Pentecost; The Spirit Has Arrived! Series

Sermon Series: “God, The Holy Spirit”

Sermon #1 “Pentecost; The Spirit Has Arrived!”

Text: Acts 2:1-4

OPENING JOKE: “The Boy Who Believes in the Holy Spirit Isn’t Here” A children’s class was learning the Apostles Creed. Each child had been assigned a sentence to repeat. The first one said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” The second child said, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…” When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence. Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here.”

INTRODUCTION: Did you know that it might have been appropriate for our organist to play birthday music today?

Does anyone know why?

Because today we are here in the Lord’s House to worship and celebrate the day of Pentecost – the Birthday of the New Testament Church

Pentecost means ‘fiftieth’ and it is held every year fifty days after the Jewish Passover.

In the Old Testament it is referred to as ‘The Feast of Weeks’ (Ex 34:22) or Harvest (Lev 23:16).

It was on this day in the Jewish calendar year that they offered the ‘First Fruits’ of their harvest

Appropriately so, God in His Wisdom gave the Church the first fruits of our inheritance on the Day of Pentecost: The Gift of the Holy Spirit

You see…

 In the Old Testament, God the Father (Yahweh) is revealed

a. He spoke to Adam in the Garden

b. He spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai

c. He spoke to the prophets

 In the Gospels, God the Son (Jesus) is revealed

a. Jesus was present in the Old Testament because He and the Father are eternally existent (without beginning or ending)

b. Christ was not created, He always was

c. But it was in His incarnation that we see His work revealed

 In Acts, at Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit is revealed

a. The Spirit, like Christ, is eternally existent

b. He was not created at Pentecost – nor was this His first appearance

i. He is actually talked about all the way back in Genesis

ii. Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

c. Even though this was not His first appearance, Pentecost was where the full revelation of the work of the Holy Spirit was made manifest

a. It was the first time He came and made His abode in the hearts of people

b. 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,”

c. In the Old Testament time God’s Holy Spirit was in the physical temple

d. He might come upon a person to empower them as He did David, Samson and others – but He did not make His abode in people’s hearts until the day of Pentecost

e. By His indwelling at Pentecost, His purpose is revealed to us

In the weeks to come I am going to preach a series of messages on the Holy Spirit

It is my goal to give a Biblical perspective on the inner and outer working of the Third Person of the Trinity

This will include:

• The promise of His arrival

• His work in drawing unbelievers to Jesus

• His indwelling of the believer

• His convicting of sin in the life of believers

• His ministry of illumination to the truth of God’s Word

• And His role in the sovereign act of salvation

And through this series I pray that you will come to a fuller understanding of the Holy Spirit

This morning I want to begin this series with an overview of God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit

I. THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

a. The Holy Spirit is fully God

i. He is not a force, an energy or an after thought

ii. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, with all of the power and glory of the Godhead

iii. To understand the relationship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit would mean a full understanding of the Trinity, which none of us have

1. But if you are like me, and a good ol’ country answer will satisfy, just think about it this way:

2. Illustration #1: “Water” H2O comes in three forms – liquid, solid and gas – The essence never changes, but because of different purposes, the forms do

3. Illustration #2: “Holy, Holy, Holy” Personally, I have an even simpler way of looking at it – I was watching a movie once where the song “Holy, Holy, Holy” was being sung. Now I must have heard that song a hundred times in our church. But ya’ know, it was in this movie that I picked up what the song said in the last words: “God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity”