I Believe in the Holy Spirit

*In Beech Kidz rm tonight…if you listen and pay attention I’ll let you come up to use your “Bible Bucks” at the Beech Kidz Prize Center after service!!!

**Plug for Small Groups and Life Groups https://beechsprings.org/groups

Confessing our Faith

We believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried;

He descended to hell. On the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

He will come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

We believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

A Mysterious Cloud and Pillar of Fire

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Several years ago Francis Chan wrote a book called “The Forgotten God”, a book about the Holy Spirit… Over the history of the church it has been common to talk about God and Jesus…but the person of the Holy Spirit seems to be a mystery.

I grew up in a tradition that embraced that mystery…we were so excited about the Holy Spirit we called him the Holy Ghost!!

A Sanctuary with the Lights Off: I’ve spend most of my life in the church..with the lights out!… Many times the sanctuary has no windows or natural light… sometimes after Wednesday night services Livvy Fowler (5 yrs) will get me to go into the sanctuary where it’s dark and I will tell her I’m scared to go in there! She thinks its funny to scare me and run me out of of the sanctuary…

Exodus 13:21–22 “The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.”

*The Holy Spirit takes the form of a cloud in the sky by day and fire in the sky by night.

**IMPORTANT: The HS does not begin in Acts (NT)…The Holy Spirit is the eternal third person of the Godhead (Father, Son, and Spirit).

Cloud by Day - The Holy Spirit is a mystery to our conventional senses. Following Him requires faith and listening.

Following the Holy Spirit is not the same as doing what makes sense to you or to others!

Isaiah 55:8–9 ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Fire by Night - The Holy Spirit is a light to our path in dark and chaotic times.

Psalm 139:7–12 “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.”

Why do we need the Holy Spirit (John 16:7–11)?

John 16:4b–15 “But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine…”

The Holy Spirit Comes to…

1. Convict us concerning Sin

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;”

2. Guide us into Right-Living (righteousness)

Without the Holy Spirit we cannot receive Jesus.

Without the Holy Spirit we do not know how to follow Jesus.

Without the Holy Spirit we cannot live like Jesus.

3. Remind us of the Victory of the Cross (judgement)

Without the Holy Spirit we forget that what Jesus did on the cross applies not just to eternal life…his victory is for THIS LIFE!

What Life without the Holy Spirit looks like…

It’s sometimes easy (especially for Pentecostals) to read the Scripture language and think, that doesn't apply to me…

Galatians 5:22–26 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Galatians 5:18-21)

Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19–21  It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

How do we follow the Holy Spirit?

(What does that look like?)

The Spirit will convict our hearts when we ask this question….

Holy Spirit, how is (fruit of the Spirit) on display in my life today?

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Self-Control, Gentleness

Holy Spirit, I welcome you into my life. Let the world see your Spirit through me.