THE PERSON OF THE SPIRIT
Luke 11:11-13
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Maybe you come from a church background where you have been around the moving of the Holy Spirit all your life
Pentecostal
Charismatic
Maybe you come from Church background where the work of the Holy Spirit is a Mystery?
Maybe you had no church background
You Prayed and gave your life to Jesus
Found a good church
Where they are experiencing all kinds of things… speaking in tongues…
Maybe you don’t Understand it all….
Buy you know it’s real - CUZ something’s stirring…
Others around you are asking “Did you Get it?” “You need it
HE the Holy Spirit is not an IT,
He is GOD,
And we need his powerful indwelling presence
Ephes. 5:18
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
But when we seek to be filled
we need to understand WE don’t GET IT
When we get FILLED
HE GETS US..
WHEN I GET HIM I AM SAVED, WHEN HE GETS ME TOGETHER WE CAN TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN…
I thank God for the River flowing in my life
But for some of you it’s time to move forward to the place where you are flowing in the river of God
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS PERSON AND PERSONAL
According to a Barna survey 61% of protestant Christians hold the view that the Holy Spirit is Not a person or living entity, but a symbol of God’s presence
He is so misunderstood…
But he is person
A. JESUS SAYS SO…
John 14:16
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
The word ANOTHER is used in two ways in the NT
Another thing of a different kind
Another of the same kind
Jesus says THE Holy Spirit is another of the same KIND a counselor
“He is another just like me” One called along side to help – Paraclete.
B. HE BEARS THE 3 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT MAKE A PERSON A PERSON
INTELLECT
FEELING
WILL
INTELLECT -
The Bible Says - 1 Cor. 2:11
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.
AN IT does not know the thoughts of GOD
The Holy Spirit is living and has access to the deep things of God
Further he knows what’s in our thoughts
Romans 8:27
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
The spirit is that person that has full access to God and me and there is nothing in my life that he does not know…
FEELINGS
Ephes. 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The context of that verse is
Immorality
Wrong language
When we are tempted to act and talk like the world it grieves the HS
When we are tempted to Gossip
Lie
Slander
Tear down..
We immediately sense the presence of someone who is not pleased with what’s happening
It grieves him… he has feelings – he is a person
The Holy Spirit has
WILL
1 Cor. 12:11
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
He gives gifts as he wills
OUT OF HIS WILL HE DOES MANY PERSONAL ACTS
He Speaks – Acts 13:2 initiates ministry of Paul and Barnabas
He Testifies - john 15:26 – bears witness to Jesus
He Teaches - John 14:26 – He teaches all things concerning the LORD. He makes ALIVE the person of Jesus in our lives…
He Convicts John 16:8-11
He Intercedes for us. Rom. 8:26
He Guides John 16:13
He directs us
He reveals God’s word to us…1 pet 1:21 –
WE ALSO KNOW
C. HE IS A PERSON BECAUSE HE RESPONDS TO PERSONAL TREATMENT
If you Say nice things about me. Feed me, be kind to me - I’m there
Say bad things about me and treat me poorly
I will need a lot of GRACE to get along with you….
The Bible tells us that the PERSON of the Holy Spirit
Tested
Lied to
Grieved
Resisted – acts 7:51
Insulted
Blasphemed Mt 12:31-32 Refusing what the Spirit is saying about Jesus
He is A Person
He Responds to personal treatment
He can be welcomed or He can be rejected…
He can be praised or ignored
He can be loved or resisted
Because he is a person…
II. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS PERSON REVEALING HIMSELF THROUGH SYMBOLS
1. WIND
OT - ruach,
NT - pneuma
As WIND the Spirit reflects the invisible nature of God
The Spirit does not have a body like you or I
YET The force of his personality is very much seen…
Just like the monsoons
You don’t see the wind
But you feel it’s force
God exists w/o body and yet is person
He is everywhere present
And he is life
For there is no life without breath
2. WATER
(John 7:37-39) Jesus said"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." [39] By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Water is essential to life
It washes
It refreshes
The spirit is essential
He is the refresher
He picks us up
He washes us – cleanses us
3. SEAL
Ephes. 1:13
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
He is the stamp of ownership
God owns you
1 Cor. 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; [20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The Holy Spirit is a mark of authenticity…
We are authentically controlled by God
4. OIL
Luke 4:18
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
equips us..
He is our POWER source
5. DOVE
Luke 3:22
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
A Dove is
Gentle
Tender
peace
He does not come as a violent figure…
He is a gentlemen
He waits for us to open the door to let him in
He does not force the door nor pound the door…
It is our need to experience the spirit
At the church of all nations a young African man came to me to pray for HIM. I asked him “what do you want”
He said, “I want the Holy Spirit… I told him to ask Jesus”
I would pray with him…
He will not be fully known be reading or studying about him
He will be known as we call upon him to indwell our life
Close…
Jesus has ascended
The church is leaderless
It is a fragile time when leadership in the body of Christ changes – pastoral leadership..
You can imagine the trauma..
Jesus was gone 10 days and the membership shrunk from 500 to 120
Those 120 were concerned about where we are going
Then the Holy Spirit comes
And through them turns the world upside down.
You can’t operate the church w/o the spirit
You can have
Boards
Committees
Programs
Ministries
But the church cannot function w/o the HS
Our personal lives cannot function w/o the HS
We may have
Devotions
Know Theology
Memory verses
Be giving
And busy
But unless we have the HS we are not really doing anything that is going to count
We must make ourselves available to the Spirit
And HE the Holy Spirit is pleased to make himself available to us.
