Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Wonderful example of the power of the spirit working in someone’s life.

Why don’t we have it all the time in our church in everyone to that degree?

Or even like the early church that was adding to the church daily?

I have heard it argued that it’s because we are not praying enough.

Or that we are doing evangelism the wrong way.

Or that God isn’t powerful enough.

Or I have heard the argument that the spirit is female, so you aren’t calling her by the correct title, so she isn’t listening.

It’s been said that we need to cleanse ourselves more, or that it has been removed from us due to changing worship styles bringing in different kinds of music or even that God has kept the Spirit from us because the church is divided over the ordination/gender issue.

As you can tell, there is considerable misunderstanding today about the Holy Spirit.

Whether it's the work and nature of the Spirit or the idea of the latter rain, confusion exists both inside and out of the church.

This new sermon series, “The Shocking Truth About the Spirit,” sets out to clear up the matter and build a sense of urgency in our hearts to desire the full power of the Holy Spirit.

For without the Holy Spirit in our lives and the church, we will not succeed.

We will see that there is Plenty of Holy Spirit available, this is the era of the Spirit...

Today we will look at the great need and the promise.

As a church we aren’t doing our part to receive it.

There is a promise of hope for us.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the person and work of the holy spirit.

I have even seen version of the bible that turn the Spirit into a feminine character.

She...

The promises of the Spirit (Jn.

14:16-17)

Three parts to the promise

1.

The Spirit will be sent.

()

Story of someone getting the spirit.

Liz and the baby.

We live in the period of the dispensation of the spirit.

Christ promised the Spirit would come.

When did he ask the Father for the Spirit?

He must have done that after the resurrection in the morning (, )

Then again, that night after the resurrection, in the upper room, he promised again.

Luke 24.49

And he he breathed on them the spirit to enforce his promise.

He pledged and breathed on them the spirit as a promise after his resurrection

2. The Spirit will be with us.

(7)

Promise of the spirit #2

That he would ask the father for the helper.

Let’s look at this further.

This promised spirit, is called a Helper - definition

john 20.

Helper - Parakletos = “one alongside”

from which we get paralegal, etc.

Like Jesus but someone who will be with us forever.

3. The Spirit will be in us.

()

Promise #3

Spirit will be in us.

Having life in you, not just with you.

John

Like a mother who knows if her child is with or in her.

Changes her forever.

Jesus wants us to have a powerful experience.

Not just life with you, but in you.

The subject of the spirit was brought up time and time again on the evening of that Passover.

He told them...

the Spirit would teach them all things and give them great recall memories.

()

the Spirit would bear witness of Him and in-turn they would bear witness.

()

he said

the Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth and disclose what is to come.

()

His leaving was to their advantage because it mean that the Spirit could come.

()

He was promising and expecting to be closer to his disciples after his departure than he was while he was physically present with them.

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Side note: I have heard it said that because Jesus was promising the Holy spirit would come upon them, that the Spirit was not yet on the earth during the era of the OT.

Let’s look.

The era of the Old Testament

it can be documented that the OT mentions the Holy Spirit 88 times while the NT 262.

That’s about 10X’s more than the OT.

Even so, the OT does mention the Spirit and what He does.

Old Testament references to the Spirit

He acted in creation.

()

Work of regeneration.

()

Giving talents and skills for ministry.

(Gen. )

Working through signs and wonders.

(, )

Gideon ()

David ()

Elisha (, ; )

Isaiah ()

Ezekiel ()

During the Old Testament era, the Spirit’s work was more individual and rarely corporate.

However, the significance was that His work was individual and rarely in a corporate way.

Yet God longed and promised an outpouring of His Spirit to be given to all of His people.

Particularly He was longing for this as the people were drifting away.

The most famous promise probably is found in Joel.

Joel 2:

God promises the Spirit to all humankind.

(Joel 2:28)

It’s a Longing of God for us to receive the Spirit, and most famous account of this is in Joel.

And Peter quoted this passage in Acts upon pentecost to confirm that the promise had come true.

In other words, the reason they were able to speak in other languages and others hear them in their own was because they had been given the promised outpouring of the Spirit, and Peter was testifying that Joel’s prophecy, God’s promise, had come true as evidence in what was happening.

If the Spirit is so awesome to have in us, why didn’t God give the Spirit to all of God’s people sooner?

John tells us the answer.

Jesus was not yet glorified.

(John 7:39)

And you ask, When was Jesus glorified?

And it happened as he was enthroned, the second Adam, then took His rightful seat on the throne.

This is referring to the traditional thing kings did when they captured an enemy city and came home victories

The kings, returning home would be welcomed with the subjects lined up.

The king and his army would parade into the city.

Leading the enemy soldiers they had captured.

And the king would give gifts, a share of the spoils and toss them to the jubilant people.

Christ turned the tables.

The captives Jesus took were the first fruits of His resurrection.