March 26, 2017

Meet The Person, The Holy Spirit And What It Means To Live In The Spirit.


VIDEO: Benny Hinn - "Where would we be without the Holy Spirit!?"
written by Jim Tompkins
[source: MudPreacher.org ]
"Anyone who does not know the Holy Spirit as a person has not attained unto a complete and well rounded Christian experience. Any one who knows God the Father and God the Son and does not know God the Holy Spirit, has not attained unto the Christian conception of God, nor to a fully Christian experience." ~R A Torrey
I want you to imagine you are one of the Disciples who followed Jesus faithfully as He ministered throughout Judea and Samaria. You were a believer in Him as the Messiah. You were willing to follow Him as He set up His Kingdom. He was your everything.

Then comes that horrible night when He is taken away. All you dreams are shattered as you watch as they crucify the one you thought was the Messiah of God.

You join the others in hiding as you wonder what to do with your life. For three days you are in a panic. Then you hear the news. Jesus is alive! You rush over to where He is, and you see you touch, you know He is alive!

But later, Jesus meets with you and tells you that He is going away. He is going to His Father. Here is what He says:
Luke 24:44-49 (ESV) Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
John 14:15-18 (ESV) “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another paraklētos, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 15:26-27 (ESV) “But when the paraklētos comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:7-8 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the paraklētos will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

John 14:26 (ESV) But the paraklētos, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

I. The Importance of Knowing the Holy Spirit as a Person.

Real Worship

1. Worship is meant to be Personal and Transformational.
a. Theoretical worship vs. Experiential Worship
b. Influenced by your perception

2. When we view the Holy Spirit as an ‘IT’, our worship is impersonal and without life changing effect
a. Rob a Divine person of proper worship
b. Rob a Divine person of proper love and obedience

3. We supposedly Worship the Holy Spirit every time we sing the Doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Growth as a Christian

1. If you see the Holy Spirit as an influence or power…
a. How can I get a hold of the Holy Spirit and use it?
b. How can I get More of the Holy Spirit?

2. If we see the Holy Spirit as a person…
a. How can the Holy Spirit get hold of me and use me?
b. How can the Holy Spirit get more of me?

3. Wrong attitudes of seeing the H.S. as an influence
a. Self Confidence
b. Self-exaltation
c. Act as though you are superior

4. Right attitudes of Seeing the H.S. as a Divine Person Living in You
a. Self-renunciation
b. Self-humiliation
c. Act with a sense of being a vessel for the Divine.

To Experience the Fullness of Christ

1. Life Changing Encounter
2. The Point of Jesus in John 3

John 3:2-8 (ESV) This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

We MUST EXPERIENCE God for ourselves!

The Proof of the Person of the Holy Spirit.

All Characteristics of Personality are attributed to the Holy Spirit

What Makes a Person a Person?
  • Knowledge
  • Feeling
  • Will
A Person Does Not Need a Body
  • We will not have our fleshly body for a long time, but we will still be a unique person.
  • If you have knowledge, feelings and a will, you are a person whether you have a body or not.
The Bible Proves the Person of the Holy Spirit

1. KNOWLEDGE
1 Corinthians 2:11 (ESV) For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

2. WILL
1 Corinthians 12:11(ESV) All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

a. The Holy Spirit gets hold of us and uses us according to His Will!
b. You cannot get hold of Him!

3. MIND WILL AND EMOTIONS
Romans 8:27(ESV) And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

a. Mind is the Greek word “phronema” which has in it all three-knowledge, feeling and will.
b. Rom 8:7 – The mind of the flesh is enmity means that the whole moral and intellectual life of the flesh is enmity against God.

4. LOVE OF THE SPIRIT.
Romans 15:30 (ESV) I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.

a. Not a mere influence of power
b. He is a divine person, loving us with the tenderest of love.
c. Have you thanked the Holy Spirit for His Love?

5. INTELLIGENCE AND GOODNESS
Nehemiah 9:20 (ESV) You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.

6. A PERSON WHO GRIEVES OVER OUR SINS
Ephesians 4:30 (ESV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

a. He Goes with us wherever we go.
b. He desires us to please Him with our lives.

The Holy Spirit is a Person of the Trinity
  1. Genesis 1:26 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
  2. Genesis 1:1-3 (ESV) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said (The Word of God-the Logos), “Let there be light,” and there was light.
  3. Elohim is plural for “Gods”.
  4. THERE IS A PLURALITY OF PERSONS IN THE ONE GODHEAD.
Read Deuteronomy 6:4. The word for God used in “The Lord (Jehovah) our God (elohim) is one Lord” should actually be translated Gods. Elohim is a masculine plural noun used 2,600 times in the Old Testament. Why would the Holy Spirit use a plural noun to describe the ONE TRUE GOD?

Many Actions are attributed to the Holy Spirit that only a Person can perform.

1. 1 Corinthians 2:10 (ESV) these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

a. The Holy Spirit who Himself searches the deep things of God and then He reveals to us the things which He discovers.

2. Romans 8:26 (ESV) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

a. The Holy Spirit Prays for us here on Earth
b. Jesus Christ Prays for us from Heaven

3. John 14:26(ESV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

a. He teaches us
b. He reminds us.

4. John 16:12-14(ESV) “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

a. He is our personal Teacher
b. He reveals to us what He hears!

The Holy Spirit holds an Office that only a person can hold.

John 14:16-17(ESV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
  1. He is ANOTHER Comforter, just like Christ.
  2. Not an influence, but a PERSON, who makes His Home in our lives.
  3. Christ is a Divine Person, and He sent ANOTHER Divine Person to take His place!
  4. Comforter is ‘parakletos’, “one who stand’s alongside another”.
  5. Same as Advocate in 1 John 2:1 (if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.)
  6. Jesus is the one who came alongside the Boat in the midst of the storm.
  7. Comforter – Parakletos
  • Different from parakaleo (one you call upon for comfort)
  • Not someone who you call upon when you need Him.
  • It is His Purpose to be always at your side!
  • We are indwelt, we are sealed.
  • He is our Constant Companion!
Would Your Life Change if You Knew the Holy Spirit as a Person?

1. Insomnia
2. Loneliness
3. Communion of the Holy Spirit in times of loss
a. Heartache
b. No Fear

It was New Years Eve, and we had our whole family over at a friend’s house in Blue Springs. It was after mid night, and we started to take the hour trip home to Overland Park. The weather turned nasty, and the drizzle that was falling started to freeze. We were on I-70 close to Independence, when the highway became a sheet of ice. Cars where sliding everywhere. We were only going 30 miles an hour, and were in a big conversion van. I was scared out of my mind. My wife was yelling, some of the kids were crying. All of a sudden the van started sliding. I had lost control and nothing was working to stop the van. We started sliding sideways down the highway into the cars ahead of us. I just said Lord, we are in your hands. Just when it looked like we were going to crash into a car or a guard rail, the van came to a sudden stop. We had come to a place under an overpass that had not iced up. Hallelujah! I had a quick word of praise and prayer with our family, got the van headed the right way and we slowly made our way home. It took over two hours, but I was no longer afraid, for I knew the Holy Spirit was with us. I had remembered what RA Torrey had said about a time he had to hike along a river bluff for 4 miles after midnight with no moon.
Living in the Spirit

Our Journey through the Cross will stop in Romans 8.

Here we discover what the Cross is all about. It is about the life that Jesus died to give all those who by faith make Him their life. It requires a turning away from our self, our sin, our flesh and embracing Jesus Christ as our Lord, our Life, our Savior.

By faith in what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross, we are justified by God. We are declared righteous, we are declared His children. By faith, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus shed upon the world at Pentecost, comes and makes us His dwelling place. We are set apart for God’s purpose.

Coming to the Cross and accepting Jesus as your Savior means that you will now live by the cross. We must take up our cross daily, and just as Jesus humbled Himself as a servant, so we must humble ourselves before Almighty God and take up the cross He has given to us.

We have this assurance from the Master himself, that we will not bear our cross alone. In fact, our cross becomes easy and light, as long as we realize that He carries it for us. For the cross means that we no longer live, in fact our old man is dead, and the life that we now live, we live by Jesus Christ.

This is the message of Romans, and Romans 8 reveals what it means to be a Christian. Romans 8 is the insider’s guide to the Christian Life. The Christian Life is all about walking after the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit communicates and manifests Jesus Christ in our lives. Romans 8 details our New Life in the Holy Spirit.

1. The Holy Spirit Joins us to Christ

He brings about a vital union with the Lord Jesus.
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17);
It is a spiritual and inward union with the Lord Jesus. This is what Romans 8:1-2 describes:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit joins us to Jesus Christ and we live in the Spirit of Life! God is all about Life, and sin is death. Being joined to Jesus means we are no longer under condemnation, no longer under the penalty of sin, no longer under the judgment of death, separated from Holy God by all eternity in Hell.

You and I, if we are truly born-again children of God, have got to know that, right inside of us, a union has been effected between Christ and ourselves, and ourselves and Christ; that we are joined to Christ. That union has been affected; we have been made one.

No more me, but We!

The Lord’s way of illustrating this truth is the marriage union. Paul says, “the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:31, 32). ‘One flesh’. Just as married couples, we are made “one flesh” with Jesus Christ.

Now, if a marriage is what it ought to be, those two people are so ONE, that to separate them is to cut one person in two, and only leave two halves, and not a whole. This explains how death can leave a spouse so empty, so alone, as if part of them is gone. This explains how even years later, divorce can leave an ugly scar upon ones soul.

That is the illustration of our union with Christ. We are not complete until we are united with Christ; our completeness is in union with Christ.

If we do not have Christ with us, we are only half here. If we lose the Lord, we are torn in two. Jesus is that much a part of our lives.

We can – by disobedience, by playing with sin, by disobeying the Lord, by this or that – bring about such an effect, so that we feel as if something has happened; the Lord is there and I am here, and we are not together. It is as though we have been torn in two, are not complete.

This is the beginning of the Christian life; the very foundation and basis of the Christian life:

We and Christ have been made one; not two – one!
Jesus is not our homeboy. He is not someone we go to when things get bad. He is not a good luck charm we wear around our neck. He is not a wristband that says WWJD. We are united as one with the very creator of the universe. This union is a mystery, but it is so real and so powerful that to divide, to walk away and have an independent life – it is to destroy your own identity, to tear your own spiritual personality in pieces; and that is how it is, if we get away from the Lord in any way.
So here, the very first thing that we find about this life in the Spirit, is that there has come about between us and Christ, and between Christ and ourselves, a oneness, which is not in any outward, visible sense, but in a vital, inward reality.

So the first thing is “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (v. 2) – the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus – that is the union: our union with Christ.
2. The Holy Spirit Leads Us
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14
When we are joined to Jesus Christ, we are not left to our own abilities. In fact, we must humble ourselves and give all of ourselves to Christ, so that the Holy Spirit will lead us. The operative word is “LED”. He is the leader. It is not a shared responsibility. There can be only one BOSS. This is why Paul wrote that:
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7-8
To be led by the Spirit we must “walk AFTER the Spirit”

God reveals why we cannot walk after the flesh and why we must walk after the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:29:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… Romans 8:29

3. The Holy Spirit brings us to Confidence in our Father
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
The Holy Spirit opens us up to seeing God as our dearest Daddy, the one who cares for us with unconditional love. We no longer live our lives in fear of what can or might happen. We know that we are in the hands of our dearest Daddy.

God is including us in His plan, and that plan involves us becoming conformed to His Son Jesus Christ.

Many of us have experienced horrible tragedies. Many of us have suffered terrible injustices, abuse. There are many ways we react to such experiences.

We can blame others, we can hold on to our pain and grow bitter, we can become frustrated and angry, and we can lash out and be vengeful. None of these reflects the heart of one who sees his life held in the arms of his dearest Daddy.
Living in the Holy Spirit is a life that is confident in the God’s power and God’s Purpose for your life. Living in the Holy Spirit allows us to believe what Paul wrote: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. Romans 8:28
4. The Holy Spirit Bears Witness
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:16
The indwelling Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. How does He do it? The Holy Spirit does not constantly speak in our ear, and say: “You know you are a child of God; you are a child of God”.

He says what He does because of our being children of God – that we know it.
We know how others can do certain things that we cannot; there is something that we have in our heart that makes us aware that this is, or this is not, according to the Father’s mind. The simple truth is this – we know: “the Spirit beareth witness”; we know. This joint witness of the Holy Spirit works with the Spirit of Sonship mentioned in verse 15 wherein we cry “Abba Father”. We know we are God’s child.

Bear witness with is summartureō, “to bear joint witness with” some other person, “to bear joint-testimony with” some other person. “Our spirit” refers to the saint’s human spirit energized by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears testimony to our human spirit that we are children of God (teknon, without article, thus, children of God by nature), and our Spirit-energized, spirit thus joins the Holy Spirit in a joint-testimony to that fact. Wuest’s Word Studies

No comments: