PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
TOPIC: HOLY SPIRIT
INTRODUCTION: About 4 years ago, a few young movie producers with no real backing made a movie called Paranormal Activity, a ghost story. After viewing in several small theaters, the show went viral and became a smashing nationwide success. Though I am absolutely not advocating the film, I do want to point out that our society sure loves to deal with issues such as ghosts.
In fact, I would say that our society (and maybe Christians too) know more about spirits (which don’t even exist) than they know about the Holy Spirit! Hopefully this talk will clear up some details in many ways what will be a no frills approach.
BIBLE VERSE: ACTS 2:3-4
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the Holy Spirit?
2. Okay, clarify that…what is the Holy Spirit again?
3. Can the Holy Spirit be grieved?
4. Tongues of Fire? Um, You’re Kinda Freaking Me Out Here…Could You Explain That Please?
5. How does the Holy Spirit speak to us?
ANSWERS:
1. What is the Holy Spirit? Actually the better question: WHO is the Holy Spirit?
Answer From Gotquestions.org: There are many misconceptions about the identity of the Holy Spirit. Some view the Holy Spirit as a mystical force. Others understand the Holy Spirit as the impersonal power that God makes available to followers of Christ. What does the Bible say about the identity of the Holy Spirit? Simply put, the Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is God. The Bible also tells us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, a being with a mind, emotions, and a will. The fact that the Holy Spirit is God is clearly seen in many Scriptures, including Acts 5:3-4. In this verse Peter confronts Ananias as to why he lied to the Holy Spirit and tells him that he had “not lied to men but to God.” It is a clear declaration that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. We can also know that the Holy Spirit is God because He possesses the characteristics of God. For example, His omnipresence is seen in Psalm 139:7-8, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” Then in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, we see the characteristic of omniscience in the Holy Spirit. “But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” We can know that the Holy Spirit is indeed a divine person because He possesses a mind, emotions, and a will. The Holy Spirit thinks and knows (1 Corinthians 2:10). The Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). The Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27). He makes decisions according to His will (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity. As God, the Holy Spirit can truly function as the Comforter and Counselor that Jesus promised He would be (John 14:16, 26, 15:26).
2. What is the Holy Spirit again?
A.W. Tozer in his book “The counselor” says this: “Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON, He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy, He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy spirit is not the personification of anything........He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence, He has hearing, He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a person.” The Holy Spirit has always been present. From the beginning of time He has existed. Both the Hebrew word for Spirit “roo’akh” and the Greek word
“pnyoo-mah” both mean breath. When we read Genesis 1:2-”And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” Genesis 2:6 “....And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” And hundreds of other passages concerning the breath and Spirit of God. the Spirit of God and the breath of God are one in the same. The 2 words are interchangeable.
3. Can the Holy Spirit be grieved?
Absolutely! In fact, the grieving of the Holy Spirit may be the reason why most churches and most Christians have absolutely no power whatsoever.
Question: "What does it mean to grieve / quench the Holy Spirit?" Answer: When the word “quench” is used in Scripture, it is speaking of suppressing fire. When believers put on the shield of faith, as part of their armor of God (Ephesians 6:16), they are extinguishing the power of the fiery darts from Satan. Christ described hell as a place where the fire would not be “quenched” (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). Likewise, the Holy Spirit is a fire dwelling in each believer. He wants to express Himself in our actions and attitudes. When believers do not allow the Spirit to be seen in our actions, when we do what we know is wrong, we suppress or quench the Spirit. We do not allow the Spirit to reveal Himself the way that He wants to. To understand what it means to grieve the Spirit, we must first understand that this indicates the Spirit possesses personality. Only a person can be grieved; therefore, the Spirit must be a divine person in order to have this emotion. Once we understand this, we can better understand how He is grieved, mainly because we too are grieved. Ephesians 4:30 tells us that we should not grieve the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit by living like the pagans (4:17-19), by lying (4:25), by being angry (4:26-27), by stealing (4:28), by cursing (4:29), by being bitter (4:31), by being unforgiving (4:32), and by being sexually immoral (5:3-5). To grieve the Spirit is to act out in a sinful manner, whether it is in thought only or in both thought and deed. Both quenching and grieving the Spirit are similar in their effects. Both hinder a godly lifestyle. Both happen when a believer sins against God and follows his or her own worldly desires. The only correct road to follow is the road that leads the believer closer to God and purity, and farther away from the world and sin. Just as we do not like to be grieved, and just as we do not seek to quench what is good—so we should not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit by refusing to follow His leading.
4.Tongues of Fire. In this verse, at the time of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit which was present in the world since God’s creation and before, comes down from heaven and begins his dwelling place of being inside a human being who belongs to the Lord. To some people, this verse in Acts 2 seems to indicate that a person accepts Christ but then receives the Holy Spirit at a second time. That theory, though seemingly has some scriptural backing, is actually a false belief and if someone wants more details on that I can provide them with them at a different time if someone wants (since its not the main issue being taught here).
But for those who want to know if God really used “tongues of fire” to bring down his spirit, well, if it wasn’t tongues of fire God wouldn’t have said it. So imagine that, here you are worshipping and massive flying tongues of burning fire come flying down from heaven…can you imagine that? It sort of sounds terrifying.
There are some parallels here at Pentecost between the tongues of fire and Mount Zion when Moses was given the Ten Commandments. Moreover, God has regularly used spiritual objects to be used to communicate to his people such as Balaam’s Donkey, a burning bush, or even how the spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove.
5. How does the Holy Spirit speak to us?
BIBLE VERSE: Genesis 37:5-38
I didn’t print off the whole scripture here, but this is where the Holy Spirit leads Joseph. So it will be broken down for you pretty specifically (please remember that all of these occurred prior to the Holy Spirit’s ability to live within ourselves.
A. The Holy Spirit spoke to Joseph through a dream, in fact his brothers became jealous of him for actually telling them their dreams.
B. The Holy Spirit spoke to Joseph in ways that caused DISTRESS! The dream about stars that look like your brothers would freak anyone out, and the message isn’t exactly a kind one. Most people think all dreams from God our made with flowers and chocolate cake balls, messages direct from God through the Holy Spirit are actually agonizing.
C. The Holy Spirit may choose to bless you through the message, remember it was under the spirit’s lead that Joseph receiving a pretty high ranking position—eventually.
D. The Holy Spirit gave Joseph personal and organizational goals. People think the Holy Spirit speaks to people through emotion—and He does. But He also is a careful planner, and in Joseph’s case gave him the wisdom to plan a nation through an entire depression.
E. Paul wrote, "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (Eph. 1:18) This means that ultimately the Holy Spirit enlightens are subconscious and conscious brain.
Sources:
Degraw, Ronald. Is Your Tank Full? Turk Lake Methodist Church.
Fritz, Paul. Let the Spirit Lead You as He Did with Joseph? Trinity College, December 2005.
Gotquestions.org. What does it mean to grieve/quench the Holy Spirit?
Gotquestions.org. What is the Holy Spirit?