How To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit | Ps Matt Hennighan

March 15, 2026·56 min·4 clips

At 11, Matt watched a preacher knock his friend unconscious with what he called the power of God.

1. Pastor Matt Hennighan from Nations Church, Perth, Western Australia, guests at Neuma Melbourne City to preach on how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, drawn from Ephesians 5:18. 2. Hennighan has been on staff at Nations Church for 11 years and oversees youth and young adults ministry across multiple Perth locations; his senior pastors are Ken and Chrissy. 3. The episode's core argument is that Ephesians 5:18's 'be filled with the Holy Spirit' is a continuous Greek verb — plerao, meaning 'full to complete capacity' — describing a daily lifestyle posture, not a one-time moment at an altar. 4. He opens with a water bottle illustration: a bottle with any air bubble is not truly full; the only proof of fullness is overflow — he argues God wants believers so filled that the atmosphere changes when they enter a room. 5. Point one: 'get into the right place,' drawn from Acts 2:1 — the disciples were 'all together in one place' when the violent wind and tongues of fire came, and all of them (not most) were filled. 6. Hennighan distinguishes between God's omnipresence (everywhere at all times, per Psalm 139) and His manifest presence — the charged atmosphere that comes into specific environments — arguing that placing oneself in a space with the manifest presence is the first key to being filled. 7. He cites Matthew 18:20 ('Where two or more gather in my name, there I am in their midst') and 1 Corinthians 5:4 (Paul's letter promising the power of the Lord Jesus present when the church gathers) as scriptural bases for the manifest presence being real and locatable. 8. Point two: 'do the right thing in the right place,' illustrated through Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52, where a large crowd follows Jesus but only Bartimaeus receives a miracle because he cries out and escalates when told to be quiet. 9. Hennighan argues the crowd that silences Bartimaeus represents internal resistance — self-consciousness, fear of looking desperate, the inner critic — which he identifies as the primary barrier to people crying out for God in public settings. 10. He draws a contrast between verse 47 (the initial cry) and verse 48 (crying out louder despite opposition), arguing most people can manage the first moment of desperation but retreat when the internal crowd pushes back. 11. He states, 'God doesn't just care about your situation — he's not moved by your problems. He's moved by your desperation.' Bartimaeus's cry, not his blindness, is what caught Jesus's attention. 12. He also cites Acts 13, where Paul and Barnabas received direction from the Spirit while 'ministering to the Lord and fasting' — arguing that ministering to God precedes being ministered to by God. 13. He shares a youth camp story where he asked teenagers to worship God for 10 minutes before an altar call, and describes the atmosphere building until one girl shook so violently under prayer she slid off the stage and onto the floor. 14. Point three: 'get your heart right with God,' drawn from Acts 8:18-20, where Peter tells Simon the sorcerer he can have 'no part' in the Holy Spirit because his heart is not right with God. 15. Hennighan identifies Simon as a baptized believer who still thought God's power was a mystical force that could be bought — arguing that the disqualifier was not lack of faith but wrong heart condition. 16. He argues that sin 'stains the soul' and creates an internal barrier to the Spirit even for Christians, citing the church in Revelation not as celebrating evil but as tolerating it — 'it's just a little bitterness, it doesn't matter that much.' 17. The solution offered is 1 John 1's promise to Christians: 'confess your sins to him because he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' — a double action of forgiveness and cleansing. 18. The sermon closes with an invitation to the congregation to examine the condition of their hearts and come forward to receive prayer; the tone throughout is warm and high-energy with frequent humor, audience participation cues, and personal storytelling. 19. Listeners in Pentecostal or charismatic church traditions who want practical teaching on experiencing God's presence combined with genuine personal testimony will find this sermon most resonant. 20. Those looking for academic or cessationist theology, skeptical framing of supernatural claims, or content outside a church-service format will find this episode unlikely to suit their needs.

As heard by us

A worshipful message about faith that keeps crying out.

This is a direct, room-filling message about desperate faith and what happens when someone keeps crying out. It starts in worship, moves into Scripture, and never really lets go of the idea that need is not a weakness here.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a sermon that treats desperation like a doorway, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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