The Reality Of The Holy Spirit
Foundation Statement: The Holy Spirit is a real
person, who has a real ministry, and He will really lead you, guide you, and
help succeed in any situation and in every area of life.
I.
People who do not recognize the reality of the Holy Spirit and the
reality of His ministry will not look to Him/it and those who do not look to
Him/His ministry will receive of it. Therefore, when you don’t recognize the
reality of His ministry it hinders you from partaking of it.
A.
The world cannot receive direction from Him,
but they can receive Him-Jn14:17,Lk11:13
1.
They aren’t receiving direction from Him
because they aren’t looking to Him; They aren’t looking to Him because they
don’t have knowledge of him, they don’t know him, they don’t feel Him, they
don’t perceive Him; he’s not real to them
2.
The same thing is happening to believers
today; they aren’t looking to the Holy Spirit because they don’t recognize the
His reality and the reality of His ministry in their life
3.
You won’t receive from Him if you don’t look
to Him and you won’t look to Him if you don’t recognize the reality of Him and
His ministry
B.
The ministry of Jesus in the life of the
disciples while he walked the Earth is very similar to the ministry of the Holy
Spirit in the life of the NT believer-John 14:16
1.
Jesus was their comforter & he said he’s
going to send another one
a.
Jesus was leading, guiding, and teaching the
disciples
2.
Comforter-Someone who has come closely alongside of
another person for the sake of speaking to him, consoling him, comforting him,
or assisting him with instruction, counsel, or advice; One who pleads another's cause, Leads into a deeper knowledge of the
gospel truth; Give divine
strength
3.
Comforter-Summoned, called to one's side to help
a.
The Holy Spirit’s assignment is to come to
Earth and help me
b.
The Holy Spirit’s faithfulness is unmatched;
He’ll do his job-Jn14:16-He’s w/ us 4ever
C.
People are not receiving of His ministry b/c
they don’t recognize the reality of it-Prov 3:5
1.
We would think it to be foolish of the
disciples to not look to Jesus for instruction, wisdom, & guidance if they
were need while believers do the same thing everyday
2.
What would you think one of the disciples who
had a financial problem and was under pressure and he walked around thinking to
himself what am I going to do, then he started asking people what should I do,
and then they prayed, and then he read the law, and then he confessed the law
and never went to Jesus for leading of any kind? --- That man is a fool
II.
The Holy Spirit is a real person
A.
One God, Three persons and one of the persons
is the Holy Spirit-1 John 5:7
B.
Genesis 1:26-Elohim is a uniplural noun
(plural intensive with a singular meaning)
1. Church is a uniplural noun; you’re talking about one church, but not one
person
2. Family is a uniplural noun; you’re talking about one family, but not one
person
3. You can be one with somebody, and not become one person
a.
John 17:11-Jesus prayed that you and I be one
as He and the Father are one; Is he praying that we
all become one person?
b.
1 Corinthians 6:17-You are joined to the Lord
& one spirit but not the same person
C.
The Holy Spirit is a real person with a mind,
a will, emotions, actions and reactions
1. What makes a person a person is they have a mind, a will, and emotions
a.
Jesus has them, God the Father has them, The
Holy Spirit has them
b.
Jesus is a person, God is a person, and the
Holy Spirit is as much a person as them
2. John 16:13-He’ll not speak of Himself-He must have a will; IT’S don’t
have a will
3. Eph 4:30-Grieve not the Spirit-He must have emotions; ITS don’t have
emotions
4. John 14:26-He’ll teach you and bring to your remembrance-He must have a
mind to know things and he must remember things in His mind to remind you of
them
5. We’re not humanizing Him b/c he is to be reverenced and respected, but
we are personalizing him in our minds
D.
The deity of the Holy Spirit-This
all-powerful, all knowing, eternal, ever present person has been sent by God on
assignment from Heaven to help you
1. The Holy Spirit is the Eternal Spirit-Hebrews 9:14-“The eternal Spirit”
a.
In the beginning He didn’t become, He was
there moving on the waters
2. The Holy Spirit is the all-knowing Spirit-John 14:26-“He shall teach you all things and bring all things to
your remembrance.”
a.
He couldn’t teach you all things if he didn’t
know all things
3. The Holy Spirit is the all-powerful spirit-Romans 8:11-“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwells in you…”
a.
The Holy Spirit is the PERSON who showed up
and raised Jesus from the dead; it was the greatest demonstration of God’s
power ever and He is inside of us
4. The Holy Spirit is the ever-present spirit-Psalm 139:7-10-“Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I
flee from your presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, you are there: If I make
my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there
shall your hand lead me and your right hand shall hold me.”
III.
The first key in being led by the spirit is recognizing that
He is a real knowable person
A.
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “He” not an “It” The Holy Spirit is a
“He” not an “it”-There is a real knowable person living on the inside of
you-John 14:16-17, 16:7-8, 13-14
1.
When you refer to the Holy Spirit refer to
Him as a He, but more importantly recognize
that there is a He walking around with you everyday
a.
Rom8:26,1Pet2:24-The
Spirit ITSELF, same word is translated HIM and HIMSELF
2.
It’s inappropriate to refer to the Holy
Spirit as an it because he is a person
a.
If you walked in the door and I said its
here; that’s disrespectful
B.
We are supposed to commune/fellowship with the Holy Spirit-2 Corinthians 13:14
1.
You can’t fellowship, commune, or communicate
with an “it”; You can’t receive direction or leading from an “IT”; “ITS” won’t
talk to you and respond back to you
a.
The Holy Spirit will respond to you, teach
you, and guide you; He is a divine person
2.
Co-Together, jointly; Partner or associate in an
activity, with
a.
It takes two to commune or fellowship
3.
Commune-To
converse; to talk together; to impart sentiments mutually, in private or
familiar discourse; followed by with before the person. (Exodus 25:22)
a.
There has to be a “who” that you are communing with
4.
Communicate-To impart; to give to another, as
a partaker; To impart, as knowledge; to reveal; to give, as information, either
by words, signs or signals; as, to communicate
intelligence, news, opinions, or facts.
a.
U can’t communicate with an it; u can talk to that chair
& it’ll never talk back to u
C.
You can hear from him & receive direction
& counsel from Him just like a human being
1.
Get up in the morning checking with Him in
everything that I do; Acknowledge that you aren’t smart enough to run your
life; you’ve got to have help and you have help in the Holy Spirit; If you’ll
set your heart to it you’ll learn how to live like this; You might make some
mistakes in hearing during the process
IV.
The greatness of the Holy Spirit-Jesus says we are not going to
lose anything when He goes to the Father in gaining the Holy Spirit. When he
talks about leaving and the HS coming he describes it as profitable, reflecting
that we are gaining something-John 16:5-7
A.
The Holy
Spirit in me is just as profitable & advantageous as Jesus being next to me
1.
“Never the
less, I tell you the truth.” – I’m not just
saying this to make you feel good
a.
They are dealing with sorrow b/c Jesus is
leaving
2.
We’re just
as well off now with the Holy Spirit in us as we would be if Jesus was
manifested in the flesh standing next to us
a.
Do u think
u could get some things done w/ Jesus standing right next to you? According to
Jesus you’ve got something as profitable & advantageous as that
3.
Jesus
describes the situation of him leaving & the HS coming as being our advantage
a.
If it
would have been better for us, for Jesus to stay on the Earth then God would
have had him stay, but He didn’t have him stay b/c God knew that it would be
better for us if Jesus left & the Holy Spirit came (Swish that around in
your thinking)
B.
How can
Jesus leaving be an advantage?-That’s how marvelous
the Holy Spirit is
1.
(AMP)-Advantageous-The
Holy Spirit is our advantage in life
2.
He is the
most valuable asset to Christian living
3.
What would
be more valuable to a believer than to have Jesus walk around with you all the
days of your life? That’s a pretty valuable and profitable thing to have; Jesus
said that the Holy Spirit is just as good and even better than that
C.
To have the Holy Spirit in you is better than
Jesus being manifested in the flesh
1.
It’s not better to be them who walked and
lived with Jesus in the flesh than it is to have the Holy Spirit like we have
him now
a.
The Holy Spirit with us is better and more
advantageous than Jesus with them
b.
We have it better than them-We’ve got the
spirit of the Master inside us personally
2.
We are not to look back at them like they had
it better; It’s irreverent to the HS
D.
Have you been taking advantage of the
advantage or do you just try to get along the best you can and never
acknowledge the one who’s there to help you
1.
There is
great benefit & profit in having the Holy Spirit, that we’ve yet to plug
into