Who Is The Holy Spirit?

Soda machine spirit…. the spirit is not something we merely active or consume when we need. The Holy Spirit is a friend and advocate for the journey. Jess and I have a relationship and that relationship influences everything I do and it is impacted by everything I do whether I am physically with her, or feel her, or remember her or not.

John 14:17 “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.”

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit was present in the beginning- Genesis 1:2“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.”

The Holy Spirit issues the final call to come to Christ in Revelation- Revelation 22:16–17 ““I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

The Holy Spirit influenced David as he wrote- 2 Samuel 23:2 ““The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue.”

The Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in Mary- Matthew 1:18–20 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted- Matthew 4:1 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

The Holy Spirit empowered the people at Pentecost- Acts 2

The Holy Spirit gives gifts to serve the Body of Christ- 1 Corinthians 12:3-11

The Holy Spirit bears fruit in the life of the believer- Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

The Holy Spirit is a Convicter

John 16:8 “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”

Conviction brings about action or a change of position.

Conviction is the first ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit movers a person to consider their sin and the holiness of God in order that the rest of the ministry of God can take place in their lives.

This is one of the reasons that a society that is offended so easily is the Devil’s playground. So many people feel conviction and accept it as offense and ignore what God is trying to transform in their lives.

We need the Holy Spirit to convict us because without conviction there can be no transformation. You cannot change your direction until you know your current path is wrong!

The Holy Spirit is an Indweller

Ephesians 1:13–14 “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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

They heard the Gospel

They Believed the Gospel

They were sealed by the Holy Spirit

The moment we are brought into faith and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, that very moment we become part of His work and plan, and He promises that He will complete the good work He started in us

Its like a glove, the glove cannot do anything without a hand inside of it……

The Holy Spirit is a Transformer

Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,”

In order to make us more like Christ there are parts of our lives that need to be changed, removed, or altered. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to do that.

John 16:13 “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.”

We had a flooring issue in our bathroom this week and out entire floor had to be replaced. Well, in order to get the tile back down properly the floor needed to be leveled, so we used some self leveling floor compound- mix pour and allow it to harden, it was amazing and pretty easy. Sometimes we think that the work of the Holy Spirit is that easy in our lives, but pour it and let it cover all the imperfections. But here’s the challenge. Pour that leveler raised the level of the floor; so when I started to install the trim and the baseboards everything was raised 1/8-1/4 of an inch. So now all the door casings, the corner trim and all the little things like that need to be altered to fit the new space.

This is just like the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Spirit comes in immediately but there are parts of our lives that might need some trimming, cutting, and modifying to fit it all together how its supposed to be.

The Holy Spirit is an Empowerer

Romans 8:10–11 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

What the Holy Spirit convicts us of he will transform in us and give us the power to do so!

" It’s not about how much of the Holy Spirit we have. It’s about how much the Holy Spirit has us", Steve Gulbronson

You guys know I drove a Prius for a while. I recently sold it to get rid of a car; but I did really like that car and when we were driving to UVA for all those months with Olivia it was a major expense saver. One of the coolest parts of the Prius was the battery- it was a regenerating battery- meaning that it never had to be plugged it. The car ran and as the car ran the energy produced by the car was used to regenerate the battery. This reminds me of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer- when we use it; when we allow the power of God to manifest in our lives it generates even more power in our lives.

Speaking of the power of the Spirit lets talk about that power for a moment. Many times we think about the power of the Holy Spirit in terms of gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, or preforming miracles.

Over 100 years ago, a group of pastors assembled to choose an evangelist for a city-wide campaign. Almost all of the pastors agreed D.L. Moody should be the evangelist. One pastor objected. He said, “You men make it sound like Mr. Moody has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit.” After a moment, one of the other pastors spoke up, “Mr. Moody doesn’t have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him.” Does the Holy Spirit have a monopoly on you? That is the meaning of being filled with the Spirit.

Does the Holy Spirit have residence in you? Is there proof? If you have a dog at home there is evidence; if you have a baby at home there is evidence.