Reverence
I. Being led by the Holy Spirit
begins with you reverencing the Holy Spirit
A.
Psalm 111:10-Being led of the spirit
originates at your reverence for him
1. Wisdom-Act wisely; The only way you would act wisely is if your were led by
the HS
a.
I act based on what He leads me to do
2. The beginning of this led life, is to live a reverent life
a.
Reverence first, be led of the spirit second
b.
Until you begin to reverence the Holy Spirit,
you won’t begin to be led by Him
3. Reverencing the Holy Spirit will be the cause of you being led by Him
a.
If you will reverence Him, you will be led by
Him; If you don’t, you won’t
1) Cause and effect-You don’t get the effect without the cause
b.
This reverence for the Holy Spirit will bring
about His leading
c.
A led-life is the result of a reverent life
4. 1 Sam 2:30-If you’ll honor Him by reverence for him, he will honor you
w/ His leading
B.
Prov 1:7-The more you reverence God the better you’ll be able to discern His
leading
1. Your reverence for God is directly connected to your level sensitivity
to His leading and your ability to discern it
a.
The more you reverence/respect Him the more
sensitive to His leading you’ll be and the better you’ll be able to discern it
b.
If you’re irreverent He could speak & you
not be sensitive to it or aware that its Him
2. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
discerning what’s Him and what’s not
a.
So
many times people can’t discern what was God and what wasn’t God and it’s
completely related to their lack of reverence for the Holy Spirit
3. A fool will think that the leading of the Spirit is an insignificant
thing, but a wise person will practice being led and develop it in his or her
life
C.
Proverbs 9:4-18-The beginning of you avoiding
bad stuff is you fearing the Lord
1. This is the third time God said this to us through His word
2. 11-MSG-Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life
ripen
a.
The Holy Spirit will lead you into the sweet
life
b.
Proverbs 19:23-If you fear the HS and get the
leading of the spirit, this is the result
3. 16-The enemy is always trying to lead you into a dark, bitter life
(feelings, flesh)
4. 18-This could have been avoided if he would have reverenced the Holy
Spirit
a.
Many believers’ biggest problem is lack of
reverence for the Holy Spirit
II. The person of God is the
Holy Spirit and we should not show Him any less reverence than we would show
God for they are the same God
A.
The Holy Spirit is effected by what we do-Eph
4:30, Isaiah 63:10, Hebrews 10:29
1. He can be grieved, saddened, “offended”, irritated, annoyed, insulted,
outraged
B.
Reverencing Him comes down to valuing Him so
much that you would dare do anything that would disrespect Him in any way
1. If you do something that was irreverent towards Him acknowledge it and
repent of it; He is as forgiving as the Father and when you repent He remembers
it no more
2. Make sure there is nothing between you and Him
III. The first way we reverence
Him is by how we refer to Him
A.
How you refer to a person shows your level of
reverence for that person-Mark 6:2-4
B.
Things to remember in how you refer to Him
1. The Holy Spirit is a person-Jesus referred to Him as “He” not “It” -
John 14:16-17
a.
Don’t say “something” told me-Don’t call Him
a hunch
2. The Holy Spirit is your superior, higher in authority
a.
You can be free around Him, but all the while
be cautious of who he is
C.
As we reverence Him by referring to Him
properly as a person in authority, we will be more led of Him because it will
help us to recognize there is a person here to lead me
1. You can’t be led by an it, you can’t talk to a hunch, & something
can’t tell you what to do
IV. The second way that we
reverence the Holy Spirit is that we acknowledge Him-Prov
3:6
A.
It is extremely irreverent to not acknowledge
someone who is in your presence; To act as if another does not exist is mean,
cruel, and irreverent
1. Acknowledge-Recognize, notice with particular regard
a.
DRA-In all thy ways think on him, and he will
direct thy steps.
b.
GNT-Remember the Lord in everything you do,
and he will show you the right way
c.
MSG-Listen for God's voice in everything you
do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track
2. Don’t go hours upon hours without acknowledging Him
a.
It is respectful to acknowledge people that
are in your presence, particularly those in authority over you
b.
It’s respectful to communicate with Him, talk
to Him
B.
Faith is integral b/c you have to believe He
is there when you don’t feel Him or see him
1. When you believe He’s there, you’ll acknowledge that He is there, you’ll
be conscious that he’s there and it will lead you being more reverent towards
Him
C.
If you acknowledge Him out of your respect
for Him, He will direct your paths
V. The third way we reverence
Him is that we hate evil-Proverbs 8:13
A.
What he hates I hate, what he likes a like
that’s reverent, that’s respectful
1.
Hate-A feeling of intense hostility a strong
distaste for something
2.
Romans 12:9-Abhor-A person who hates something so extremely that he literally
backs away from it in disgust
3.
Proverbs 3:7-People who reverence God depart
from evil out of respect for Him
B.
To lightly esteem things that absolutely repulse
the Holy Spirit is irreverent
1.
To laugh at and make little of things God
hates is extremely irreverent
a.
Prov 3:6-Acknowldge means
consider (consider what the HS things about this)
1) ERV-With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help
you go the right way
b.
When you are conscious that he’s here it will
lead you being more reverent
2.
We don’t esteem sin lightly
a.
Sin is what put Jesus on the cross-Sin is
what brought the curse into the Earth-Sin is what caused the Father to forsake
Jesus-Sin sent Jesus to hell-Sin marred his body to the place he didn’t even
look like a man
b.
Sin grieves the heart of God
c.
Don’t ever say you’ll do it no and repent
later (Somebody had to pay for that)
3.
We don’t talk lightly about the curse-I don’t
tolerate it
C.
When these things come up that he hates and
you laugh and make light of it, you are not yielding to him, you’re hardening
yourself and you won’t be led by Him
1. But when you hate what he hates, love what he loves you’re yielding to
him and the more you yield to Him, the more sensitive you’ll be, the more led
you’ll be
VI. The fourth way we reverence
Him is that we recognize our need for Him
A.
To reverence the Holy Spirit is to be in awe of Him-Feeling of amazement &
respect coupled w/ feeling of personal insignificance
1.
Prov 3:7-Being wise in your own eyes, then you are saying you don’t need
him
a.
Being wise in your own eyes is prideful and
being prideful is irreverent-Pr 22:4
2.
Pride has to do with lifting yourself up,
over estimating your abilities-(Prov
6:17-AMP)
a.
Pride & irreverence says I can do it,
humility & reverence says I need help HS
b.
If you didn’t need help God wouldn’t have
given it to you
3.
In their pride my people aren’t requiring me;
but those who humble themselves and require me will be satisfied
a.
Psalm 22:26-Require him as your greatest need
b.
Psalm 27:8-Require him as a necessity, vital
c.
Psalm 105:3-Require him as an indispensable
necessity
d.
Psalm 34:10-Those who require Him like this
will not lack any good thing
B.
One of the biggest things that’s keeping
people from being led by the Holy Spirit is they have failed to recognize their
total inadequacy and the absolute necessity of His ministry in their lives; One
thing that will help you recognize your need for him is seeing your complete
incompetence without Him
1.
4 In You Truths-In yourself you are
nothing-Galatians 6:3---you know nothing-1 Cor 8:2---In
yourself you have nothing-1 Cori 4:7-In yourself you can do nothing-John 15:5
2.
There’s something reverent about
acknowledging that you need the Holy Spirit, you need His wisdom, you need His
leading, you need his direction
a.
There’s something reverent about humility
that says I need to be taught how to live
C.
People who don’t think they need Him, need
His direction, need His leading, need his help, won’t seek Him for it, and in
turn will not receive it