Filled with the Spirit: Service

2024-07-10

Continuing in Ridout’s study.

The Lord Jesus Christ: “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). Most of all, the Lord was filled with the Spirit. This filling led to service, for the Lord, though being very much God, lived a dependent life on the Father. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

John the Baptist: “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). His filling of the Spirit led him to the service of being the Lord’s forerunner.

Stephen: “And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch” (Acts 6:5). Stephen was filled with the Spirit, which was needed for the temporal needs of the widows. Every task in the church requires Spirit-filling; the works of the flesh or of the unsaved are not accepted. This is why there were such stringent requirements for serving tables.

Barnabas: “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord” (Acts 11:24). People were exhorted to continue in the Lord and people were added to the Lord because of this servant. Also, being the son of consolation, he went out to seek Paul in Tarsus.