Holy Spirit Week 3

We are walking through a series on the Holy Spirit. Our desire is to look at scripture and understand more about the Holy Spirit from scripture.

The last two weeks I have opened the messages with some examples of the Holy Spirit that impacted me in a non positive way.

This morning I want to start by sharing a positive interaction with the Holy Spirit in my life.

This happened on a Wednesday night

The Sunday before, I will say it again the Sunday before this Wednesday night I preached on Jesus delivering Legion.

I remember that I talked about Jesus’s compassion on those who are demon possessed. I through the Power of the Holy Spirit encouraged us to have compassion on the “least of these” in our community.

I had been driving the bus. I got back and came inside. People kept saying to me that there was a lady who was looking for me. It was one of those instances where several people had said there is a lady that wants to talk with you and they said it from a point of concern.

It was kinda like she is looking for you and I don’t know what to do but just find you and point her to you. It was one of those situations that immediately gets elevated.

I had a young kid ask me about getting a Bible. So I went to the office and got a Bible. I had the Bible in my hand. I then spotted her coming out of the double doors right over here.

Inside my Spirit, I was like that is the one.

She came up to me and said I need help. She was clearly on something.

We were feeding preschoolers in the lobby at this time

She starts to escalate. She just gets louder and louder and I asked her to sit down for a bit and she did but then she just continued to get louder. I didn’t think it was safe with our preschoolers right there so I took her out the back door.

Sally Terrell was a bus rider and she was coming in from the bus route. I didn’t want to be alone with this lady so I said to Sally would you join me.

She had no clue what was going on but said yes I will join you.

I am trying to figure out what is going on. We get right outside the door and I was prompted by the Spirit to start reading scripture. (I had the Bible I was about to give away in my hand)

As I open the Bible, I thought I am just going to read Psalm 23.

As I turn there, this lady screams at me Psalm 23.

I was like ok. Psalm 23 it is.

I opened and started reading Psalm 23 and then kept reading to 24 and 25.

The more I read the calmer she got. She got to the point to where she just sit down and eventually she just laid down to the point that Sally was holding her up off the concrete as she just lay down.

I thought she stopped breathing. It was incredible. I just kept reading.

Then I started speaking the message that I just taught the Sunday before and talked about professing the name of Jesus.

She started saying the name of Jesus

Over and over again she said Jesus

She eventually set up and professed the name of Jesus. After a few minutes, she stood up went to the restroom and then cleaned herself up and she went from someone who was all over the place to she went in and set in on Bible study for one hour and paid attention

It was amazing! I saw the Power of the Holy Spirit and I watched the spirits of the world submit to the Holy Spirit.

She left that day changed

About a week later I saw her, and she was twice as bad as the first time I saw her.

Matthew 12:43–45 HCSB

43 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any. 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ And returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. 45 Then off it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”

ruakh

Elohim, God’s breath, God’s personal presence that brings life and energy to everything.

The first week we looked at how the ruakh of God gives live and sustains life. Everything is dependent on God

This parallels with John 1:3

John 1:3 HCSB

3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

Last week, we looked at the ruakh of God in Saul and David. We saw Saul had the ruakh of God but then is heart was not in line with the word of God.

David comes along and we see the ruakh of God on him. His heart is in line with the instructions of God.

The people of God wanted a king and God gives them David. He has the ruakh of God and almost makes it but then has some heart problems and does not use the Spirit of God faithfully.

So the people are still longing for a King, Messiah or Savior.

The Spirit of God on the one and the many

Numbers 11:16–17 HCSB

16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

Then the Lord says he will provide meat for the people to eat. Moses doubts this and the Lord responds with

Numbers 11:23 HCSB

23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”

Numbers 11:24–29 HCSB

24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought 70 men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the 70 elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they never did it again. 26 Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” 29 But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place His Spirit on them!”

If only ALL the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place His Spirit on them.

We see here in Numbers chapter 11 the desire for all God’s people to have the Spirit on them.

We see in the Old Testament like Saul, David, and Moses that the Lord pours out his Spirit on these individuals for the benefit of the whole group and to bring Glory to His name.

Here in Numbers 11 we see the desire for the Spirit to be placed on all the Lord’s people.

So David struggles and at the end of his life he appoints his son Solomon King. Lots of struggles here

150 years after Solomon then Isaiah comes onto the scene.

Bible Project Helps with where Isaiah and the Story of God is…

So he overlaps with four kings. And the big threat on the horizon is the empire of Assyria from the realms of Babylon and Nineveh. And Babylon is the second most on the heels. And he sees that if Jerusalem’s leaders keep going the way they’re going—not being faithful to the covenant laws of the Torah and running Israel by God’s wisdom—disaster’s coming in the form of Assyria and then Babylon afterwards. But he doesn’t give up hope. And so there’s all these beautiful poems. Sometimes they’re in his mouth, sometimes they’re in Yahweh’s mouth, as it were, speaking through him as a prophet. And disaster’s coming, but also hope on the other side of that disaster. So just like the exile of Adam and Eve is not the end of God’s commitment to the human story, so disaster for Israel won’t be the end of God’s commitment to Israel and to humanity through them.

We need a new David. We need someone to save us.

Isaiah 11:1–3 HCSB

1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him — a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,

The ruahk of God with rest on Him

This is a permanent settling of the Spirit of God on Him

Spirit of wisdom and understanding

Spirit of counsel and strength

Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord

He won’t judge by what he sees with His eyes

He will not execute justice by what he hears with His ears

This new David/ Our Messiah will not look at things from a surface level. He will look at a deeper level. Man looks at outward but the Lord looks at the heart.

Great leaders are leaders who don’t just look at the surface of what is going on. They are able to take the surface level of things and go deeper.

Isaiah 11:4–9 HCSB

4 but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with discipline from His mouth, and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips. 5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins; faithfulness will be a belt around His waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den. 9 None will harm or destroy another on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

The Land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

Isaiah 42:1–4 HCSB

1 “This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, this is My Chosen One; I delight in Him. I have put My Spirit on Him; He will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry out or shout or make His voice heard in the streets. 3 He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick; He will faithfully bring justice. 4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged until He has established justice on earth. The islands will wait for His instruction.”

What kind of Justice does he bring?

He won’t cry out or shout

He won’t break a bruised reed

He won’t put out a smoldering wick

Great imagery here of who Jesus is.

He won’t be a Saul type of Leader

He is not going to get tired like Moses

he is not manipulative or harsh. He is gentle and unassuming leader who is coming.

Isaiah 53:1–5 HCSB

1 Who has believed what we have heard? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to? 2 He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him. 4 Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.

Isaiah 53:10 HCSB

10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

Isaiah 53:12 HCSB

12 Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

He speaks to the many in Isaiah

Isaiah 44:1–3 HCSB

1 “And now listen, Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen. 2 This is the word of the Lord your Maker who formed you from the womb; He will help you: Do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your offspring.

Isaiah 51:4 HCSB

4 Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for instruction will come from Me, and My justice for a light to the nations. I will bring it about quickly.

Isaiah 51:7 HCSB

7 Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My instruction: do not fear disgrace by men, and do not be shattered by their taunts.

And these are people who we know have the Spirit poured out on them, they do what is right by God and others, and they have God’s torah in their heart. So think about how heart and spirit are being linked here in these poems in the similar way they were being linked together in the Saul and David story that we explored before.

So Jesus comes and dies and gives us the opportunity for New Life in Him

As New life in Jesus begins we get a New Heart

with a New heart

We desire to follow the word and will of God

The Spirit of God empowers us with power to live this out