The Ghost in the Room: The Ghost of God is Practical

To be more specific to our theme, I looked up “Holy Ghost” in the 1599 Geneva Bible, which was the English standard Bible that was published before the English King James Version was available.

So our Study of the Ghost of God is important, according to the number of times He is mentioned in the New Testament alone. We won’t try to hit every facet of the Holy Spirit, but some specific ways we find the Holy Ghost at work for the purposes of God.

Some things are vital for our lives as Christians, beginning with the truth that as the presence of God in us and for us and through us, the Holy Ghost of God never leaves us, because this is a gift that God gives us because of his Son’s own prayers for our good.

To review,

The outline of topics on the Holy Ghost for October are these, beginning with the two I have already shared:

The Ghost of God is Personalxxx

As a part of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost is a person, with God the Father and God the Son. We can have direct conversation with the Holy Spirit, the Ghost in the Room, who will be faithful to interpret our words to the Father and the Son. And it is the Spirit that is the personal presence of God in us.

The Ghost of God is Our Paraclete

Jesus said he would send another to be with us, the Paraclete—a Greek word that means the Voice Beside Us, also named the Counselor, Advocate, or Helper. The Paraclete is on our side but is never against God, since He is part of him.

The Ghost of God is Practical

Today we will study how the Holy Spirit is Practical. We will look at how the Ghost in the Room helps to meet our needs with God’s means, not our own ideas and talents. And yet, one way that happens is by God enhancing our abilities to be blessed for serving the church.

The Ghost of God is Powerful

Next week, we will teach about the power God gives the church through his Holy Spirit. “Powerful” in an adjective often used in relation to the Ghost in the Room.

The Ghost of God is Present

Finally, on October 30, we will get to the last part of this series, and that is the nature of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us. There are no other Ghosts to fear when the Holy Ghost is with us.

So, on to our study for today: how

The Ghost of God is Practical

for our lives in Christ, our lives in the church, and our witness to the world. The Holy Ghost is the presence of God in our lives, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 2:11–12 ESV

11 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. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

The Holy Ghost Knows Our Needs

which is as tremendously important reality. It’s that reminder of God’s knowledge of us and our circumstances, of the church in its setting, and is the tie between what we are doing and what we need to be doing.

Not only that, but we can experience the Holy Ghost in our lives, and also declare and defend this truth according to Scripture, that. . .

The Holy Ghost Meets Our Needs

for God’s own purposes. Most certainly in what we need to be certain of God, certain of his purposes, and sure of God’s plans to meet those needs for the Church.

So the Holy Spirit is a Person of the Godhead, the Trinity, Three in One; and the Holy Spirit knows and in most ways is the mind of God in our midst. Truly the Holy Ghost is our only way to know the mind of God as it applies in the moment.

And yet, the instant application of the mind of God to our needs is always grounded in the Bible. The Spirit of God will never counter the revealed Word of God. He will never lead us down a path that is outside the truths of the Bible.

Today, we will look specifically at how the Ghost of God is Practical in these ways:

The Ghost of God Confirms the Salvation of the Believer

The Ghost of God Proclaims the Word of God

The Ghost of God Is Given for the Good of All

The Ghost of God Confirms Salvation

Romans 8:14–16 ESV

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 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!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

1 John 3:24 ESV

24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

1 John 5:6 ESV

6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

Romans 8:27 ESV

27 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.

2 Corinthians 5:5 ESV

5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Ghost of God Proclaims the Word

Mark 13:11 ESV

11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 ESV

26 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.

Acts 2:4 ESV

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

John 14:15–17 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 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.

John 14:21 ESV

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

John 14:23 ESV

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The Ghost of God Is Given for the Good of All

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 12:1 ESV

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

KEY VERSE:

1 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:8–10 ESV

8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:11–12 ESV

11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Ephesians 4:4 ESV

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

Ephesians 4:7 ESV

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

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