon writes that in light of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, he writes, there is no more to be given, but there is more to be taken. Here's an improper understanding of biblical more. Jesus, Jesus needs to do no more. We have everything once and for all in the cross of Jesus Christ. He has done it all. As I have often taught, God does everything. We do something. So we talk about more. Let's be really clear. We don't need any more from Jesus. But Father Ponsonby argues we can take

more. We can ask for more. We can learn to overcome our unbelief and believe God for more in any circumstance. That's important. So it's kind of like a trust fund is given to a child. A particular amount of money is put into that trust fund. The amount of money is invested. It earns some on the principal. And then the child decides or when they come of age, decide just how much they're going to take. But be assured about this. The amount of our trust fund, it happens to be infinite. The interest numbers coming in on this trust fund happen to be cosmic. Oh, I dare you to try to deplete your Holy Spirit trust fund. Try. It'll be an adventure.

Fine point. There'll be Christians who ask for more of the Holy Spirit and live with more the Holy Spirit. And they'll be Christians who do not. I love Anglican theologian John Stott on this. John Stott, he's now with the Lord. I had a chance to hear him teach and preach when I was a week in college student. He's known for his beautiful and sober teaching of the Bible, his love for global Christianity. If you knew John Stott's work, he wasn't known as being a kind of insane, wild eyed, jumping around charismatic. That would not typify John Stott. Indeed, I heard him teach a wonderful teaching at Wheaton College in the 80s. Your mind matters. He's right. I totally agree. But here's what John Stott says about more of the Holy Spirit. I found this intriguing and it will have been a bit surprising. John Stott quote, What we need is not more learning.

Not that we don't need learning, not more eloquence, not more persuasion, not more organization, but more power from the Holy Spirit. So when we ask for more, we are asking with hunger and we're asking for the vividness of the Holy Spirit. The parable shows a friend is visiting who's hungry and another friend goes to his neighbor. I would look at this next week. I need more. I have nothing to set before him. It's a hunger, hunger parable. And we

ask for more. Hunger is a significant part of what motivates us to ask for more. I only had like 15 minutes after the 830 service. I had three or four people that chatted with me within 15 minutes. I was deeply moved by the hunger. They're almost all probably under 30. Their hunger for more of the Holy Spirit. Wow, did it touch me? One of them said, I just want to be on fire for God. Like I want to seriously spend my life for God. That's

hunger. That young person knows something about the Bible and there's a vividness. What was new about the Holy Spirit at Pentecost family of God when he was poured out upon the followers of Jesus? It was not the Holy Spirit himself. He's always been. He's co eternal with the father and the son. The Holy Spirit is not new, but there was a vividness. There was an intensification.

There was an embodiment with Holy Spirit comes in people's bodies. He had come upon kings in the Hebrew Scriptures. He comes upon artists. He comes upon prophets. Now he is coming upon all men and women as the prophet Joel had prophesied is coming into their bodies and they're speaking in languages they don't know. They're praying and healing for each other. They're seeing wonders and signs that mark their fellowship. That was new. That was vivid. That was intensification. The word intensification. It's definition is simply it is the act or process of making something stronger, something greater, something more extreme. And what is it that becomes greater or stronger or more extreme when the Holy Spirit is poured out and fills our hearts? What is it that becomes that? Well, of course, it's the Lord Jesus. It's our communion with him. It's our power from him. The Holy Spirit always leads us to more of the Lord Jesus.

Intensification of the Holy Spirit leads to the vividness and the power of Jesus himself. So this is our more ask. This is the power of it This is me in this moment realizing that I've lost my place in my notes. There we go. I got it

LFO Richard roll 14th century Oxford University academic theologian Richard roll wrote this is just three levels of Loving Christ in the Christian life. It's medieval theologian The first love is that we obey Jesus's commands. We are Christian. We follow Jesus. We obey his commands fundamental Christian identity The second level of loving Christ Richard roll writes is that our heart is constantly fixed on Jesus We and many of you know this place, right? We want to go from the place of obeying his commands We want to think about him as much as we can we call it practicing his presence Reflect on them we carry a crucifix or a cross in our pocket or we have an icon of Jesus I mean we want to know if we want to fix our gaze on him, but roll says there's a third level He says the love for Jesus Which sets you on fire?

And all who touch you who come near to you can feel the heat of it Later Danish philosopher several centuries later I don't know if he was reflecting on roll or just writing from his own thinking soaring Kierkegaard He wrote this in his journal soaring Kierkegaard writes quote Christianity is fire setting a Christian person is set on fire Resurrection let's be a fire church

What if our other sister churches in Wheaton have the same desire growing in there right now to be a fire church What if the greater Wheaton area became a fire city? What would that mean if we saw the Holy Spirit being poured out upon us in ways? We haven't seen before in manifestations and glory in a heart for the lost Can you imagine what would happen for the reality of the least in DuPage County? Can you imagine what would happen in regard to unity and power and healing of bodies and minds? In Wheaton in DuPage County would that to happen? Oh Lord start with us, but give us sister churches set us on fire So I'd be on fire as an individual walking in Jesus and set my church on fire Christianity is fire setting Kierkegaard said

We reminded of John the Baptist saying I came and I baptized you with water But he's pointing to Jesus this one here. He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit Hallelujah It's just there for the asking We know the content of our father's character and now we're getting clear about the calling of the Christian So who is this fire never? What is this fire referring to the Holy Spirit? Who is this fire this third person in the Trinity and what we see and the second main part is with we asking for him? Verses 11 to 12 and what we learn is that when we ask for the Holy Spirit We're asking for him who is always relative to the father and the son what we have from Jesus is a Trinitarian Teaching he's saying Jesus the embodied Jesus fully God fully man Incarnational inviter there in the body saying I've come to earth to invite you to ask the father it starts with Jesus

We see Jesus. We know Jesus. He says ask the father who is more who is the generous giver? We have the father who's the giver we have Jesus who's the inviter and they're saying he's saying ask my father for the Holy Spirit It's a beautiful Trinitarian connection and we know the Holy Spirit Who is the spirit of Jesus the Bible teaches who's the spirit of the father the Bible teaches and this Holy Spirit who we are? asking for This is the biblical conception especially in the Gospel of John, this is the conception given us by Augustine He is the Holy Spirit of love He is the person of love what Augustine has tried to say is that the father so loves the son and the son so loves The father that the love between them is actually a full-blown person of the Trinity And they have loved one another for all time and that they live in love for one another but their love is love

So it must be poured out It must be given to others in the sacrifice of Jesus and the generosity the father's heart who sends his only begotten Son and in this Holy Spirit who is the giver of life and love? Why would we not ask for more?

Get them just one moment. Let me just conclude with this before we get to that The greatest mark of the Holy Spirit is love that's the greatest move of the Holy Spirit's where he's always moving us He is the God of love He is also the God of truth, and we read in John chapter 16 He leads us into all truth There's a lot to do with your personal relationship with the Bible as I to do with reading the Bible and the power of the Holy Spirit that you may understand it that you may take it in that you may obey it all this requires the power of the Holy Spirit and in the word we also learn that one ways we minister the truth of God is first and foremost from the Bible, but we minister to each other and Sometimes in a very vivid way of understanding the Holy Spirit He gives us an understanding or a knowledge of what someone else might be going through just to show clearly

God is in this place He gives us a truth about what's happening for someone else. I have experienced this many times many of you experience this I deeply desire that hundreds of us are operating in this so that we're finding out how God is in this place as we Encourage one another with knowledge and love from the Holy Spirit. I Was late for a ministry conference that was happening here because of other ministry Responsibilities I got it here at the very end of the conference people were ministering people were praying for folks and I walked in this Space and immediately I sense the Holy Spirit say to me There's someone in this gathering among hundreds of people who was nicknamed squirrel. It was not a sweet squirrel squirrel cute It was it was mean. It was a mean nickname So I stepped up I hadn't even been here the team's like well What's Stuart doing here and when I just need to share I type this sense somebody here was named squirrel

It was a mean nickname And you just need to have that meanness lifted from your heart Literally while I'm sharing this the team shouldn't have been surprised, but they were literally backing off like this As in whoa, this is the step too far the squirrel prayers a step too far Like prayer for somebody's dad absolutely pay people's dad pray for a mom pay for the mom not the squirrel prayer never the squirrel prayer

So we finished up and they were the team was going to get lunch They say we'll we'll see you in five minutes, and I said yeah great I'll be there in five minutes, but I was there in 50 minutes. Why? Right because a dear young woman Waited to talk to me afterwards, and she said yeah, it's exactly what my grandmother called me. It was a mocking term I had no idea that the Lord can minister to me in this part of my heart That's what the Holy Spirit does he's the spirit of truth

He's a spirit of power DL Moody who has given us Moody Bible Institute one of the great gifts to our diocese and our Cathedral and Moody grads So one and more the Holy Spirit he prayed for more the Holy Spirit Spirit of God fell upon him on Wall Street in New York when he was doing a mission in 1871 the power was so intense moody later recorded. I had to say to God. Please stay your hand. I can't handle anymore the power was such

And of course he is the Holy Spirit of love that is the primary Manifestation I was at a conference with a friend They were in a non-christian marriage their spouse did not want them to come to this Christian conference Concerned they would return a hater

After this friend got home I asked this friend how it went and the friend said oh my word my spouse was blown away They literally said to me. I thought you would come home Hitler and You came home st. Francis Full of love for me your non-christian spouse

So, how does more become less If more so beautiful, how does it become less First of all for some of us have to admit we don't believe it We just we don't believe there's more You may not accept the argument. I've made you don't accept teaching of the scriptures in this regard or you just you just don't believe it

Or you want to believe it but you're ambivalent about it second category you're just ambivalent It's like you want more but you don't know what more is gonna lead to and you don't know how this is gonna work out And you don't know how this might expose you So you're ambivalent you're ambivalent about the more you're not saying no But you're not ready to say yes

Like that person I prayed for More might be coming less because you do have unconfessed sin in your life He is the Holy Spirit We all have sin in our lives. We all live lives of confession. That's not what I'm saying You may be working hard on some besetting sins. You're in accountability. You're repenting. That's not what I'm saying

I'm talking about and you probably have an idea what I'm talking about You got something you're hiding No one knows you haven't repented I I Could tell you based on the authority of the Bible there will be no more for you Until you repent which we're gonna have a chance to do in just a moment And receive the power of Jesus to forgive you

Finally maybe more has become less just because you're a heartbroken It's not sin. I Don't know it is heartbroken Some calamity Some crisis some broken relationship He will console you He will be gentle with you There's a lot you can't do in your life if you're in high crisis

But you can ask for more How Much more will have me father Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen