Connect Church
Who is the Holy Spirit?
  • Glorious Day
  • Holy Spirit Come
  • Holy Spirit
  • Fresh Wind
  • Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
  • For the next several weeks, we're going to talk about Someone who is absolutely essential to the Christian life, but who is sometimes the least understood. We're going to talk about the Holy Spirit.
    And if I were to ask you, “What comes to mind when you hear the words Holy Spirit?” I imagine we'd get a lot of different answers.
    Some people think about power. Some think about speaking in tongues. Some think about miracles. Some think about worship. Some think about a feeling they had in a church service. And some people hear “Holy Spirit” and honestly aren't sure what to think.
    Maybe you've grown up in church and you've heard about the Holy Spirit your whole life. Maybe you've been around the Holy Spirit and have seen things you didn't understand. Maybe you've never really been taught about the Holy Spirit at all. But here's what I want us to understand as we begin this series:

    The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” He is a “He.”

    The Holy Spirit is not simply a power that God gives us. He is not an atmosphere we create. He is not a feeling we experience. He is not a spiritual upgrade for Christians who want to go deeper.

    He is God.

    And He is not optional for the believer.
    That's why we're calling this series Wind and Fire. Throughout Scripture, wind and fire are two of the images God uses to help us understand the activity of the Holy Spirit. Wind can't be seen, but you can see what it does. You can watch the trees move. You can feel it against your face. You can see the leaves blowing across the ground. Fire gives light. Fire gives heat. Fire changes whatever it touches. And that's what the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer.
    He works in ways we cannot always see, but His presence produces something we can see.
    He brings power. He brings guidance. He brings conviction. He brings understanding. He brings transformation. He empowers us to live the life Jesus has called us to live.
    And here's what I want us to do over these next few weeks. I don't want us simply to learn more information about the Holy Spirit. I want us to know Him. Because there's a difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing someone.
    I could tell you facts about my wife. I could tell you where she grew up. I could tell you what she likes. I could tell you stories about her. But knowing facts about her isn't the same thing as knowing her.
    And I think sometimes we can do the same thing with the Holy Spirit. We can know the terminology. We can know the Scriptures. We can know the theology. We can know what other people have experienced. But Jesus didn't promise His disciples information about the Holy Spirit. He promised them the presence of the Holy Spirit.
    And that's where I want us to begin.
    Before we talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, we're going to talk about the Person of the Holy Spirit. Before we talk about what He does, we're going to talk about who He is. Before we talk about being filled with the Spirit, we're going to talk about the Spirit who fills us.
    So turn with me to John chapter 14.
    Jesus is having a conversation with His disciples on the night before His crucifixion. And these men are about to face something they never imagined.
    Jesus has told them He's leaving. The One they've followed for three years is telling them that He won't be physically with them much longer. And you can imagine the fear and uncertainty in that room.
    But Jesus doesn't tell them, “You're going to have to figure this out on your own.” He doesn't say, “Good luck. I'll see you on the other side.”
    Instead, Jesus makes them a promise.
    Look at verse 16 and 17.
    John 14:16–17 MEV
    16 I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, that He may be with you forever: 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, neither does it know Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you, and will be in you.
    Did you catch what Jesus just said?
    “Him.”
    Not “it.” Not “something.” Not “a force.”
    Him.
    Jesus was introducing His disciples to a Person. And that's where we're going to begin this series.

    Who is the Holy Spirit?

    Because if we're going to understand the Holy Spirit, we have to start here:
    The Holy Spirit is not a force to experience. He is a Person to know.
    Jesus gives us five answers to this question and I want to lay those out for you this morning.
    Look at the first one with me.

    1. He is Another Counselor.

    John 14:16 MEV
    16 I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, that He may be with you forever:
    The Holy Spirit is another counselor or advocate.
    The Greek word for counselor here is parakletos. It literally carries the idea of “one called alongside.” Depending on the context, it can be translated as advocate, helper, counselor, comforter or one who comes alongside.
    The word comes from para which means alongside or beside and kaleo which means to call.
    So the basic picture is “one called to come alongside.”
    Think about this, Jesus has already told his disciples that he is leaving, but he is telling them, “you’re not going to be left alone. Another helper is coming alongside you.”
    But there is word that makes this even more powerful. That is the word next to counselor. The word is “another”.
    The Greek for this is allon parakleton. Allon means another of the same kind, rather than something completely different.
    For the last three years, Jesus has been their helper, teacher, guide, and advocate. Now the Holy Spirit will continue that ministry of God’s presence with them.
    Jesus didn't promise His disciples another force. He promised them another Helper—Someone who would come alongside them and remain with them forever.
    So, what does this tell us? It tells us that the Holy Spirit is personal. You don’t have a relationship with a force. You have a relationship with a person.
    The Holy Spirit can help, teach, lead, convict, comfort, speak, be resisted, be grieved. When we think of Him this way, it changes how we approach Him.
    You don’t seek the power of the Holy Spirit, you seek the presence of the Holy Spirit.

    The Holy Spirit is not something that God gives us to use; the Holy Spirit is someone that God gives us to know.

    The second answer that Jesus gives us about the Holy Spirit is…

    2. He Testifies to the Truth

    Turn to John chapter 15 and look at verse 26.
    John 15:26 MEV
    26 “But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me.
    It is important for you to know that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is always connected to Jesus.
    Look at these scripture references that back this statement up.
    1 Corinthians 12:3 NIV
    3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
    Paul points out to us that it is through the Spirit that we confess that Jesus is Lord.
    Romans 8:9 NIV
    9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
    In this verse Paul calls Him the Spirit of Christ.
    And it is in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we read that the Spirit transforms us into Christ’s image.
    2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
    18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
    So, this is the progression that we see.

    The Spirit points us to Jesus → identifies us with Jesus → makes us more like Jesus.

    The Holy Spirit never contradicts the Jesus He inspired Scripture to reveal.
    If there ever is something that claims to be spiritual but that something pulls us away from Jesus and His Word, then we should question it.
    The Holy Spirit doesn't compete with Jesus for attention; He points our attention to Jesus.
    The third answer Jesus gives us is…

    3. He Enlightens People’s Minds to the Truth

    Turn to John 14. Let’s look at what verse 26 says.
    John 14:26 MEV
    26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.
    The Holy Spirit is our teacher.
    Let me begin by saying, this does not mean that we don’t need pastors, teachers, Bible studies, or other believers. There are plenty of scriptures that says we do.
    However, it does mean that ultimately, the Holy Spirit is the One who opens our hearts and minds to understand what God has revealed.
    You can read the same passage of Scripture you’ve read twenty times and suddenly see something you never saw before.
    That’s not because the Bible changed. That’s because the Spirit opened your understanding.
    The Holy Spirit doesn't just give us the Bible; He opens our understanding to what God has revealed through the Bible.
    1 Corinthians 2:10–13 NIV
    10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
    Ephesians 1:17 NIV
    17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
    As we grow in our faith and as we study God’s Word, we don’t need more information. On my phone alone I have more bibles than I can count. I can read books and articles that will give me more information. What I need as a believer is I need more illumination. Lord, let your Word come alive in me through the work of the Holy Spirit.
    Information tells me what the bible says. The Holy Spirit helps me understand what God is saying and how it applies to my life.

    The Holy Spirit doesn’t replace the Word; He illuminates the Word.

    The fourth answer that Jesus gives us concerning the Holy Spirit is…

    4. The Holy Spirit Exposes Untruth

    Think about the movie Leap of Faith with Steve Martin.
    Steve Martin plays a traveling faith healer named Jonas Nightengale. He and his team travel from town to town putting on these big revival meetings. There's music, preaching, people coming forward, and supposed miracles.
    But underneath all of it, there is deception.
    What looks spiritual on the outside isn't necessarily spiritual on the inside. What appears to be supernatural is sometimes nothing more than manipulation and a carefully planned performance.
    And here's the thing:
    A counterfeit only works if it looks enough like the real thing to fool you.
    That's why Jesus says in John 16:8
    John 16:8 MEV
    8 When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment:
    The Holy Spirit doesn't just reveal the truth, the Holy Spirit exposes what isn't true.
    If you will listen to the Holy Spirit, He will give you insight into sin, deception, false beliefs, wrong motives, spiritual counterfeits, lies we have believed about God, and lies we have believed about ourselves.
    Because not everything that looks spiritual is from God. Not every feeling is the Holy Spirit. Not every voice is God's voice. Not every teaching is biblical. Not everything supernatural is from God.

    We need the Spirit of Truth to help us recognize the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit.

    And here's what's important: when the Holy Spirit exposes something in your life, He's not doing it to embarrass you. He's not doing it to condemn you. He's doing it because He loves you enough to bring you back to truth.
    The Holy Spirit doesn't expose the darkness to push you away from God. He exposes the darkness so He can lead you into the light.
    This brings me to my last point, the fifth answer that Jesus gives us.

    He Guides Jesus’ Followers Into All Truth

    Go to John 16:13
    John 16:13 NIV
    13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
    The Holy Spirit doesn’t just simply tell us what is true. He leads us to live according to the truth.
    The Holy Spirit is cheering us on and He is leading us in everything that allow Him to.
    He guides our decisions. He guides our relationships. He guides our priorities. He guides our conversations. He guides our ministry. He guides our witness. He guides our obedience.
    The Christian life isn’t simply, “What does God want me to believe?”
    It is also, “Holy Spirit, how do you want me to live?”

    The Holy Spirit doesn’t just give us truth for our heads; He leads us into truth for our lives.

    As we close this morning, let me remind you that the Holy Spirit isn’t am impersonal force. He is not a strange phenomenon. The Holy Spirit is not a spiritual accessory or an optional add-on to Christianity.

    The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God living with and in God’s people.

    If you can imagine this conversation that Jesus was having with the disciples. He knew they were going to face something they couldn’t handle in their own strength. So, even as He told them He was leaving, He also promised them His presence through the Holy Spirit.
    And here is even greater news. Just as He made that promise to them. That same promise matters to us.
    Here is something I want each of you to think about this morning. I have taken the past twenty minutes or so, to tell you about the Holy Spirit. So, don’t ask what the Holy Spirit can do through you, but ask whether you know the Holy Spirit who wants to live in you.
    That is what this morning is all about. Do you know the Holy Spirit?
    Next week we will talk about what the Holy Spirit does. This week I want you to focus on, do you know the Holy Spirit?
    Maybe you've spent your life thinking about the Holy Spirit as something mysterious, something you've been afraid of, or maybe something you've never really understood. Today, I want you to see Him the way Jesus described Him—as the One who comes alongside you, teaches you, guides you, reveals truth to you, and walks with you.
    Maybe your prayer today isn't, ‘Holy Spirit, give me more power.’
    Maybe your prayer is simply, ‘Holy Spirit, help me know You.’
    If you want to make that your prayer today, I want you to respond.
    You can come forward and find an altar or you can right where you are standing say, Holy Spirit, Help me know you.
    Let’s take a moment and pray.

      • John 14:16–17NIV2011

      • John 14:16NIV2011

      • John 15:26NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 12:3NIV2011

      • Romans 8:9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:18NIV2011

      • John 14:26NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 2:10–13NIV2011

      • Ephesians 1:17NIV2011

      • John 16:8NIV2011

      • John 16:13NIV2011

  • Spirit Of The Living God

      • Ezra 2:68–69NIV2011

Connect Church
connectchurchfs@gmail.com
4794525734
https://www.connectchurchfs.com
31 members • 3 followers