There was a Sunday School teacher who was teaching her class about the trinity. Each child had been assigned a sentence to introduce each person of the trinity. The first one said, “The first person is God the Father.” The second child said, “The second person is Jesus Christ, His only Son…” When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence. Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who has the Holy Spirit isn’t here.” As Christians we know that we have the Holy Spirit or at least we think we do. The problem is that we are not really sure of what to do with the Spirit once we get it so it’s easier to pretend that He is not here. Things are even more complicated by the fact that there are so many conflicting pieces of information circulating at the Spirit. This makes it extremely hard to know exactly what to believe. So over the years we have only mentioned the Holy Spirit in passing or completely ignored the subject all together. So when the Holy Spirit is mentioned there is mixed reactions. Some people react with fear, others act confused and others admit that they just can’t wrap their brain around the subject. We know that the Spirit exists because it is mentioned in the Bible but we’re afraid if we talk about it too much we might be labeled as a charismatic. This series is designed to help us get up close and personal with the Holy Spirit. We will weed out some of the misconceptions and hopefully gain a better understanding of His role and work. Perhaps, if we come to this study with an open heart and mind we will begin to understand what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives and the church.
I. Reasons why the Holy Spirit is so misunderstood.
A. Why some concepts are easier for us to wrap our brains around.
1. The vast majority of us are familiar with the concept of earthly fatherhood so it is less of a stretch to view God as our Heavenly Father.
2. We can understand Jesus as the Son of God because of His humanity. He came to the earth and clothed Himself with flesh and lived as one of us for thirty-three years.
3. Outside of television shows, movies and books we have great difficulty relating to the things of the Spiritual realm. This contributes to our problem with the Holy Spirit.
4. Another problem could result from our understanding of the different members of the Trinity.
a. In Scripture it is easy to see the Father as being in control and calling the shots.
b. We see Jesus as the One who implemented the Father’s plan of salvation through His life, death and resurrection.
c. So what does the Holy Spirit do?
5. When it comes to the Holy Spirit there has been very little sound Biblical teaching on the subject.
6. When there has been teaching on the subject it has lacked personal application and the challenge to move toward personal discovery.
B. This series is designed to be a journey of discovery so that we may get to know the Holy Spirit up close and personal.
1. To accomplish this we will need to focus on how God has intended His Spirit to work in our lives.
2. The truth is that we are going to journey out into some deep water. In fact at times this study may stretch us to the point that it is quite uncomfortable.
3. We will learn that the Spirit is not an “it” or a “thing” but a unique person.
4. We will discover what it means to be filled with the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit.
5. We will gain a clearer understanding of the work of the Spirit and the role that God has assigned for Him.
II. Understanding the Holy Spirit on more of a personal level.
A. The Holy Spirit is intended to take up permanent residence in the life of the Believer.
1. As the curtain rises in John 14 Jesus is comforting a group of men who are struggling with the uncertainty of the future.
2. The disciples are obviously distressed by the fact that Jesus would soon be leaving them and returning to Heaven so Jesus speaks some great words of comfort.
3. Jesus comforts the disciples with a promise that He will be preparing a place for them while He is gone. However, as great as that is Jesus provides them an even bigger promise.
4. “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17—NIV)
5. In this passage Jesus teaches three very important things about the Holy Spirit.
a. He is our Counselor. The Greek work is parakletos which means one who gives legal assistance.
b. He is Spirit of truth. The truth that sets us free and makes our relationship with God possible.
c. He dwells within the life of the believer.
6. There is no such thing as a Christian without the Holy Spirit it is a gift given to each and every believer.
7. The reason the world has such difficulty accepting the presence of the Spirit is because it cannot be seen with our physical senses.
B. The Holy Spirit is there to provide the believer with the ability to carry out our mission in the world.
1. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on 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—NIV)
2. The disciples were about to experience a dynamic power unlike any the world has ever known.
3. Notice the disciples are not overwhelmed by the task given them. They either were extremely confident or were failing to grasp the enormity of the task.
4. If you consider Jesus’ words you can understand the reason for such confidence. They would receive power (dynamis), the same power that was at work in Jesus during His earthly ministry.
5. The Spirit is what gives believers the ability to carry out this huge mission we have been given.
C. The Holy Spirit is there to provide us with the courage and strength to be a light for Christ in the world.
1. As opposition grew to the message of Jesus the work of the Holy Spirit becomes even more visible.
2. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13—NIV)
3. Peter and John would not be intimidated by the threats of the religious leaders. They displayed courage and strength that made all that saw them take note.
4. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:55-60—NIV)
III. Three reasons we fail to open up our lives to the work of the Holy Spirit.
A. We are unsure and even afraid because of the mystery that surrounds the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit is not able to be fully known based on all the information we have about Him. Our minds just cannot fully comprehend Him.
2. Because of all the stories we have heard about the Spirit we are often afraid to explore Him because of what others might think.
3. We need to commit right now to make this journey to gain a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit.
B. Traditional views of the Holy Spirit that have been passed down often keep us from discovering the truth.
1. “Tradition is the living faith of those now dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living.” –Jaroslav Pelikan
2. We need to disregard many of the traditional views of the Spirit that have been passed down and commit to discovering God’s truth about Him.
3. The Spirit is the author of change and transformation which scare the majority of us to death.
C. We may be personally keeping the Holy Spirit from working in our lives.
1. We are only able to get as close to the Holy Spirit as we choose to.
2. Since so much is virtually unknown about the Spirit we are afraid to really get to know Him in a personal way.
3. We need to open our hearts and ask God to help us get to know the Holy Spirit on a deeper level.
Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ told this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool: During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch.
With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it. Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but they are not aware of their birthright.
