Everyone has answered 'yes' to that question.

The follow-up question we ask is more personal. "Do you now possess that cleansing of heart and empowerment for service which accompany the fullness of the Holy Spirit?"

Everyone has answered 'yes' to that question as well.

But is this true? Is every pastor a Spirit-filled leader? I do not make a judgment on this, but I do raise the question. And, I raise the question because there is no more important a matter for us to consider.

The pastor and the church cannot live; cannot thrive; cannot produce fruit apart from the Holy Spirit. Acts 9:31b says, "The church became stronger, as the Holy Spirit encouraged it and helped it grow." (CEV)

When Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure he said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth." John 14:16-17

"You know him," he said, "for he lives with you and will be in you." v.17

Further, Jesus noted: "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things...." v.26

Here we are introduced to the Trinity — the Holy Spirit sent from the Father, in Jesus' name.

The Holy Spirit is not a thing, or an it. He is God, just as Jesus and the Father are God.

The Bible makes two statements declaring who God is:

• "God is Spirit" (John 4:24)
• "God is Love" (1 John 4:16)

Love defines the relationship in the Godhead. The Father honors the son. The Son honors the Father. The Holy Spirit honors the Son, and so forth.

"Spirit" defines the means by which the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit can be with us and in us. It defines how, through the living Word, the lives of saints and sinners are nourished and convicted. The Holy Spirit is at work. All the time. Everywhere.

You know the vision that is more and more gripping the heart and imagination of the FMC:
A Healthy, Biblical Community
of Holy People
Multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches.

And, you know the vision path — the path upon which we travel so that the vision will be realized:
Every Church a Healthy Church
With Spirit-Filled leaders
Working a plan to fulfill our expected outcomes.

The centerpiece of this vision path is Spirit-filled leaders. Galatians 5:25 says: "God's Spirit has given us life, so we should follow the Spirit."

After all, before Jesus ascended to the Father he told his followers:
"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:4-5) ...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) What is the Power? LOVE! What is the witness? LOVE!

Dr. Donald Demaray tells of one of his students working his way through seminary by a job at the Lexington, Kentucky, airport. He heard that Mother Teresa would be flying into the airport. Sandy invited his work partner, Joe, to watch for her when she landed. Joe, not a Christian, really did not much care to see Mother Teresa. But he agreed.

When she walked off the plane, Sandy and Joe both got a clear view of her eyes. Sandy, deeply moved, commented about Mother Teresa's gentle, piercing look. Joe became very sober and said, "If I get much more of Mother Teresa, I may become a Christian!"

Jennifer Starr-Reivitt has been our associate pastor at the Baltimore First FMC in Baltimore, Maryland. She and her husband live in an apartment complex where several young mothers and young singles live. Jennifer has made many friends and as a friend has shared her faith in Christ.

One day Claire — one of the young friends of Jennifer — asked her, "I don't convert to your religion, will I still be your friend?"

Jennifer, in recounting this story to us, said, "I want her to know that I love her and that she is safe with me."

Holy Spirit baptized people are a breed apart. They are not your average, run of the mill people and pastors.

We can see this in the Old and New Testaments. For example, look at Caleb's story in Joshua 14:6-14.

He is 85 years old and still full of life and love. "I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out;" he says. "I am just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." (v.11)

You'll remember that Caleb was one of the 12 that went in to spy out the promised land. Only two of the 12 — Joshua and Caleb — came back with a positive report. And God said of Caleb, "He has a different spirit." (Numbers 14:24)

Different from whom? From the chosen people of God. From the people he lived with and worked with and with whom he worshiped. Caleb was a breed apart.

The Israelites, says the Bible, were grumblers and complainers against their leaders. (1 Cor. 10:10; Num.16:41; Ex.12:23)

They, says the Bible, heard the message of God but did not believe it (Heb. 4:2). They were unbelievers.

They, says the Bible, had the gospel preached to them but did not obey it. They were disobedient.

But what about Caleb — this man with a different spirit?

A. He had a different attitude: Joshua 14:8 has Caleb saying, "I followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly."
— no complaining, no unbelief, no disobedience

LOVE filled his life.
B. He had a different mindset: While the people grumbled and wanted to stone their leaders, Caleb is declaring "The land we passed through is exceeding good... a land flowing with milk and honey.... Do not be afraid... we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us..." (Num. 14:709) Belief filled his life.

C. He had a different language. Listen to the people:
"If only we had died in Egypt!...Why is the Lord bringing us to this land... Our wives and children will be taken plunder...We should choose a leader and go back..." (Num. 14:2-4)

Now listen to Caleb - Ajust as the Lord has promised he has kept me alive...while Israel has moved about in the desert. So, here I am today. 85 years old. I am...strong...I am...vigorous. Now, give me this hill country that the Lord promised.... The Anakites (are) there and their cities (are) large and fortified, but the Lord helping me I will drive them out just as he said." (Josh. 14:10-12) Adventure filled his life.

D. He had a different direction: The people were turned toward Egypt. Caleb was turned toward the Promised Land. The one requirement John Wesley had for a person to be a member of a society was a desire to flee from the wrath to come. This is a desire for the heavenly city. A desire for the promised land. This is focus on the living Jesus. This is living by faith. In such a life there is no room for grumbling; no room for complaint; no room for disobedience; no room for unbelief. As Paul told the Romans, "...God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Rom.5:5)" Focus filled his life.

Dale Carnegie taught people to live by three C's - no complaining, no criticizing, no condemning.

Caleb, noted the Lord, "has a different spirit." Caleb was overcome by love for God and love for the people.

If, as a Free Methodist Church, we are to fulfill our vision to be "a healthy, Biblical community of Holy People multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches," we too must have and nurture a different spirit.

This spirit we need is the Holy Spirit.

This Holy Spirit is seen throughout the pages of the Old and New Testaments and is poured into the heart and soul of the followers of Jesus. He is the Spirit of Jesus. He is the Spirit of love. In fact, the Holy Spirit is love.

How important is it that we be baptized with the Holy Spirit? How important is it that we continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Continually receiving His person, His presence and His power as we do His work?

Well, when Jesus was appearing to the apostles and others after his resurrection, he told them, as we've noted, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised...." Acts 1:4-5

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit numerous times while with the disciples. In fact, he told them that it would be to their advantage that he was departing because the Holy Spirit would be sent to live within them — that the Holy Spirit would be with them forever.

The disciples waited. They obeyed Jesus. And their waiting was for one reason — the promised Holy Spirit. And why wait for the Holy Spirit?

Jesus told them to. And Jesus told them what the results would be: "You will receive power …and you will be my witnesses …" Acts 1:8

They waited. This is hard. How many of us have so thoroughly made the fullness of the Holy Spirit a priority that we simply waited?

What did they do as they waited? Acts 1:14 says, "They all joined together constantly in prayer."

Pastor Jim Cymbola, in his little book, The Life God Blesses, writes about the early days of Brooklyn, then brings us up to date on what God is doing:

"When my wife and I came to Brooklyn Tabernacle in 1972, it was a struggling little church. Only a handful of people attended. The church's checking account had less than ten dollars in it-an usher had been stealing from the offering plate for months. The rundown building on Atlantic Avenue was depressing, inside and outside. The little sanctuary had broken-down pews. The sanctuary ceiling had a large sag in it and eventually collapsed completely at the end of one Sunday service. The neighborhood was filled with poverty and drugs. Hookers plied their trade less than two blocks away. There wasn't much to be encouraged about.

The early going in Brooklyn was slow and difficult, but eventually I began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. As I studied my Bible and spent time in prayer, I felt assured that God had called us to the ministry and had sovereignly placed us right where we were.

Gradually, as I sought the Lord, a number of promises from his Word came alive. In my heart, as I began to rely upon them in prayer, God dispelled my sense of being overwhelmed. The Holy Spirit was helping me to understand the truths of Scripture, which in turn gave me the faith to trust the Lord. Despite the bleak surroundings and seemingly insurmountable challenges, God had plans for us in that church and in the community. Why would he have put us in downtown Brooklyn except to use us to reach people and bring glory to his name? We didn't have to merely tread water and try to survive. Why couldn't the Lord show himself powerful in our situation - just as he had done in the book of Acts?

Every Tuesday night at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we conduct the most important service of the entire week - our prayer meeting. We pastors look forward to it more than anything else on the church calendar. The building is so jam-packed with people that we have to use the platform, choir risers, lobby area, and an overflow room to fit everyone in. Often people can't find a seat anywhere, so they stand during the entire meeting, which is filled with worship, prayer, petition, and intercession. When you think about it, there is a lot to pray for, and there is a God in heaven whose ear is always open to the cries of his people.

Many Christians struggle with pride and selfish desires. For some of us in ministry, the remaining weeds of selfishness hinder us at every turn — at home, at work, and at play. And self-centeredness keeps us from prayer — that function that illustrates our utter dependence on God.

The Apostle Paul wants us to get where Caleb got. "I followed the Lord wholeheartedly." So, Paul urges us, "in view of God's mercy, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." "This," he says, "is our spiritual act of worship."

In other words, our part is to yield as a way of life our self-will to God and to trust in the goodness of his will for us. Then his Spirit transforms our hearts, filling them with his love.

Oswald Chambers speaks of this love:

"Glory be to God, the last aching abyss of the human heart is filled to overflowing with the love of God. Love is the beginning, love is the middle, and love is the end. After he comes in, all you see is 'Jesus only, Jesus ever.' When you know what God has done for you, the power and the tyranny of sin is gone and the radiant, unspeakable emancipation of the indwelling Christ has come."

The big relational pains in our families; the big heartaches in our marriages; the big traumas in our leadership; the big catastrophes in our churches, the sins, the disobedience to God — all stem from a failure of love, a breech of love, a lack of love. I know. The failure of love may be in a spouse, in a child, in a pagan church member... it may even be in you. It may be in a superintendent. It may be in a bishop. But the truth remains — John Wesley was right — all sin is a breach of love.

The Bible says:
It is love that covers a multitude of sins.
It is love that casts out fear.
It is love that never fails.

No wonder the Scriptures tell us to Keep yourself in God's love (Jude 21)

No wonder God tells us to "spur one another on toward love" (Heb. 10:24)

"All that matters is your faith that makes you love others" (Gal. 5:6)

Caleb had a different attitude.Caleb had a different mindset.
Caleb had a different language. Caleb had a different direction.

Why? Because, said the Lord, "He has a different spirit."

So, we love God, we love people, we love the church — Jesus' body.

What about you? Has the last aching abyss of your heart been filled to overflowing with the love of God? Is love the beginning, the middle and the end?

Have you come all the way home? Home to the heart of God where it is "Jesus only, Jesus ever." We must become the change we wish to see.

A healthy, biblical community is a love saturated community, led by a love saturated pastor.

We live and minister in a world that out of its self-centered greed continues to cry out, "gimme, gimme, gimme." But this same world — these same people — are also crying out — "I need, I need, I need, I need."

Some churches and some pastors have been pushing away — simply wanting to enjoy vacation from the command of Jesus to go and make disciples.

This must not be true of us as Free Methodists.

We must tenaciously model by practicing a different spirit regardless of the cost.

When Charles Wesley wrote that great hymn "And Can It Be," he spoke of Jesus who "Emptied Himself of All But Love."

When we took three months to build a house, I wanted to concentrate — while working — on a single and central passage of Scripture, so I memorized 1 Corinthians 13. It is still gripping my heart and life. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrong. Loves does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects. Always trusts. Always hopes. Always perseveres. Love never fails.

How do we get this love? "The love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit."