Tap Inn to the Holy Spirit by Gerald Van Horn
# 2 of 5
Tap In #2.
Introduction: We now continue our series on the Holy Spirit.
We call to remembrance in part # 1 facts about the Holy Spirit.
* How he chooses people for ministry assignments.
* How he is the communicator and reveals the deep things of God to us.
* How he is co-equal to God the Father and God the Son.
It is the Holy Spirit that brings a fresh touch in our lives daily. We must be filled daily. Otherwise, our lives become stale, stagnant and sluggish.
When God’s Spirit Moves :
1. The Word comes alive. It is fun to look through grandfathers Bible and see the passages he marked.
Spiritual illumination often happens when we read the Bible. How does this happen? It is the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. Believers should have a hunger to hear, read, study and understand more of God’s Word. When a person has little interest in the Word, or when Scripture seems dull and tedious that is a sure sign that there is something seriously out of sync.
I know it’s possible to gather large numbers of people together on Sunday without a strong emphasis on the Word of God. In fact, many people are content without hearing Bible preaching and exposition. But when we wonder away from the Word thinking we can live without it hour after hour, day after day, week after week, we cease to grow spiritually and open ourselves to spiritual deception.
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2.
Remember what it was like when you first got saved? All you wanted to do
was read the Bible. There was a huge hunger for it.
This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. When we have a fresh touch from Him daily, He continues to give us the hunger we need to stay close to the
Word.
How the Holy Spirit is a Divine Teacher for a Divine Book. Who better to
teach God’s Word than the person who wrote the book? The Holy Spirit
is the teacher.
I remember when I was in college and taking the course, “Person & Work of
The Holy Spirit”. It was the most difficult class I had ever taken. I would
record the lecturers. I would take massive notes. I would study every evening. When it came time for the final exam, I would stay up all night
studying for the exam. I would listen to the tapes. I would go over my notes. To my surprise, none of the questions on the test were from the notes.
This was just how the teacher did things. Then, the next semester, I learned. I would ask the Holy Spirit to give me insight to the questions on the test. It was only then that I made a “C” on the test. What?
There are countless examples of Jesus saying something and the disciples
completely missing the point. They just didn’t get it. In fact, one of them
argued saying, “No, you won’t go to the cross”. But Jesus promised that when He died, another teacher would come and help them to properly digest spiritual truth.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:12-14 When God’s Spirit moves, the Word comes alive.
2. There are signs and symbols of renewal.
Have you ever felt dried and run down from your Christian life? When this happens a lot of us just keep plugging away to the point of spiritual exhaustion. Some folks give up and play the hypocrite, pretending to be something they aren’t. But there is a remedy to dry periods of our life. Peter called it “refreshing times”. Part of understanding how to have a “refreshing time” is to understand how the Bible uses a number of symbols to make the work of the Holy Spirit understandable to us. They are water,
wind, dove, oil and fire.
I love water. Where there is no water, there is no life. People die during droughts. In the same manner, we also die, spiritually, during droughts. Have you ever been in a desert? There is nothing there. No trees. No plants. No flowers. No life! Why? Because there is no water. In fact, if you ever get lost in a desert, you simply need to scan the horizon for something that looks green. Then begin to walk towards the green. It always means one thing, there is water!
We can go to church regularly. We can hear perfect doctrine. But without the Holy Spirit to water us, we will wither and die. Jesus talked openly about the life giving properties of water. On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”. John 7:37-38
Then there is the wind, a dove and oil. The word wind in the original Greek can be translated “wind”. In Genesis 2:7 it says God breathed into the nostrils of Man. A dove symbolized the Spirit during Jesus’ baptism.
Oil - The anointing of the Holy Spirit is like the oil that was put on almost everything in the tabernacle in the first covenant. Not only were the temple objects anointed with oil, but so also were the priests. Even the elders of the church are instructed to pray and anoint believers with oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit in James 5:14. Fire is one of my favorite symbols of the Holy Spirit. It is used to represent the power and presence of God. John the Baptist said: “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. Luke 3:16
Jesus never baptized anyone in water? Why? Because the baptism he would do was of the Holy Spirit and Fire!
Illustration (match or lighter) If you light a match and burn a piece of wood, it will penetrate the wood. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit does in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit that penetrates people’s lives. It is the Holy Spirit that goes right to the core! Without the Holy Spirit, preaching simply becomes entertainment. God, give us more preachers who will stand in the pulpit filled with the FIRE of the Holy Spirit. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29
Here’s the greatest temptation today: It is to make our message so pleasing to the masses that we lose the element of fire. It’s easy to create services filled with candy and fluff! We must realize, these kind of services will not benefit the kingdom. People cannot come to God without the fiery work of the Holy Spirit.
3. There is Joy. In the late eighties Bobby McFerrin wrote and performed a little song called “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Do you remember it? The message offered a great boost by saying, “let go of your anxiety and just enjoy life”. It made sense. But the real question is…….how can we be happy?
Happiness versus joy. Happiness ebbs and flows based on changing circumstances. A new baby makes us happy. If we win a free vacation, that makes us happy. If we get a raise or a promotion, that makes us happy. But this type of euphoria is only temporary. Something always changes and takes our happiness away. The baby gets sick and we miss the vacation we won because we had to stay home and keep the sick baby. Our company is cutting back and we lose our job. Now we go from happy to emptiness or sometimes even anger. So, how do we get happiness back? The harder you try the more frustrating it becomes. Happiness is circumstantial and elusive.
Joy is not circumstantial. We can have joy even when we’re not happy. Joy differs from happiness. Anybody can experience happiness. Even people who don’t know God can experience happiness. They can even curse God and be happy about it. But they don’t have JOY. Because this blessing is from a totally different source. According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit produces joy. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.” Galatians 5:22. It is the Holy Spirit that brings joy. God does not want us to live cranky exasperating lives. He knows happiness is fleeting, so through the Spirit, He gives us supernatural joy that transcends any circumstance! Joy is a beautiful thing! Joy is a beautiful gift from God through the Holy Spirit!
Thanks to Mark Van Horn pastor of River of Life HEB
