Intro -

Encourage people to be baptized. June 30

During the next 4 weeks, we will learn who the HS is from the WOG.

Irene Adkins was at home when there was a knock at the door. A cautious peep through the peephole revealed a familiar face. As she opened the door, she was confident that she recognized the face… it bore an uncanny resemblance to her own face. Irene’s 73 year old brother, Terry, had come for a surprise visit. It was a surprise because Irene did not know she had a bother.

Back in 1932, during the Great Depression, a desperate couple unhitched a camper with three hungry children in it and drove away. Police found the camper with the children and rescued them. They were all placed in different foster homes by an agency. None of them knew of the others. Irene was the youngest.

The young couple eventually got their lives together and had a son. The eventually revealed their horrible secret to him. As a young man, Terry, set out to find his siblings that were lost. Finally, after 60 years of searching, he learned the name of the agency who placed them. Not long after that, on April 3, 2010, he knocked on the door and Irene Adkins discovered the brother she never knew she had. And with that she found the source of answers to questions she had carried throughout her life.

Many of you may know how she felt. You have spent years struggling to live the Christian life… then like me, maybe you discovered the HS … the God you never really knew.

If you are like most people, you have been misinformed about the HS to some degree. He is the third person of the trinity.

Unfortunately, most believers are like Irene Adkins was most of her life… totally unaware of a loving person who desperately wanted to know her.

Too many people have resigned themselves to living defeated lives in their battles with temptation as they stumble through life.

The dynamic, full life Jesus promised to believers is a natural outgrowth of intimate friendship with God the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:1–2 NLT

1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. 2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is a person.

KJV - Holy Ghost

NIV - Holy Spirit

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a ghost. He is a person. It’s important to relate to HS as a person so we can have a personal relationship with him.

John 14:16–17 NLT

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

John 14:25–26 NLT

25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

John 15:26 NLT

26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.

John 16:7 NLT

7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

John 16:12–13 NLT

12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

Parakletos - helper, advocate, Para - alongside (parabola - parable) Kletos - comforter

Jesus refers to Him… not it. Maybe God should have named him Boudreaux or Bill… HS is his descriptive name. His real name is God.

Holy Spirit is not weird.

I know some people are weird and they attribute it to the HS. Listen, they are just weird without the HS.

Two extremes - no make up and too much makeup. We think that if we have the HS, we will be ugly. That’s just not true.

Satan has caused the church to focus on one of the Spiritual gifts that he gives more than on the gift of the Spirit. Tongues - some believe they ended with disciples… others don’t.

Speaking in Tongues - “This is the special ability to:

a) speak to God in a language one has never learned (private tongues), or

Privat Tongues - Prayer Language -

1 Corinthians 14:1–5 NLT

1 Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. 2 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. 3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. 4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. 5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.

1 Corinthians 14:28 NLT

28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.

1 Corinthians 14:14–19 NLT

14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. 15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand. 16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? 17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.

b) receive and communicate an immediate message of God to His people through a divinely-anointed utterance in a language one has never learned (public tongues).

Acts 2:1–11 NLT

1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”

Jesus on the other hand… wants you and I to be filled with the HS.

Evidences of being filled with Holy Spirit.

1. Power (Acts 1:8)

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

2. Love (1 CO 13)

1 CO 13 is placed in between 2 chapters on spiritual gifts for a reason. 12 discusses the use of the gifts and 14 discusses the abuses of the gifts and in between, Paul says if you don’t have a genuine love for people, you are just a noisy cymbal.

3. Fruit (Gal 5:22-23)

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

4. Gifts (1 CO 12:7)

1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

Jesus said, it’s actually better for us if he left.

John 16:7 NKJV

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Holy Spirit is God.

We know God the Father… Jesus the Son.

HS is off over here by himself. He is God. 3rd person in the trinity. They are all - God.

John 14:16 NLT

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.

another… just like Jesus.

John 14:26 NLT

26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

John 15:26 NLT

26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.

Luke 3:22 NLT

22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

Example…

Acts 5:3–4 NLT

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

HS is God. We need to understand that and stop ignoring him.

There are people who will tell you not to come here because we talk about the HS… Let me rephrase…

There are people will tell you not to come here because we talk about God.

Matthew 28:19 NLT

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

HS is as much a part of the Godhead as Jesus and the Father.

Holy Spirit is my Best Friend.

I want him to be your best friend too.

So many people are afraid of the HS. Who do you think makes us afraid of HS? The devil! Why? Because he wants you to live defeated lives.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The Message

14 The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

Amazing Grace - Relationship with Jesus - You got something you did not deserve. Jesus paid your bill.

Then we can have a relationship with the Father. He love is extravagant… it’s over the top because he died for you.

Intimate friendship of HS - he wants a close intimate friendship… BFF

What the Holy Spirit does for me?

This is where it gets crazy… buns, dresses, no make up…

Jesus gives us 5 things that HS will do.

JN 13 is when Jesus washed his disciples feet and had the last supper. Between the last supper and the Garden, he teaches them about the HS… 3 chapters on HS right before he died and that makes it important.

1. He will be with me.

He wants to be close to you… with you.

John 14:16 NLT

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.

Advocate - Parakalateos - someone who is called alongside you. ILL - you pick up a log and someone else picks up the other end… parakaletos

Advocate, Comforter, counselor…

Joke about comforter… you don’t use it, it’s for looks… I have a lot fo stuff that’s for looks and not for use.

How many of us, have a comforter for looks and not for use. We like him in the songs, but not for use. He is the only one called to be with you. Jesus and Father in heaven.

2. He will reveal the Bible to me.

HS reveals it to you. You may read something a hundred times and then you see something that you never saw before. HS makes it come alive and when he does, it becomes powerful in your life.

John 14:26 NLT

26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

HS teaches us. He makes the WOG come alive. Ask HS to help the WOG come alive.

3. He will help me share Jesus with others.

This is main function. He wants to empower Christians to be effective at our mission… to fulfill the Great commission… to lead people to Jesus.

John 15:26 NLT

26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.

HS shows people Jesus. He will help you share Jesus in a way that will help them come ot know Jesus.

ILL - story of Billy Graham praying all day with Stephen Olford.

People have different views… The enemy has tired to make HS about speaking in tongues. We will talk about this gift and other gifts another week.

Look at this scripture…

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jerusalem - your city

Judea - your region

Samaria - people different than us

ends of the earth - the world.

HS empowers us to make a difference. He wants us to be involved in winning the WB to the Lord, meeting needs in our community, etc. and that’s what we will focus on.

4. He will convict me of sin.

Convict should not make you feel bad. The devil wants to make you feel bad. Conviction wants to redirect your live towards something that’s good for you.

John 16:8 NLT

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

HS convicts fo three things: sin, righteousness, judgement.

He convicts us of sin so we will believe.

Hwe convicts us of sin because he wants us to know we need a Savior.

1 Corinthians 12:3 NLT

3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

He convicts us of righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We get his righteousness.

He convicts of Judgement.

John 16:11 NLT

11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

Convicts of Judgement - we don’t stand in judgement because of Jesus.

We need conviction because sin is deceptive. He is a liar and tries to convince us that sin is ok. But sin kills us.

HS will guide us…

Isaiah 30:21 NLT

21 Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

5. He will guide me through Life.

John 16:13 NLT

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

He guides you into all truth

He tells you what Jesus is saying

He will tell you the future…

If you will let the HS, he will guide you through life.

Isaiah 30:21 NLT

21 Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

Conclusion -

HS points yo towards the Grace of God… some of you need that today. Jesus has paid your bill… you need to accept it.

Salvation - if thats you, look up at me and then put your head down. You say count me in...