Who is the Holy Spirit - Review

February 2nd 2025

Series: Who is the Holy Spirit

Topic Tags: Holy Spirit, Identity,

Sermon Title: Who is the Holy Spirit - Review

Key Passages: Genesis 1: 1-2, Genesis 1:26-27, Exodus 31:1-5 Exodus 35: 30-35

Sermon Blurb: In this message, we will recap what we learned about the Holy Spirit in 2024 as we prepare to learn more in 2025.

Preacher: Grace – Erik EBENEEZER – Keith S. REDWOOD – Adam Grill

***1st week ODD months add communion & target message at 15 pages.

***1st week EVEN months add space for dedication, baptism, or ministry highlight & target message at 15 pages.

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday, even months):

***THIS WEEKEND WE HAVE IT….So add that if necessary or promo serve teams if not…

Sermon

Hello Family Church!!!

Welcome to Family Church… whether you are in person or watching online…

Family Moment (Share something personal to help people get to know you and your family)

Celebrate salvations / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Today, we jump back into the series we started last year on, “Who is the Holy Spirit.”

We will do a bit of review because we have so many new people who missed out on the series last year…

I will point out some high points that are foundational to how the Holy Spirit works and moved in the Old Testament and how that ties to our lives.

PAUSE

I REALLY want to make sure you all come back next week!

Next week we will dive into on the most amazing stories in the Old Testament, the story of Elisha.

I really believe Elisha’s story will be very impactful for a lot of people.

As you will see next week…

Elisha was a REGULAR guy….

With a REGULAR job….

Who went on to become an incredible man of God who ends up doing more miracles than ANYONE else in the Bible aside from Jesus! So MAKE SURE you are here for that entire series because it is going to be AMAZING!!!!

PAUSE

Now grab your Bible and open it up to

Genesis 1

New Person Bible Connection:

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

Genesis 1: 1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 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.

Stop reading there church…and leave verse 2 on the screen…

I want to point out two things here….

From the VERY beginning of the Bible…

Before we hear anything about Jesus…or the Son of God…or even God the Father…

The FIRST part of God we learn about is the Spirit of God…

The very beginning of the Bible it began with God creating…

And the Spirit of God hovering…

Also note… The world was devoid of everything…

Formless…

Empty…

Dark…

PAUSE

Now drop down to verse 26…

And note the phrasing here…

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,

over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Pause there for a second…

Note the phrasing US and OUR.

God is one person…which if you want to learn more about go back to the Holy Spirit messages last year and we preached two on how the Holy Spirit is a person and one how God is three people but one….

We don’t have time to dive into that today…

Go back and listen to that if you would like…

Let’s read verse 27…

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Church…

People say to me often, “I wish I knew what God was like.”

“What God looked like.”

“What it would feel like to be with Jesus like the disciples were.”

Church…

To see God, you only need to look in the mirror…

Like God is one and three…God is diverse…and so are we!

We all carry the image of God….. both believers and non-believers alike.

And you CAN be with God, just like the disciples!

When you give your life to Jesus the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, LITERALLY comes to live inside us!!!

We actually get to be CLOSER to God than Jesus’ best friends were!!!

Yes, they got to talk with Jesus…

Walk with Jesus…

Eat with Jesus…

But Jesus was not with them 24x7x365…

He was not there at every moment to guide them.

The Holy Spirit is there for us 24x7x365!!!

The disciples did NOT get that until much later in their relationship with Jesus!

We get that on DAY 1 of our faith in Jesus!!!

That is what I call GOOD NEWS!!!

PAUSE

And I want to read that last verse again and point out something else.

Something that is SO important in our modern world.

I know what I am about to say some people will not like.

I know what I am about to read…and affirm what God said…will offend some people.

However…

I want to share this because the Bible says it and not teaching truth inside a culture that wants to deceive us is also NOT loving.

Our goal as a church is to help us learn to define our lives and our values by the Bible and NEVER define our lives, values and beliefs by our ever changing culture…

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;

Church read how that ends..

male and female he created them.

Male and female he created them…

I know just that one statement is called hateful by many people.

But I did not write that.

I did not create people.

I do not get to define how God created people.

AND… I do not get to re-define how God created people.

And I understand we live in a culture that almost every day is adding another gender…

Today if you google “How many genders are there.”

Depending which link you click you will find it is almost 100 now…

PAUSE

Church…

God says he created 2.

Our world might say we have discovered 1 or 100 more…

But God says, I created two in HIS image…

I would encourage you to circle HIS image in your Bible…

What should that statement from God tell you???

What should it tell us IF there are 1 or 100 NEW genders…

Regardless of when they were discovered…

That really does not matter…

What it means if GOD says HE created 2 in HIS image….

That means….ANY new ones discovered thousands of years ago or in the last 4 years….

ALL of those new ones this means were created in SOMEONE ELSE’S image…

And please hear me…

If you are listening to this and you struggle with gender identity…

PLEASE don’t tune me out…

GOD loves you!

I love you!

I am NOT saying you cannot feel like you’re not like other kids…

I am NOT saying you cannot feel like you are another gender…

I am NOT saying you cannot feel like you were born in the wrong body.

I am NOT saying you cannot feel better in the other genders’ clothing.

I am NOT saying you cannot feel a lot of things…

You ABSOLUTLEY can…

PAUSE

But what I am saying is God said he created us in HIS image…

And God’s image is male and female…

And what that means if we FEEL we are something else.

If we want to re-define our gender…

That means we are creating our image to be like someone that is NOT God…

PAUSE

Let me go back to an illustration on this we have used before….

Something we ALL can relate to…and would 100% agree on…

(Pull out your phone)

This is an iPhone…

This was created by Apple…

Now I could take this to my friend who works Google…

And I could tell them this is an android phone…

And he would laugh at me and tell me why it is not and how it will never be…

I can redefine it as something else…

But just because I redefine it….

It does NOT make it something else…

I can even pull out chips…

I can change the icon on the back of the phone…

I can install android apps on it….

It is NEVER stops being what it was created to be….

Church….

The Devil….is the god of confusion…

The Devil is the god of trying to tear down everything God created…

And we can allow the devil to change us…

We can allow the devil to redefine us…

But here is the GOOD NEWS!!!!

NO MATTER what we CANNOT change who we were created to be…

We cannot change who we ARE!!!!

NO MATTER what we try and change….

We are still created like God…

And no matter how far we run God will always accept us back….

Here is the point church write this down….

We must define our lives by the Bible, not culture.

Repeat….

Church, I know….

Prominent voices of culture around sexual identity drive confusion, but The Spirit of God leads us in clarity.

When we know our Bibles AND the Holy Spirit, we can break through the confusion….

PAUSE

I hope you hear our heart in sharing that.

It is not to judge anyone…

It is not to condemn anyone…

It is to help you simply know that God’s design if different from the world’s…

PAUSE

I find it interesting that when the world began…

In Genesis 1 & 2, the Holy Spirit is there giving identity and life to mankind…

Then Genesis 3-5 mankind RUNS from God’s identity and design…

Then in Genesis 6 the God says He will limit the life span of humans because they kept making such bad life choices….

Then through Genesis and into Exodus we see this struggle with will we follow God’s design for life..

God’s identity…

Or will we go our own way….

Which is choice they had then and we have today….

PAUSE

Move in your Bible to Exodus 31

The book of Exodus from a VERY HIGH level…. is all about God taking his people out of slavery in Egypt and physically moving them to where He wanted them to be.

God then teaches them how he designed them to live in relation to him and the people around them.

How to worship Him.

How to live for Him.

And let me show you something important…

Exodus 31:1-5 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God,

Now look at the specific things that this man who was filled with God’s Spirit was given…

with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—

4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,

5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

But here is what I want you to see…

Look in your Bibles….

God’s Spirit, right here, gave specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle and its objects of worship.

Write this down, and it comes 100% from what you just read in the Bible in verse 3:

The Holy Spirit can give us wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and all kinds of skills.

Repeat

Here is the reality church…

When we are following God’s leading in our lives.

When we are doing what God calls us to do.

When we are building things God calls us to build.

When we are speaking to people God calls us to speak to.

The Holy Spirit will fill the gaps in our abilities!

We saw this time and again as we walked through the book of Acts as a church!

We read and learned about the way the early church, as they followed God’s leading, did SOOOO many amazing things!

NOT because they had AMAZING abilities…

BUT because the Holy Spirit in the moment GAVE them the ability to do what was needed!

PAUSE

Here is the only question church….

Will you…

Will I…

Will we….

FOLLOW the Holy Spirit’s leading to do things we do NOT know how to do!

Will we FOLLOW the Holy Spirit’s leading to speak to people when we DON’T have all the answers…

Will we trust God to give us the skills we will need when we step out in faith???

PAUSE

The question is NOT IF the Holy Spirit will help us when we follow Him!

The question is IF we will FOLLOW Him in those moments…

PAUSE

But it does not stop there church…

This same guy who the Spirit gave all those needed skills and attributes to….

Well…. He comes up again in the Bible in Exodus 35…

Move there in your Bibles.

In Exodus 35: 30-35 it says this:

Exodus 35: 30-35 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God,

And again….

Look at the specific things the Holy Spirit gave this guy…

with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—

32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,

33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.

Now….

Pause here for one second…

That all sounds like what we read….

BUT….

I want you to see what the END of verse 34 says…

Because here we see another thing the Holy Spirit can do for us.

Let’s read just the end of this verse, because I cannot read this guys name anyway…

34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.

The Holy Spirit gives him the ability to TEACH who???

Others.

Other people.

And note…the Holy Spirit gave this ability to more than one person!

It is NOT exclusive!

PAUSE

Write this down so you don’t forget.

The Holy Spirit can give me the ability to teach others.

Repeat

PAUSE

Let me close with this….

Life is NOT about you.

I LOVE that the Holy Spirit helps you and me.

But life is NOT about you and me…

It is about God and helping others find God.

I LOVE that it does NOT stop with the Holy Spirit helping us…

But understand this CLEARLY….

These skills and abilities were to help people be able to worship God.

AND…

To help others learn how to do the same!

The Holy Spirit gave these skills and abilities to them to help others FULLY worship God!!!!

PAUSE

This leads us to our life application today….

If you are new, or newer, to Family Church we LOVE to end our messages with something for you to talk about with someone else.

Something to help you apply the message to your life.

So here is this week’s Life Application…

Life Application: Evaluate who/what really defines your life. How has the Holy Spirit empowered you in life? As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

And as a side note….

If you want to know more about the Holy Spirit just head back to our website or app and you can watch all those messages last year!

Let’s pray….

Prayer:

Make sure to do a salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

If you would like to continue your worship through giving, there are offering boxes by the doors as you exit, or behind me on the screens. You can also see other ways to give here at Family Church.

You can also place any connection cards you filled out in there.

***Each week we want to highlight a different way to give.