The Holy Spirit In Your House

This is North Way tape number 501. This message was given by Pastor Jay Passavant of North Way Christian community on May 18th, 1986. The title of this message is, The Holy Spirit in Your House. For most of us, what's lacking in our homes is not knowledge, it's experience. How many of you believe you know what you're supposed to do to cause your home to be full of the Holy Spirit and live for Jesus? How many think you know what you're supposed to do? How many find it's just the power to do it that you're kind of lacking in? That, for me, is something that weighs heavily on my own heart because I know I've got a shelf of books, I don't know, I think it's probably six feet long, full of how to raise good family books. I've read most of them and it's still not easy, is it? How many times have you listened to James Dobson and he makes it sound like, gee, all you have to do is get your PhD in psychology and you've got it down, but it isn't that easy. I want you to know I feel as though, for many of us, this matter of the Holy Spirit in our homes is probably another leap beyond just the fact that we'd like to have a peaceful home. Are there times when you feel like your house is just one inch away from meltdown or something? I'm not going to use my house as the illustration of all this stuff, although I probably could. But I'm like you. I want you to know that. That's what I'm saying in all this. Most of us live in a state of trying to maintain the spiritual fabric of our homes. I look around and I see a number of grandparents here tonight, bless God. How many of you would confess that it never got easy in your home? Anybody? Grandparents? Now, you may have come to a point where you were really pleased with what God was doing, but it never got easy. The battle never ends. One thing I sense now, sort of at the midway point with at least one or two of my kids, is that this is a lifelong thing. This is something we're going to be doing for the rest of our lives. And God wants it that way. And this matter of standing against the enemy is the same thing. We will not win this battle once and for all until Jesus comes back. And my home, because of the prayer covering of many of you, is a place where I feel pretty good about what I see God doing. But I don't see it happening easily, and I don't see it happening once and for all. I'm not going to wake up Wednesday this week and say, now it's over. The song goes that we sing, the victory is ours, the battle's the Lord's. So lift up our banner of praise. And that's still true in our home. There is a victory, and Jesus has won it. And we have it, but that battle still takes place. And we need to stand with the Lord and see it worked out. Now, it may be that you feel like I do in some areas. Now, follow me in this, because I'm not talking about homes that are raising delinquents. You might begin to write this whole message off tonight if you think I'm talking about a place where all of your kids are in total rebellion. You know, with no regard whatsoever for how you feel about them. Or the authority that God has invested in you over them, or any other authority for that matter. I don't know why it seems that God's just allowed me more and more in the last few weeks, I guess it's these messages, to see young people who are obviously living in a state of rebellion to authority. And you may think, well, most of my family's in pretty good shape. But I want to just urge you to think about what I'm going to say tonight in terms of a specific area or two in your life, or in your family, where God might want to do a work. And there might be at least one or two areas where you feel that you've come against it, and nothing's really broken loose. Maybe it's having family devotions in your home. Maybe it's the way the kids talk to one another. Maybe it's the way they respect their mom or their dad. Maybe it's the sense of constant tension because of someone's short temper or whatever in the home. If I use the word bondage for this, is that too strong a word? Do you feel sometimes that there might be a bondage in your home? You say, well, I don't like to talk about demons in my house. And I'm not really even talking about that. But I am talking about the fact that there can be something that your good intentions don't seem to break through. Am I talking to anybody else? Your good intentions just haven't seemed to change. Now, these bondages may be things like bad habits you can't seem to break, finding the off switch in the television, no real interest in spiritual things, hassles every time you try to get the family together to try to be before the Lord, negativity in your homes, or vestiges of former life, things that maybe if you're a recent Christian, there's things you just can't seem to get through. All these things, beloved, to me comprise, now listen, obstacles to the Holy Spirit filling your home. And if that's the case, if that's where you are tonight, I'm going to share with you something I believe will allow liberty to come into your home so that things can begin to take the place of those things. Liberty to minister. Wouldn't you love to be in an atmosphere where you could, if someone does something wrong, you can minister a word to them. Minister a word, not just, you know, I have a word for this dinner, you know, but minister a liberty to be free and open about the things of God in your household. I mean, we'd really enjoy that kind of a spirit with your family. Liberty to move into liberty that allows one another to sort of open up a little bit. I was home alone with Jonathan the other night, and Carol and Amy and David were out, and boy, you know, those one-on-one times are really precious, aren't they? Some unique things happen when there's no hurry, and you're just, you know, you're kind of just talking about things. And Jonathan started talking about snakes. And he really understands snakes and reptiles, and he's really getting fascinated by that stuff. He started opening up. I saw some curiosity and creativity in him that I hadn't seen. And that liberty to just open up and be himself and show himself to me, you know, and questions that he had, my heart just began to warm in that kind of a liberty. And, you know, I'm not just talking about, you know, your kids walking around, gee, dad, you know, read me the Bible now. I mean, that's good, but that's not all I'm talking about. I'm talking about crushing weights of negativity can really bottle up kids. And a lot of kids who are in rebellion are just angry. Did you know that? A lot of high school kids are just angry because they've been crushed their whole life. They've been bottled up. They've been repressed, put down. They've been living in houses of bondage. And this is where Exodus comes in. And if you're looking at Exodus, the story is, and because of the time and situation tonight, I just want to say, I could develop this whole scene of the Israelites in the bondage of the Egyptians, but it doesn't take a lot of understanding to see the application. They were held by, they were held by captors. They were there against their will. They were slaves to a ruling power. And they couldn't do anything about it, it seemed. Now, interestingly, we know about slavery and work, but we may not know a whole lot about the fact that being slaves also had great implications on their family life. Did you ever think about that? Did you ever think what it meant for the Israelites' families because of the slave condition they were in? A couple of things. See if this lines up with any bondages in your house. What kind of economic liberty did the slaves have, beloved? Zip, right? I mean, they had pretty poor working conditions, pretty low salary, right? I mean, you think you have a hard time getting a raise. 400 years, no increase in benefits. And they lived under the oppression of that, and their families were constantly dealing with heavy pressure of survival. I talk to people all the time whose major concern in life is, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to make it this month? Another thing that they really inherited was the sense of the oppression of the culture of the Egyptians, which was very hedonistic, very self-serving. And the Israelites couldn't help. They began to pick up some of this stuff. And they became in some ways indulgent of the things of the Egyptians. And their relationships became exploitive to some degree as well. Men. You just think of that man coming home to a household where he'd been a slave out there in the field for 14 hours. What do you think that did to his esteem when he walked in and saw his wife? You're the head of the household under the oppressive weight. You know, there's just something... How many men come home here in our fellowship? And because of their esteem being at an all-time low, because they're in a job that they can't stand, or in a situation where they're under oppression, and their wives look at them and say, What's wrong with you? Why can't you get into a situation where you can find some happiness? Well, these are all just illustrations of the kind of bondage that can come on a home. And, beloved, these Israelites needed a deliverer. And I want to share with you just four things that I've picked out of these chapters in Exodus about making room for the Holy Spirit. In Exodus, we see that God appointed a deliverer. Look at chapter 3 and pick it up. Let's just look at it here when the Lord speaks to Moses in verse 7. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. Some of you right now, if you'll receive that verse, God wants to minister that to you. He hears you. God is speaking that verse to someone right now. He hears your situation. He hears you, beloved. He sees you. He knows your situation. He hears you. So I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land. A land flowing with milk and honey. The home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. Now look what He says. So now go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. The first thing I want you to see, that in order for the Holy Spirit to fill your house... Now listen. I'm talking not just to family people. I'm talking to single people. Because there is an issue here about your own life and your own setting for single people. This, by the way, will also be applicable to people in other situations beside your home. But the first thing you need to do is to see that God would restore full authority. The world order is to tear apart authority. Do you know that? I said this earlier. Everything in the world wants to tear down authority and call it into question and lower it because the enemy of God hates authority. Do you know that? Rebellion is at the heart of what's the condition of the universe, and it started when Satan fell. It's so simple once you begin to see what the Bible is talking about. Do you know that? Satan fell because he rebelled against the authority of God. That's what's permeating our culture. It's still there. It's still there today. And in our homes, the greatest demise of authority has been in the falling down of the role of father, of the men of the home. The lack of the ability to move in authority in men is the greatest single, to me, contributor to the destruction of the home. Now, I want to underscore this because I feel that we take this for granted a great deal. But there are many homes, some here tonight, that are led in confusion because the man has not taken his rightful place in the home. And I grieve because I see what this sets up is a chaotic situation. There's always a vying, a testing for authority. There's always a questioning of maybe not even... It can be very nice, you know. It can come in a package that's very polite but manipulative. Matthew 12, 29, there's an interesting verse that we've used many different times in deliverance circles. But I want to read it to you. It talks about something that Satan is very aware of in our homes. How can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. What do you think that means, flip-flop? We usually apply it to Satan in binding him. What do you think he sees in that? Are you with me? He goes into a home. He works on the authority of the man in the home. If he can bind that up, he can steal the possessions. And I want to tell you, there are homes that have been pillaged by the enemy because that man has been brought under bondage. And there will not be a flowing of authority in our homes, a full flow of liberty, rather, of the Holy Spirit until the men rise up. How many were thrilled last week to see the men come forth and say, I want to be a priest unto God? You see, that's what's got to happen, church. It's got to happen. Because if it doesn't, we'll just keep turning up kids who don't know authority and can't move in liberty because they don't know God's plan and method. And I want to underscore that as a beginning point. You say, well, what can I do about that? I'm a wife who wants my husband to move in authority, but he doesn't want to. My word to you tonight is what I just read in Exodus, the third chapter. The Lord God is speaking to you tonight. And He says, I have indeed seen your misery, and I hear your crying out, and I'm concerned about your suffering. And if you'll hold on to that, God's going to speak to your situation. He's going to change it tonight. We just heard, and I just affirmed the testimony that Jan brought. See, God is faithful. He will touch your spouse. Just keep praying, supporting them, loving them. Number two, the second thing to break out of bondage and let your house be a place where the Holy Spirit moves is to receive the word with worship. Receive the word with worship. Now, you see, when Moses came back down, he was, as we all know, slow to hear about this business of, I don't want to be a deliverer. It's interesting how Moses really is the type of most men today. I don't want this authority. Don't lay this on me. Let my wife kind of lead the spiritual things here. But Moses finally got convinced that God wasn't playing around with him, and he went down there and he talked to the people. He said, God's called me to be the deliverer. Now look at verse 29 of chapter 4. And so Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. He showed the evidence. Now look at this. And they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped the Lord. Hallelujah. Beloved, if you want to see the Holy Spirit begin to flow in your home, begin to send forth the Word and receive that Word with worship. Tonight, if some of you will lay hold of this Word tonight and worship the Lord in response to Him speaking to you tonight, you're going to see something begin to break forth in your home. There are basically, as I understand it, just two or three things that you build a family around in a home situation. One of them is simply what seems best, good sense or reason. Now, I have to say and agree that lots of times good sense is a very safe barometer in the ordinary things in a home. It's good sense that when your children are tired and a little bit grumpy at the end of the day, to not paddle them for being tired and grumpy. But it's not good sense. It's not good reason. In fact, reasoning brought down much of the discipline in our home situations when some people with so-called expertise said, Well, hey, listen. These kids are just valuable little creatures and they're just like you, really. They ought to have a right to say how they're going to be raised. And so we're not going to impose anything on them. If they feel better about telling you to get off the ship, well, that's their privilege. If they don't want to eat dinner when you have it on the table, well, give them a break. Set it up for them a little bit later. And you know all that stuff that happened and opened up the door for kids just to kind of lay off altogether in order and discipline. So you can build a home on reason alone, beloved, but it won't see you through. Number two, you can build a home on the way of least resistance. Easiest thing. I don't know about you, men, but when I get home at 5.30 or whatever it is, 5, 5.30, I just don't jump home and say, hey, well, let's just begin to praise the Lord together, gang. This is great. I kind of wander back. My first officer is getting past the dog who's there just looking at me like, if I don't run today, my whole world is going to end. And it's not long before the flip-flop takes place and we're out later on that evening. And when you get back home at 9.30, you know what it's like. How many people just think, I don't have enough time to do anything more than I'm doing? So we all labor underneath that. And the least resistance sometimes is, oh, hey, they'll be here tomorrow. Maybe we can talk tomorrow, honey. And the third way that won't work to build your house is just simply the way of, well, this is the way my daddy used to do it. Old tradition. People just do things the way they were taught when they were growing up. That won't work if it wasn't built on God's order. The only authority in the home that will work, beloved, is the Word of God. It's the only one that I know will work in every circumstance. And I need you to say tonight before the Lord that to the best that you know, you'll let that Word penetrate your home and receive it with worship. I just want to make a suggestion, something that is very effective. If you'll just read your Word out loud in your home, just read it out loud when the family's gathered together or just even in your time and say, God, just speak something into my home on this Word, through this Word today. You'll begin to get kernels of truth to build family relationship on. And then go through the house with praise, just establishing the Word. Establishing the Word with praise. See, they bowed down and worshiped. That praise dimension in a home can change everything. The difference between a negative and a positive Christian home, as far as I'm concerned, is the praise life of that home. The difference between a positive and a negative Christian home is the praise life of that home. And I pray that you're just constantly the one that's salting your home life with praise. Get the junk off the radio and TV and put on God's music. Fill your place with the sounds of joy and sounds of praise. I'm thrilled in my heart that my little daughter, who's almost 11 now, the joy of her life is going to hear Sandy Patty sing or someone like that. And some of her peers are really getting off on, you know, you know them, I don't even know all their names or try not to pay any attention to them anymore. And I just pray that continues. You know, when she's 13 and 16 and 21. Let's fill our houses with praise because it's what changes the spiritual climate. All right, number three. And we're going to get kind of different here for some of you, and I know this. When did the deliverance come in exodus? What was the ultimate deliverance that God ministered? It was deliverance from the angel of death that was killing the firstborn. And what did they have to do to receive that deliverance? They needed to apply the blood over the doorposts and lintel of their homes. The Passover experience. Turn to Exodus 12. Are you there, Exodus 12? To bring the homes out of bondage, to be filled with the Spirit of God. Verse 3, Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. And he goes on and explains what's to take place. Down to verse 6. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of their door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. Verse 12, On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. Now, beloved, if you're in the Lord Jesus, you know this is a picture of redemption. This is a picture of the blood of Jesus being applied to our sinful lives that the judgment of God does not fall on us. And that's a good place to say hallelujah. It is. It's God's provision against His judgment that we deserve for our sin. But what about our homes? Well, I just want to say that it makes sense to me to just minister the power of the blood of Jesus in our homes. I know some of you well, well enough to know that some of your families struggle with things that you find difficult to explain. Fears, and inordinate senses of struggle, self-esteem problems. A lot of this stuff, beloved, is spiritual in nature. And if you'll apply the blood of Jesus in your homes, anoint those rooms with oil, lay your hands on those children and pray for them, pleading the blood of Jesus. I tell you, it works. It works. Deliverance comes when you're willing. You say, well, that's silly. You don't really mean silly. Can't we just, you know, pray and not... Do we have to get specific? Well, if it's working for you, then okay. But I have to say to you, I know in my life there have been times when the only thing that's worked is to just go in every room and just... I just bring the blood of Jesus right in this place right now. And I take authority over the things. Well, you're really a fanatic. Okay. I accept that. But I want you to know, beloved, it's the cross of Jesus Christ that sets the captives free. And if you're not willing to just apply that blood, then you're opening yourself up to stand bondage. You say, well, I don't even know how to do that. One of our elders will not only help you, and explain to you, one of our elders will even go to your home and do it with you if you need to. In fact, we're going to a home, if not tonight, this week, where one thing after another keeps happening. And I believe it's just an impression at the end to just come in, to set themselves in this home. We're going to bind up the powers that would destroy that home and loose the spirit of the Lord. Let me give you the fourth thing, and then we're going to pray together. Yes. You want me to? All right. Okay, yeah. It's sort of a restatement of what he said in 13. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and the sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses. Isn't that good? And strike you down. How many of you just like to have that tonight? Receive it right now. Right now, receive the Word of the Lord. See, God's ministering that Word to some of your hearts. You say, well, what do you mean? What I mean is, right now inside of you there's a quickening. You're saying, I need that. And that's God saying, take it. By faith, I receive that right now. And when you go home tonight, receive that Word with praise in your home. All right, number four. This is important. And the final thing, verse 31. During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, Up, leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go worship the Lord as you requested. You see, the commandment came. God moved. And the fourth thing that we need to do is to respond to the commandments with haste. Obey. Obey. Obey. One of the hardest things that I find is to not compromise little things that I feel probably we could get by with in our home. How about you? It's tough. There's little things, little attitudes that we allow. Little slippages to the kingdom of darkness. And if you want to be free and let the Holy Spirit begin to move in your home, ask God to give you a grace of responding to His command with haste. In some cases, it may mean a radical change. There are some people who literally need to consider the idea that maybe God, just like He said here to the Israelites, that He wants you to move. There are people in very oppressive living situations here tonight. And it may be as radical as God saying that that situation you're in is just steeped with darkness and you need to move out of it. An apartment situation where everyone around you is dealing drugs or whatever. Or maybe not even something as gross, as obvious as that, but something as subtle as the constant influx of a peer group for your kids that just are shaping their minds in a friendship that's not going anywhere. I've known people that have taken radical action in situations like that and it's saved their families. Beloved, I could go on and share a lot of illustrations tonight, but these four things, if you'll restore the full authority of the man in your home, if you'll receive the Word of worship, if you'll reapply the blood of Jesus with faith, and if you'll respond to His command, you'll make room for the Holy Spirit to come in fullness in your home. And if you'll do these things, they're simple things, but if you'll do them with faith, God will be welcomed in to abide in your home. Let's pray right now, can we? Fold up your things, please. Lord Jesus, I thank you tonight that we don't have to be perfect, God, in our application, just willing. Lord, and I sense tonight that there are willing and even hungry hearts that want their homes and their lives to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, can I make a... Just interrupt my prayer right now. Look at this a second. What I just shared with you for your home, if you're here tonight and you've never received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, this same outline will apply to your life. If you'll restore the full authority of Jesus Christ in your life, if you'll receive His Word on the matter of being full of the Spirit, if you'll apply the blood and be cleansed by faith, and if you'll respond and obey His Word tonight, you can receive the fullness of the Spirit of God. You can do it right now, tonight. Let's continue to pray. Lord, tonight I pray that the Holy Spirit would just begin to move in these little individual temples, Father, and that when we are filled tonight, God, we'd be able to go home and reestablish Your living presence in our homes. Lord, I believe tonight to do this in a way that would even cause us, God, to acknowledge Your presence where we are. I bless You tonight, Father. I love You so much, Lord. I thank You that You are a living God, that You deliver people all the time, Father, from bondage and darkness, and that we can receive Your good works in our lives tonight. I love You tonight, Jesus. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Let's just wait quietly on the Lord for a moment. Lord, I bless You tonight. I thank You that You are a living God, that You deliver people all the time, Father, and that we can receive Your good works in our lives tonight. I love You tonight, Jesus. Glory to God. Let's just wait quietly on the Lord for a moment. I thank You that You are a living God, that You deliver people all the time, Father, and that we can receive Your good works in our lives tonight. Let's just wait quietly on the Lord for a moment. I thank You that You are a living God, come in my own special way, Sing it one more time. Come, Holy Spirit, I need You. Come, Sweet Spirit, I pray. Come in your strength and your power, come in your own special way. I ask our elders who are here tonight to come, please. Pastors, praise you Jesus. Bless the Lord, bless the Lord God. Jesus, I believe there is to be ministry tonight. Before we break up, which we'll do in a few minutes, I think the Lord would have us to minister in this way tonight. We may need a few more of you brothers to come out, Carl and some of the others, home group coordinators. Brother Ron, I believe the Lord wants you to be up here. I want you to come as couples tonight. If you need to see the Holy Spirit of God filling your home, and if you're married tonight, I want you to come as a couple. Now if you don't come, that doesn't mean you don't want. I'm talking about people who know that things need to get loosened in their home. Bondages need to be broke. I want you to come as couples. And we're just going to continue here quietly before the Lord. And those of you who may want to stay here, God might speak something to you in the last five or ten minutes of the service tonight. If you're single tonight and you know that your life, where you dwell, maybe you need to see the Spirit of the Lord filling that place, you come up and say, I need prayer for my place tonight as well. I just believe God's going to do some things to set some people free tonight. And one last thing, if you've never received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life personally, I want to pray with you tonight. I want to be able to just lay hands on you and agree with you that God's going to touch your life tonight. I'm going to have Jack Irwin come and join with me. We're going to agree with prayer. Jean, would you join me also? We're going to pray for those who need to be filled with the Holy Spirit tonight. Now, your part in this, if you don't come up, is just to be praying and saying, God, fill these ones who are taking a step of faith tonight. Let's just minister to the Lord and just come up. Now, you come, couples, wherever you are. Let's sing that song one more time and ask the Lord to do that. Come, Holy Spirit, I need you. Come, sweet Spirit. Come in your strength and your power. Come in your old spirit, free that I might worship you. Set my spirit free that I might worship you. Let all bondage go and let deliverance come. Set my spirit free to worship thee. Let's sing that all together once again. Set my spirit free that I might worship thee. Set my spirit free that I might praise thy name. Let deliverance come. Yes, Lord. Set my spirit free to worship thee. Sweep over my soul. Sweep over my soul. Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul. Oh, Lord. My rest is complete as I sit at your feet. Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul. Now, let's lift our hands and sing that again, Church. Sweep over my soul. Sweep over my soul. Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul. My rest is complete as I sit at your feet. Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul. My soul longeth after thee. Hallelujah. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone does my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. As the deep and it pours, the waters sow my soul. Lord, we long after you. We hunger after your touch tonight, Jesus. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone does my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Yes, Lord. We magnify you, Lord. We exalt my rock and my fortress. He is my rock. He is my fortress. He is my deliverer. In him will I trust. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise your name, Lord Jesus. Praise your name, Lord Jesus. You're my rock. You're my rock. You're my fortress. You're my deliverer. In him will I trust. Praise your name, Lord Jesus. Oh, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Lord, I thank you tonight that you have ordained a word. And Father God, I pray now that not one would leave tonight with a doubt or a fear or a question concerning their life in the Holy Spirit. God, that their home would be a place of refuge, a place of comfort, a place of strength, Father. That their lives would reflect the fullness of that Spirit. Lord, I love you so much. We tonight just thank you for your living presence. I bless you, my God. I thank you, Jesus. I believe there's at least one other couple that's supposed to come up tonight. And the word that was ministered earlier was for you. That God wants to really unite you as one, as husband and wife.