Holy Spirit: God With Us

Like we sing at Christmas and Manuel and which means god with me, but we're not going to do Christmas in July, so no worries. But I went around the idea and what it means to have the presence of God With Us in the spirit. I think it's one of the most powerful pieces of the Christian life and it's essential to living out our faith. It's also one of the most challenging to understand and to grow in at least it's a growing area for me. And I like to say that in our church growing up we definitely had the Trinity but sometimes it might have felt like we had the father Son and Holy Scripture. For me, it's been a slow and gentle burning about the spirit over many years of working in the United Kingdom with people whose spiritual practice and Christian faith, have different and expanded practices from my own. So today, it's an high overview view of the Holy Spirit. We're going to touch down gently couple times. And we're going to think about our own experience and because it's a intentionally wide overview wide, not deep. I want to recommend some teaching to you, by Tim Mackie. He's the chap. Who does the bible Project online? You can find a sermon series at his church, on called, I am who I am, which was about God. So, there's a lot of Tim Mackie material. If there's anything clever, it's absolutely from Tim Mackie, So we're going to do this. Sermon Gloucester England Style, Okay, so that means we have some interactive. It's sprinkled in and we have some response time at the end. So if you're willing turn to a couple of people near you just two or three and think about when you had a moment of wow or all that just sort of blew your socks off. It might have been in a quiet way. It might have been in a dramatic way. It might have been a moment in nature. It might have been a piece of art. It might have been a time with your family but just a general like wow life is amazing kind of moment okay. I'm going to give you 2 minutes and I'd like you to actually physically turn into somebody and share that memory of a moment that was impactful to you. Go.

Yeah. Yeah yeah. Yeah.

All right. Thanks for sharing with each other. That moment of, wow.

So as we get into our topic, we might not get any further. In a minute, then a moment of wow. And actually, I'd be okay with that.

because to understand and to be more off filled About the reality. That is true for believers in Jesus. I want us to just take this in and if it helps you to listen to close your eyes, I'd encourage you to do that.

That's a living. God, who created the universe? The stars, and the Earth, the ocean, and the trees God in the person of the spirit is alive and present daily in you. And with you, the very power of God, which brought life and order out of chaos and darkness in the creation, the same God who came in person and Jesus to rescue and save us from our mess. The fullness of who Jesus is is sent to be a gift. To be with us every minute of every day to remind us of our true identity and to help us live as human beings in relationship to our Heavenly Father. And with other human beings,

Now, that's a moment of. Wow, that is a, wow, kind of thing. And it is vital, because it's part of the good news. When you accept Jesus and follow him, it's strange and it's wonderful, and it's true. And it's a gift from God. Who is relentlessly, eternally committed to loving us and restoring us to all. He's made us to be and thinking about the spirit of God might be for some of us. It might be very familiar. It might seem a bit strange or maybe even a really strange but I want to say yeah, just speak of the person of the spirit of God, living a nest history in our wider society. And that's okay. Because we can recognize that and also say it's a truth that we celebrate as Christians. So as we were going to say, who is the Holy Spirit, the spirit is the personal presence of God, with Believers, every moment of every day, the spirits, the third percent of what we call the Trinity, which is the name given to the reality. That the God in the Bible is, in a way that's really challenging for us to understand. That God is made up a community of persons in the Father the Son and the spirit and well that term Trinity isn't in the Bible. It is a reality that is clear throughout scripture, we don't have time to go into it today but there's some good resources online that can help unpack it a bit so we can trace the presence of the spirit from someone in the Bible goes right back. Genesis 1 1 and 2 says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So in creation, God Speak.

Made it to that first person, and to each of us. Life is given as a gift. These activities of the spirit in creation are good ones to remember, because with the spirit did, then the spirit does now, So breath or wind is a little trance. Literal translation of the word for Spirit in the Bible and it's a it's a wonderful image to help us try to get her head around it. A bit, we can feel the wind, we can feel the effects of it but we don't literally see the wind. We can feel our breath right now. It's what powers, our body, its life. I'm not a medical doctor but I can tell you that there's no breath, there's no life and the spirit is life given by God and it's important. When we think about the reality of the spirit that spirit is a Who Not of what spirit is a who not of what the image of breath, or wind or images to help us understand something. There, there metaphor, but it doesn't make spirit of what it's not the life force of Star Wars, or natural force of the Earth. That is not the Holy Spirit that's given to us in scripture. So it's a who that spirit is a Hoon, it's a person and it's a person who is God come to be with us. A couple of things. Help me think about the spirit differently more personally and they're small and settle, but they help me shift my thinking a little bit. So, John 14, we're going to have a look at this. Passage John 14 says and Jesus. Speaking, he says, if you love me keep my commands, I will ask the father and he will give you another Advocate, to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. No, just before this passage, Jesus has said, I am the spirit that I am the way, the truth and the life. So Jesus says the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you or fence. I will come to you before long. The world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live, you will also live on that day. You will realize that I am in my father and you are in me and I am in you. So whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by me. Father and I too will love them and show myself to them. So, In this passage, Jesus is saying I am in you. I'm with you, but I'm sending another one who's with you, because I'm going away. But he's going to be with you. It's the spirit of Truth and he's just said, I am the truth. So if you March through this passage and some other ones like it, there's a sense in which the holy spirit is Jesus. Come to be with us. Jesus. He says, I'm sending you a helper. I'm going to be with you, but I'm going away. The spirit is just like me but he's with you in a different way. Now, here is where the understanding of the Trinity and God being one, but three persons is B. That mean, it is mind-blowing. Jesus is the full name of God. The spirit is the fullness of God. And it's God's presence with us. So if I think of the spirit is a who and I find it hard to get my head around, something that's help me, is I think it's Jesus with me like I say,

God with me. Sometimes can be a bit big and nebulous. But I think it's Jesus with me. Or if I only had the presence of Jesus with me, I do or everything. I know of Jesus. Everything I know about, Jesus personally with me the early Believers in the Bible, spoke of the spirit as the spirit of Jesus or the spirit of God son. So it helped me to think of the spirit more. Personally, I thinking it's Jesus with me. And then the other thing that I've recently found helpful came from a conversation with a friend and she is a longtime friend of mine and she was speaking of God's work in her life. And she said, Rather than saying the spirit, she says, all, that's just like Spirit to do that in my life. Spirit was encouraged me to do this or to think that. To say, Spirit as a name. By dropping the, which can sometimes make our speech about the spirit of thinking as a, an object. So that's something for you to consider and try. I'm going to sprinkle it in here. Okay, we'll give it a try. So a brief of whose spirit is now again, we're going to just push the boat ride out here and I'd like you to turn to your neighbor or just a minute and say briefly. If anything that we've talked about today, it has really been. Well, that's different. I thought about that or I don't know about that. I've got some questions to turn to your neighbor 1 minute. Share something. And then we're going to carry on go.

How calendar?

Great. Thanks for that.

So in our flying to her, we're going to touch on a couple more areas. Just briefly 3 boss broad areas about the work of the spirit, there are a lot of verses that we printed in the bulletin as a handout because we don't have time to go through a lot of scripture but they are there for you as a resource, but I want to pause briefly and just pray and ask. Spirit to speak to us through these next couple B. So, Spirithoods present and who is available in with us. I pray that you would highlight to each of us. Some aspect of your work in our lives as we listen.

So what does Scripture show the spirit doing the spirit of firms to us? That we are saved and in a new restored relationship and identity with God. When we put our trust in Jesus, when we say, I believe that you came as this unique, God, human Jesus, to be the person. I can't be to take the sin and mess. I've made of my life when I recognize God's rightful place in my life to save me, I become a renewed person. And this new right relationship with God gives us a new identity. The Bible says, in Romans 8:15 that the spirit tells our spirits that we are children of God a doctored by God into his family, were entitled to the same inheritance that God gave Jesus. We are Daughters of the King & Sons of the king. We receive an inheritance of Eternity of position and a purpose now and eternally. So, the spirit reminds us of who we are. And if we have been given or taken on for ourselves false identities, that do not speak truth, in light of what God says of us, then we need to tell those identities to take a hike. We need to speak truth in the spirit speaks truth to us. So when we accept Jesus, this internal spiritual renewable, brings the presence of God to be with us. And one way that the Bible speaks of this is that where a temple? And this is a funny thing. We don't really have temples here, but in the Bible that had a temple in the temple was a place where Heaven and Earth met and we are that place. Now, we are the place where Heaven and Earth meet the temple, were God is active. And again, there's some Fab teaching by Tim Mackie in a video. He is done on having an earth. So when we think about the spirits working us it is that restored identity and it has big implications for us because the spirit living in US shapes us towards God's character and God's best life which is available to us. Now, I do say available because we can cooperate with God's Spirits work in our life. Knowing god, more and more and refining, our understanding of God's best, but we can resist that as well. We can still try to live on her own doing what we think is, right, or wrong and unwilling to submit to what God has for us. But I think if you're like me, maybe it's just, it's a lifetime of Cooperative work with what spirit is doing in me to transform me all the subtle little pockets in which I have yet to open up to God's work in my life. How does the spirit shape us into God's character? The spirit is God's presents, who guide us guides us and this passage and John 14 calls, the spirit the helper or The Advocate one who literally comes alongside the images of a boat, like, a tugboat that the guides a big boat into a harbor guides us along in our lives. We learn what God's life is like in scripture and prayer and living in the church and through all of those things and through our own relationship Spirit brings God's truth to us, spirit is a guide and there's many passages in the Bible that speak about that transforming character that the spirit brings cheese. Truth, hope love, power freedom, God's peace and all of those things come to us because they are aspects that the spirit in livens in us that are God's very presence. There's passages in the Bible like Galatians 5, which speaks about what it is like to do life with God spirit. And again, the Bible uses a variety of of metaphors are images to help us get that. It says, we live by the spirit. We walk by the spirit, we are filled with the spirit guided. It's a lot of images saying we do life together together with spirit in us and it produces in us a kind of character and that Galatians 5 passage uses the image of print. It's like a tree that produces some fruits and that fruit are things like love and joy, and peace, and patience, kindness and goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And those traits become a part of our life as we cooperate with God's spirit to shape us. All of those things. Make our identity more and more who were meant to be. And that new life does not look like the life where I'm in control.

Where I'm living for myself and my own best wisdom. Because the spirits transformation applies to all parts of my life. How I spend my money, how I treat my co-workers, or my employers, my employees. What I do with my sexuality, how I relate to my spouse, my children, my parents, my sibling, my neighbors, and even that neighbor, It has implications for how I speak and how I treat those who are vulnerable and weak and society and more. So the Bible encourages us to live by the spirit and lastly just briefly the spirit gifts and equips us for joining God's work. In the world. God did not leave. Is good Creation in the state that it is currently in its going to be restored, that's God's job. And he wants every person in all of creation to live in a right relationship with him and even creation itself. And the joy is that he's called us. The great Gardener has called us to partner with him and join him in the Kingdom work, and to that end, the spirit lives in our lives and gives us gifts which are empowered by spirit in us. We talk about these sometimes in the Bible is spiritual gifts, there's many of them. There's passages that are in your bulletin that point out a variety of different kinds of gifts. But the point is that, by the power of the spirit in us, God makes use of all sorts of things. He's giving us, and he just gets a lot done because they're powered by the spirit. We Steward those in his world and in his church. So the Bible listings, like encouraging people bringing healing exercising Administration teaching Discerning, spiritual realities, wisdom leadership, every believer has a gift and a role to play. the spirit takes those and gets things done in the world because their Spirit powered So it's going to look different person to person contacted contact and that's okay, but it's great to know that God has made you and works in you where he has placed you and work send me differently. So that is the last sort of overall aspect of what we see the spirit doing, we done this High overview of what it means to have the spirit in US. but I want us to just take a couple minutes now to reflect

We have looked at the Spirit as a person who is God's presence living in us. And if you haven't accepted Jesus, offer of rescue and God's place in your life, as king for the first time, but you wanted to do that, you want to have Spirit of life and you You can ask him and you can speak to anybody that you have seen her come with today. You might want to settle into something fulness for that reality in your life. That is true. The spirit confirms our identity as God's God's children a new creations and God might be speaking to you about this about putting off false identities and affirming your status as God's beloved child. The presence of the spirit shapes us in our character and in our behavior. And perhaps Spirit has identified an area in your life. That the spirit wants to transform you. And lastly the spirit equips us with gifts, serve the church and the world for God's purposes and maybe spirit is speaking to you today about how and where he's working through you yet even you in your everyday life. I'm just going to pray and ask Spirit to speak for a minute while we close.

Spirit of God. With us. Available to us and Innis. we ask that you would the moving and speaking as you will in our lives. Help us to listen to that voice.

I know that you are the voice of life and love. I want to bring that to us.

Thank you. And we praise you for your work in our lives.

I'm in.

Diane gave us something to think and reflect on and whenever we hear the gospel preached, we believe in the A chance to respond to that. So as we stand and sing our final song, I encourage you to consider those promises she gave us and consider what the next step may be for you and following Jesus, whether you want to connect more deeply with him and his church or find an opportunity to grow through the passes. So we have to operate a small group. So we have order to serve others and you can find car that you can fill out about you like to drop one of those, the box. But the most important thing is he here, whatever it is specifically that you today to do the next week and that you figure out what you need to say. Yes.