I was young. In Christian college in Chattanoga, Tennessee. I was every bit of twenty years old, so you know it was a long, long time ago. I had been serving in a church in Loudon, Tennessee for a year while going to school. I was inexperienced and extremely unsure of myself, so I was an easy target for jokesters. Mr. Williams, one of our deacons, was the best of the best of these jokesters. One day he began telling me of a preacher who had started a ministry on Saturday evenings and I should go one evening to support him. All the signs were there that should have tipped me off that Mr. Williams was about to make me miserable, but I was impressionable and I respected Mr. Williams. Retired Army major with a chest full of medals from WWII and Korea. He thought it was great fun to torment the young preacher boy. The national average that someone stays in the ministry is only five years, and part of the reason is that nearly every church has a Mr. Williams. 

Anyway, when that Saturday night came, Mr. Williams picked me up and we drove to an old, abandoned cinema. At least, I had assumed it was abandoned. Windows boarded up, just a few letters on the sign outside, an old movie poster still on the wall. Abandoned. However, the preacher he wanted me to hear had rented it and had picked up the trash and debris in the first ten rows and had put an old, beat up pulpit on stage and called it all the only Holy Spirit filled church in the whole county. There was no music, just this preacher ranting and raving up on that stage. This went on for about an hour and a half. Other than Mr. Williams and me, there were maybe ten people there, and most of them were asleep by the end. I was having trouble staying awake myself. You can get so used to yelling that it just bounces off you.

The preacher was winding down and then he said, "Now, brothers and sisters, old Arnold down here has brought a young preacher boy with him and I want to say a prayer over him. Young brother, y'all come down here!" I didn't know he was talking about me. I didn't know Mr. Williams' name was Arnold. I guess I would have sat there quietly, but Mr. Williams was telling me to go down front. The preacher was standing on the elevated stage about fifteen feet above us and he was pointing at a spot on the floor at the base of the stage. So, I got up and went down to that spot and bowed my head. The preacher started praying, then he started yelling, then he started stamping his feet, begging God to fill me with the Holy Ghost. Literally yelling at God. I finally decided I was done and was just about to leave when there was a boom next to me. Startled, I opened my eyes to see that the preacher had jumped from the stage to the floor next to me. His hand smacked on my forehead so hard it dazed me, and then his long, boney fingers wrapped around my head. He started jerking my head one way and then another, commanding me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It was all I could do to stay on my feet. It finally ended and Mr. Williams managed to hold it together until we got to his truck. Then he roared with laughter. Somehow, I saw no humor there.

I have had some conversations in the last week or so about the filling of the Spirit, and I am surprised at what the world sees and understands about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Almost without fail the unbeliever thinks Christians equate being filled with that raving preacher back in Tennessee. But what is more surprising is that most Christians do not want to be associated with being filled because they think the same as the unbelievers. They don't want to act stupid. So I thought we would look at the Bible.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit allow us to share the Gospel of Christ. The fruit of the Holy Spirit lets others know we are Christians. We are familiar with the gifts, except some Christians use them  for other reasons than to share the Gospel. So let's look, briefly, at the fruit. 

Galatians 5:19-24; 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20. idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21. envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23. gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

We see what the works of the flesh are, and we see what the fruit of the Spirit is. Many believe that being in the Spirit is getting wound up by loud music and shouting from a preacher. But those folks have a hard time living for the Spirit outside of the church. Why? Because the reality of living for the Spirit is so very boring. We want our hearts to pound, but is that the Holy Spirit? Think about the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. I don't see shouting there. I don't see loud music there. I don't see speaking in tongues there. I don't see healing with a touch there. Do you show the fruit of the Spirit or the works of the flesh in your own life? 

Do something for me. Think of these things and then think of the person who best shows the fruit of the Spirit. Give them a call and thank them for being an example. I can think of a few and every one of them would be embarrassed to be thought of as a great example. That is called humbleness and that is a hallmark of someone who bears the fruit.

Blessings.