You can hear the audio of the sermon on my podcast at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/697261/5443309
Core 52 Week 37 - The Holy Spirit
• Security blanket/power symbols
• Q: What does the Holy Spirit do for us?
• mystifying to most Christians.
• the closest member of the trinity isn’t Jesus - he is with the Father - but rather the HS who lives IN us.
John 14:16–17 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.
• Prior to Pentecost, the HS was a temporary and circumstantial experience.
• After that day, the HS has become resident in every believer.
• We now have constant access to God through His spirit.
• Two elements (?) to his work
• transformation of our lives
• empowerment to represent Jesus.
The Holy Spirit TRANSFORMS Us
In Creation
• We were made by the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 2:7 7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Conversion
• We are sealed with the HS.
Titus 3:5 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification
• Being set apart for God’s purposes
• Also an ongoing work of the Spirit to align our actions now with Christ’s actions in the past.
• A life-long process, empowered by the Spirit
1 Corinthians 6:11 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS Us
Coaches Us
• HS communicates with us.
• In part through Scripture (which He wrote)
• In part through direct communication
• In part through others around us.
• Truth leads to living wisely.
John 15:26 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.
1 Corinthians 2:10 10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
Provides Skills
• HS provides the tools we need to accomplish everything God calls us to do.
1 Corinthians 12:4 4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.
Forms Our Character
• Seen in the fruit (evidence) of the Spirit’s work in our character
Galatians 5:22–23 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!
In general wisdom
• Main reason he is called a counselor or coach
• Provides encouragement to churches
Acts 9:31 31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
• Strength to individuals
Ephesians 3:16 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
• Help in suffering
Philippians 1:19 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
