NJ-Holy Spirit My Friend

Nathan Jones

Holy Spirit, My Friend (purpose, in our family, in our church, the power of the HS) • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Today we begin the theme: “Holy Spirit, My Friend”

Presence: Ps John & Ps Anita

Prayer:

Ps John spoke with us this morning that Holy Spirit is in relationship with us and that he convicts of sin, it is not up to us to point out the sin in others lives.

He also encouraged us to take away the THE before Holy Spirit. This helps us to be on a more personal base with Him. (For our benefit, not the benefit of Holy Spirit).

If you weren’t here this morning I encourage you to take the time, go to our facebook page/group and watch/listen to the message.

As we continue tonight I believe we will get a better understanding of who Holy Spirit is and who He is to us.

Question: How do we get to know someone and become friends with them?

Answer: We start by introducing ourselves to the person, spend some time with them and ask them some questions about themselves. Genuinely be interested in them and their world.

If we want to get to know Holy Spirit, we need to spend time with Him, this begins at salvation. The moment we accept Jesus in hearts as our Lord and saviour, we begin our journey of being friends with Holy Spirit and having Him in our lives and access to His wisdom.

Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth," and when He came to the apostles – Jesus said, He guided them "into all the truth."

The Word is called "the sword of the Spirit."

Perhaps one of the clearest statements of this – that those who preached the gospel, were delivering the good news "by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven."

(See also and ).

When I first learned the wonderful truth of the Holy Spirit’s personal nature, I desired to build a friendship and relationship with Him.

Ps John shared this morning Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. The three are equal, God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

I found the more I read about Him the more I wanted to know Him, His nature and personality. I wanted to understand His every nuance, knowing His every quality.

When we are in relationship with Holy Spirit we have a desire to change, not wanting to sin anymore, we want to change, get better.

Holy Spirit is a gentleman, He is not going to force Himself on us.

I sought for clues and insights to His nature and personality. I wanted to understand His every nuance, familiarize myself with His every quality.

As we yield our life, we give Him more access

In search of Holy Spirit and studying my bible I desired to know Him more and more each day. In the Old Testament, we see the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep and so gloriously displaying His power that men trembled in fear, in awe. In the New Testament, we see this same Spirit gently descend upon Christ as a dove, raise Jesus from the dead and assist the Apostles in the book of Acts and He helps you and I today.

My inner being would become lit with joyful anticipation. My eyes enjoyed the glimmer of every truthful word. In the Old Testament, I saw the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep and so gloriously displaying His power that men trembled in fear, in awe. In the New Testament, I saw this same Spirit gently descend upon Christ as a dove, raise Jesus from the dead and assist the Apostles in the book of Acts.

“Lord, I give you full access into my life!”

My Family

My Church

His Power in my Life

My Church

His Power in my Life

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you

Acts 1:8 NKJV

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

All that God was, is and ever will be, came to dwell in our lives at the very instant of salvation! When Holy Spirit comes, He comes in fullness. The issue is not how much the believer has of God but how much God has of the believer. At salvation, we surrender our will, and we spend the rest of our natural lives giving away and dying to self.

For how can the eternal be divided? Half of infinity is, after all, infinity. It is both a logical absurdity and an anti-scriptural error to conclude that the Spirit is given in portions.

The issue is not how much the believer has of God but how much God has of the believer. At salvation, we surrender the will, and we spend the rest of our natural lives giving away and dying to self.

Therefore, it is our goal, not to obtain the Holy Spirit but to fellowship with Him – to befriend Him. And when we are given to this friendship, everything changes and progressively becomes as it should. The entirety of our spirituality is summarized in our interaction with God’s Holy Spirit.

Testify Of this in my life, give an example: Walking to the room with no answer and Holy Spirit ministering to me in five meters of what I needed to do. (DON’T NAME ANYBODY - IT WAS ABOUT ME)

What can we learn when give Holy Spirit full access to our lives.

So how does one go about building this friendship? How can such an idea become a present reality by means of practical application? How can we reduce this to everyday living? Yes we need Him in our everyday lives.

1 Dependency on Holy Spirit for my family and church

I have come to know and can depend on Holy Spirit to be with me and minister to me. He give me wisdom as I walk through life and helps me to be a better husband and father to my family.

Holy Spirit is constantly giving me revelation in my life and for this I am very great-full, Revelation of the word and how to apply it to my life and see it out work in my family.

He spoke casually, “Brother David, I’m glad to be finally having you at my church. We’ve been waiting to bring you in.” My curiosity moved me to ask, “And for what specifically were you waiting?” He replied, “Well, I know you minister the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I wanted to wait until my people were ready for that next level.”

John 14:15–25 NKJV

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

I don’t imagine that my response was entirely appropriate, but I guess I would, in this case, plead “Righteous Indignation”. I was forward when I asked, “And why on earth do you think the people shouldn’t hear about the Holy Spirit until they’re at the ‘next level’?”

Jesus Promises to send Holy Spirit

A LOVING and OBEDIENT relationship with Jesus is the context (v. 15)

He replied, “Well, brother David, I don’t want to freak people out.”

John 14:15–25 NKJV

Holy Spirit is SOURCED in the Father (v. 16-17)

The Holy Spirit is SOURCED in the Father (vv. 16-17)

Dear reader, think about that.

The Holy Spirit is our PERSONAL HELPER

Holy Spirit is our PERSONAL HELPER/FRIEND

Much of what we do in life and in ministry requires no spiritual power. Much of what we start is founded upon the natural. So if we don’t need the Holy Spirit to start it, we don’t need the Holy Spirit to sustain it; and that’s not a good thing.

The Holy Spirit FILLS the VOID left by Jesus’ ascension (vv. 18-25)

Holy Spirit FILLS the VOID left by Jesus’ ascension (v. 18-25)

The Holy Spirit is not a reward for the spiritually elite (if ever there was such a faction). He is not a prize for those who become spiritual; rather, He is our only hope at ever becoming, at ever even desiring to become spiritual.

John 14:26–31 NKJV

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

The Holy Spirit is not a special guest speaker or a special event. The Holy Spirit is not a private prayer partner Who prays for the sick in back rooms, as to avoid frightening the visitors. The Holy Spirit is not a style of ministry; He is the cornerstone of all ministry.

John 14:

John 14:16–31 NKJV

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

If we are to befriend the Holy Spirit in a more meaningful way, we must become dependent upon Him – I mean desperately dependent upon Him.

John 14:16-31

Holy Spirit is actively involved in our lives

1. He is our HELPER (v. 26)

2. He is our TEACHER (v. 26)

3. He is the UMPIRE of our peace (v27)

4a. He is our COMFORTER (vv. 28-30)

John 16:1–15 NKJV

1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

4b. He is our COMFORTER (1-7)

5. He CONVICTS the world (8-11)

6. He is our GUIDE (12-13)

7. He GLORIFIES Jesus (14-15)

Bottom Line: God keeps His promises and enables His servants to succeed if they will trust Him and obey His Word

It is important for us to study the word of God and apply it to our lives. Holy Spirit reveals Gods word to us.

Romans 8:11 NKJV

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

I love that verse, and it’s of popular use. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit within us. However, think about what the verse implies in passing: the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit to raise Him from the dead. If Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit, how much more should we?

We must move from treating the Holy Spirit like a liability and move to depending upon Him as our source. Depend upon Him; He knows best how to build a church, how to raise disciples and how to win the lost. We don’t know better; He does.

2 Dependency in my church

Now, to be fair, I’ll grant this: many have good reasons to become nervous when people use cliche suggestions like this:

“Let the Holy Spirit have His way.”

“We can’t be so structured.”

“We need to leave room for the Holy Spirit.”

Those points are valid. But different people mean different things when they say such phrases. In fact, people often just really mean to say, “I’m going to get wild and you’re a religious bigot if you try to stop me.” We must note that, spiritually speaking, being free is not the equivalent of being loony.

Now don’t misunderstand me. At my miracle services, whether you attend in person or watch via television, you’ll see

But if those who shy away from the Holy Spirit need to learn dependency, then those who insist on hand stands and dog barking need to learn reverence.

Reverence in any friendship is key.

So we must understand this: The Holy Spirit did not come to make you senseless and silly; He came to make you spiritually sharp. He came to empower world evangelism.

Acts 1:8 NKJV

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit’s power can be ministered with class. There’s a beautiful, gentle air of Heavenly elegance about a move of God. He is not chaotically bizarre.

He is both classy and unifying. Sure, there are things that He does that will make you uncomfortable. But, in the church overall, there needs to be more reverence for the Holy Spirit.

2 We can TRUST the HOLY SPIRIT

I can trust Holy Spirit because I have confidence in Him, He has helped me to grow in my revelation of Him and who He is my life. The bible tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6:

Proverbs 3:5–6 NKJV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

For those not yet living a Jesus-centered life

Do not resist the CONVICTION/DRAWING of Holy Spirit. He loves you and wants a relationship with you, don’t hold back surrender your life to Him.

You are not going to miss out. This a lie from the devil.

We get more not less , came that you would have life, life more abundantly

For those living a Jesus-centered life

It was one of those “Lord, how are you going to do this?” moments.

Ask God to KEEP you in the UNENDING CIRCLE of LOVE

INVITE the HELP, TEACHING, GUIDANCE AND COMFORT of Holy Spirit in your daily living.

INVITE the HELP, TEACHING, GUIDANCE AND COMFORT of the Holy Spirit in your daily living.

Pray that the Spirit of Truth will PERMEATE the DARKNESS that is in the world.

Thankfully, the Lord showed Himself able. One of my ministry donors was willing to help with the dip in donations and promised to send a check. I was immediately relieved. Despite my wavering, God was faithful.

But there was a deeper issue. The Holy Spirit again spoke to my heart, “Why did you have peace when a man promised to meet your needs but continue to worry when I promised to meet your needs? When you can trust in my promise more than you can trust in a man’s promise, I will be able to trust you with a greater measure.” “Lord”, I wondered, “How will I know when I trust you this way?” I heard in my spirit, “When you are just as relieved in hearing my promise as you are when you see a check.”

Since then, I’ve grown in my trust of the Holy Spirit. And, dear reader, He wants you too to grow in this kind of trust. And in trusting Him, you will experience a greater level of friendship with Him than ever before.

Tagged: The Holy Spirit, Surrender, Spirituality, Prayer

Psalm 125:

Psalm 23 NKJV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Psalm 125:1–2 NKJV

1 Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 125 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. 1 Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever. 3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest On the land allotted to the righteous, Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity. 4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, And to those who are upright in their hearts. 5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them away With the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 20:7 NKJV

7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

Closing

As the worship team come back up

Holy Spirit is our friend

Dependency on Holy Spirit for my family and church

We can TRUST HOLY SPIRIT

We can TRUST the HOLY SPIRIT

Acts 1:8 NKJV

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Hebrews 2:1–4 NKJV

1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?