The first thing that we see God doing in the earth, “And the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the deep”. The first thing that we see God doing, as he begins his creative process, is forming man. The unique thing that he did about man… God, everything else God spoke to, “Let there be light, and there was light”. Seems like God should have a deep voice. I don’t know whether he loud or not. He might have said, “Let there be light, and the ground trembled,” but it just seems like he ought to have a big old, “Let there be light,” you know. He might be up here, talking like this, “Let there be light, y’all”.
But in my mind, I just, you know, since the Bible doesn’t let us hear his voice, I just give him the voice I want to. “Let there be light, and there was light, and it was good. And then God separated the firmaments that were above the waters from the firmament that were beneath the waters. And God said, ‘It was good.’ And the evening the morning was the first day, and the evening and the morning was the second day, and the evening and the morning was the third day, and the evening and the morning was the fourth day. On the fourth day, he created the lesser lights and the greater lights. And the lesser lights to rule the night, and the greater light to rule the day. And then on the fifth day, he spoke to the creeping things and said, ‘Bring forth,’ then everything began to move, here and there and there. And on the sixth day, he does not speak to man, he forms him”.
Man is the first thing in the creation that God touches. Everything else, he stood back from it and said, “Let there be,” and it became what he said. But when it came to man, he touched him. And we have been needing to be touched ever since. We have been needing to be touched. It’s not a want. It is a need. Touching stimulates our pituitary gland that causes us to grow. And he touched us. He formed him. He formed him from where? The dust of the earth, he formed him. Now, did he form his content or the container? Oh, you’re awake now. I got your mind going now. He formed the container, and he breathed into him the content. Woo, you’re with me. He breathed into him, the content. The content was blown into the container.
Good God Almighty. That same is the same you see on the day of Pentecost. God is filling up what he has… good God Almighty. So what we are understanding about our God; two things: that he is a former, he is former. He forms things and he fills what he forms. He formed the sea and filled it with fish. He formed the air and filled it with birds. He formed the man and filled him with breath. The formed the tabernacle and filled it with furniture. He forms and he fills. So once we understand this pattern, whenever we see him stoop to form, we know he’s going to fill. Whatever God forms, God will fill.
Wow, that’s why we call this church the… oh, ’cause what are potters? They’re formers. Oh, my God. Potters form stuff. That’s what potters do. “Jeremiah, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will show you a work on the wheel. And so I went down to the potter’s house, and there he worked a worked on the fill. And the vessel that he made of clay”. Oh, my God, the vessel is what he formed. “Oh, Jeremiah. Well, Jeremiah, if you go down to the potter’s house, you will understand what I did to you”. Because in Jeremiah 1 chapter 7, he says, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee”.
So look at God. The potter has sent the prophet to the potter’s house. And said, “Go down to the potter’s house and you will understand what I did in you. I formed you. I filled you. I formed you. I filled you. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee”. And God said, “Before I made your box, I knew your content”. Woo, woo. “So I blew what I knew into what I had formed and you became what I said”. Good God of mercy. Good God, I thank you.
Mary’s riding around talking about, “Going to the chapel and I’m going to get married. Going”. And then all of a sudden, an angel says, “Hail Mary, you’ve been highly favored amongst women. You shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Jesus, and he shall save his people from their sins”. What is the angel saying? “Mary, you have been formed to be filled with the Son. Stop everything. Hold the wedding. Stop the rice. That’s not what I formed you for. I formed you so you could be filled. And the Holy Ghost came up on her. And his name shall be called Emmanuel”.
God tabernacled with us. What is a tabernacle? It’s a house. What is a house? A body. God in a body. God tabernacled with us. That’s what Emmanuel is; God walking around in flesh. So he goes up to Mary and says, “Excuse me, Mary. I want to borrow your flesh, ’cause God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, but worship him in… and he says so, ‘before anybody else gets to forming around with your flesh,’ he says, ‘I want first touch.'” So he says, “I formed you so that I can fill you”.
Whatever God thought, he will speak, and whatever God speaks, it will be. So God said, “I’m not thinking evil against you, so I’m not speaking evil against you, so there’s not going to be evil against you. Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying. Anyway, let me see. I got a few more minutes. Okay, so just read down through there. Just read all the way down through there, Acts chapter 2, “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven, and this was noised abroad. The multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, ‘Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?'”
Wait a minute. Peter stood up? Oh, jelly back, scared to death Peter stood up? Peter stood up? Ain’t you the same guy that shrunk into the crowd, warmed yourself by the fires of the enemy, and when they asked you, “Did you know Jesus,” you said you didn’t even know Jesus? What in the world has happened to Peter that’s he’s gotten so bold? Good God Almighty. See, it’s not really Peter speaking. It’s the Holy Ghost speaking through him. He’s not moving in his own agenda. He’s moving in the agenda of the one that filled him. That same Spirit that is in Jesus, is now in Peter and it has changed his personality, giving him boldness to confront the same people that he was afraid of.
And when you are filled with the Holy Ghost, it will change your personality, and give you boldness. The only reason you are afraid, is because you are filled up with yourself, but when you get filled up with him, you will not be afraid. Fear is a result of self-dwelling. It is being worried about self. “What will they think of me? What will they say about me? They will laugh at me”. But when you get filled with him. Oh, this is good. Come on, we’ve got some more.
But Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice,” my God, “and said unto them, ‘Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words, for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing as it is, but the third hour of the day. But this is that…'” This is that. This is the shadow. “This is that which the prophet, Joel spoke of, that in last days, saith God, ‘I will pour out of my…'” Not just upon Adam, not just upon Jesus, not just upon the 70, “but upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall, and your young men shall see visions, and your old shall dream dreams”.
Okay. Not yet, that’s where I’m going right now. “Now, you’re going to function. I formed you. I filled you. Now, you’re gon’ function. Glory to God. Formed you, I filled you. Now, you’re going to function. You can’t function ’cause I formed you. You can only function when I fill you”. He formed Adam from the dust to the earth, but he couldn’t function because he was formed. He only functioned when he was filled. He formed him, then he filled him. When he filled him, Adam began to reign. Not when he formed him, when he filled him, he began to reign.
Let’s stop at Ezekiel 37 for a moment and run down to the dry bones in the valley, and the all of a sudden there was a noise, and all of a sudden there was shout, and the bones came together to his bones, and he formed him. And then there was a wind that came down and filled what he formed, and here’s comes the function. And there stood an exceeding, great army. Formed. Filled. Function. Say it with me, “Formed. Filled. Function”. Say it again, “Formed. Filled. Function”. They were in one place with one accord. That’s form. Suddenly there came a sound from the heaven; fill. All of a sudden, Peter begin to preach; function. Formed. Filled. Function.
So these are the Acts of the Apostles, or really the acts of the Holy Ghost through the apostles, because they are functioning as a result of the filling. They are functioning as a result of the filling. Wow. You will go through a stage in your life of being formed. “O God, what are you doing to me? Why are taking me through all of these changes? My life is filled with changes. Everything’s going crazy”. “I got you on the wheel. I’m forming you, I’m shaping you, I’m taking stuff away from you, I’m bending you in places you never been bent before. You’re in the forming stage. Next, you’re going into the filling stage, and when I get through filling you, you’re going into function. You’re going to function from the unction”.
That’s why Jesus cursed the fig tree, “Why cumbereth it the ground”? He said, “If it’s not going to function, cut it down”. Function. Everything’s got to have a function. Every person’s got to have a function. It’s got to have a function. I won’t give you kidneys if they don’t function. I didn’t give you lungs just to fill up your chest. I put ’em in there for a purpose, they could they function. The body works better when the lungs function. The body works better when the kidneys function. The body works better when the liver function. The body works better when the legs function. Everything in the body has a function.
Are you in the body? I don’t know whether your eyeballs, kidneys, livers or navels, but you got to have a function. When Peter got filled, he went to functioning. When you get filled, you’re supposed to function. What do you mean, you out of service? Serving no purpose brings curses. He cursed the fig tree, what’d the fig tree do wrong? It didn’t function. He questioning it, ” Why cumbereth it the ground? Why are you standing here broke? Function”. “Dry bones, hear ye the Words of the Lord. Function”.
Look at somebody and shout at them, “Function. Do something”. What? Don’t you tell my knee, you had no need of it, just ’cause it’s not my hand? It may be not be shaped like you and it may not work like you, but it serves a… don’t you try to make my jaw look like my thumb. I’m different because I have a different function. If my jaw look like my thumb, it would defeat its purpose and not function. So stop acting like other people, because when you act like other people, you mess up your… So we’re talking formed. Say it with me, “Formed. Filled. Function”.