The Holy Spirit
Series: CREED: Truths that Unite
Brad Bailey – February 28, 2021
Intro...
I want to add my warm welcome to each of you. We are continuing our weekly engagement with the central truths that are identified in what has been called The Apostles Creed. These are the truths... that were affirmed from the earliest records we have following the earthly ministry of Jesus.
As we noted when we began our weekly series... these truths have the power to center us... to form us...and to unite us.
And each week we are starting by first having different members read the creed... which we can say aloud as well by following the words we will put up.
And today it’s a pleasure to welcome Rene and Jeanette Chun [1]
[Creed read. See Note 1]
Thanks Rene and Jeanette.
The creed begins with God...the Father almighty... creator of heaven and earth.
It continues with Jesus Christ... God the Son... and some essential truths about Jesus.
Today.... we have come to the next declaration...
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Here we are affirming what is often referred to as the third person in the Trinity... of the unique nature by which God has revealed Himself as One God... yet eternally relating as three united persons.... Father Son AND Spirit.
The Creed moves from the creating work of the Father to the rescuing work of the Son, and then to the recreating work of the Holy Spirit.
Now to many of us... this may sound simple and straightforward. The Western world has long been familiar with God being revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the ministry of the Holy Spirit is valuable part of our life as a Vineyard... a part of our DNA.
But if we can step back... we can appreciate that there is something more mysterious about the nature of the Holy Spirit.
Some have made the role of the Holy Spirit very secondary... a strange mystery to be set outside what really matters. I believe that tragically misses what Jesus actually said to his followers and all who follow. The truth is that far from being secondary... Jesus concludes his earthly ministry telling his disciples... the third person of the Trinity...the Spirit of God...was going to come in a new way...and it would change everything. So lets pause right now...and ask God to help us to understand what it means to believe in the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER. It was vital and proved vitalizing. It was essential and empowering... the Holy Spirit which bears great news for each of us
It’s important to understand that when declare that we believe in the Holy Spirit...we are speaking of a part of our God which is actually spoken of far more than we may realize. The Spirit is referred to 142 times in the Old Testament using 15 different terms, and 256 times in the New Testament using 7 different terms but all referring to this part of who God is. [2]
What we find is that The Spirit is actually spoken of from the very beginning in major but more mysterious ways...but then emerges to the forefront when Jesus ... as the Son of God...has ascended back to heaven and sends the Spirit to take the role of connecting us with God in a new way.
The Spirit is referred to in the very opening of the Bible... as we are told of God as creator of everything.... and while the description is rather poetically brief... it says that it was the Spirit that was manifesting the will of God. We read in Genesis one...
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. - Genesis 1:1-2
The second sentence in all of Scripture reveals the power of the Holy Spirit already at work in the beginning. The Hebrew words used to communicate the Holy Spirit’s role in creation are that of the breath of God... and reflect the Spirit as the source of divine energy at work in the formation of creation.
Some even suggest that what is being described is the Spirit... creating waves of gravitational energy and waves of electro-magnetic energy that coalesce and form the material and planetary life. [3] And then we come to the unique life that is given to we as humans. We read...
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. Genesis 2:7 (NLT)
The word for breathe here is the same as the word as spirit... it is the energizing animating power of God. Into human life... God breathes His Spirit and gave us spiritual life... a spiritual nature...that gae us a connection to God who is Spirit. As Job would later declare in the Scriptures...
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4
And as God began to call a people out... he called out a few lives as prophets with whom he would speak and impart his heart to. As is described in Second Peter, speaking of the Old Testament era Prophets of Israel.
You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.. - 2 Peter 1:20-21
It is God the Spirit... the Holy Spirit... who is imparting the truth of God to the minds and hearts of the prophets. In fact all Scripture is God breathed... which means...it has come through the working of the Holy Spirit. [4]
And then after nearly 500 years of silence... the spirit-inspired prophetic voice returned in John the Baptist...the one God had foretold would come to prepare the way for the Messiah...the Savior.
Zechariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents, were informed that “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.” - Luke 1:15
And at the same time... a young woman Mary is told that
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” - Luke 1:35 (NLT)
It was the Holy Spirit who brought forth the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary.
And later...when Jesus began his ministry, we are told of how the Holy Spirit came upon him... anointed him... bearing the words of God the Father over him. He was operating from the anointing or working of the Holy Spirit.
And then Jesus explained what was at hand in his life and ministry... saying.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed...” - Luke 4:18
He is quoting the words of the prophets. [5] He is saying...the time has come... it is the inaugurating of God kingdom... he is landing in enemy territory and confronting the powers that have ruled this world. What makes it possible? The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me.
And these words suggest something we can tend to miss. When God the Son became incarnate... and left the prerogatives and power of heaven... there is nothing to suggest that his nature was any different than ours except for his relationship to the Father and Spirit... a relationship in which he did not bear divine power in his human form...but such power flowed from being aligned and dependent upon them. And this is what be began to extend to others....as he sent hem out to do what he was doing.
And that is what leads to the major moment in which the Spirit comes to the forefront.
We come to the juncture in which Jesus is at the end of his incarnate earthly ministry...he will soon give his life to pay the debt and ransom us. He knows it. And his disciples cannot accept it. How could God come to them...and call them...and now leave them?
And into this sense of separation, Jesus speaks of what is at hand. We read in the Gospel of John, what Jesus explains.
John 14:15-18
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:25-26
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:6-7
Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
John 16:12-15
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, 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. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
With these words Jesus is introducing with greater clarity that there is another... one who is united with the Father and the Son. The one who he will send is the Spirit which he describes here as the Counselor... but it’s not using the word in the way we might think of a counselor being a therapist. He uses a word that can is also translated as Advocate, Helper Comforter, or Strengthener. It speaks of the one who will now come empower them from here on out.
Jesus says the Spirit will come indwell them... and then says he will come to them... and at another part (verse 23) he even says, “the Father and I will make our home with you.”. How? By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What becomes clear, is that the Father, Son, and Spirit are so united that the presence of the Spirit means that Jesus himself will be with them. He will no longer be present in bodily form... but he will be with them... because he is going to send the Spirit...who is one with he and the Father. In other words... they are so united as one ...that relating to one is relating to all. That is why the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. They are so united that in truth... he WOULD be with them. The Spirit will continue guiding them and empower them as Jesus was doing. He said I will always be with you.
When? All the time......Where? Everywhere.
And just as Jesus did what the Father is doing...so the Spirit is going to continue what Christ began. Just as the Son honored the Father...so the Spirit honors Christ. This is God... revealed in three persons... who are eternally united... yet in relationship to one another. God is truly a perfect union.
And indeed it becomes very clear that the Holy Spirit is rightfully referred to as a person. Jesus said ‘He will bear witness of Me.” Notice, he didn’t say, “I will send the Spirit and IT will bear witness,” but “HE will bear witness of Me.” And elsewhere in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is described as and having thoughts... of leading ...and speaking... and able to be grieved. So it’s important that we don’t think about what the Holy Spirit is...but WHO the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is not something you have… but someone who can come and work within us. [6]
Let me pause to say that when we think of the Holy Spirit as a person...it may seem elusive. To know that God is a spiritual Father... is profound... but we have a concept in earthly fathers to drawn from. I can have some understanding of that relationship...in all it’s ideal. To know that there is God the Son... has a reference point for understanding ... we can drawn up what we see in the relationship of Father and Son...and what that may involve. But the Holy Spirit is not as quick for us to grasp.
When we consider what it means to know God as Father, Son, and Spirit... as I said a few weeks ago... we are like two dimensions squares trying to speak about a three-dimensional cube. We are finite creatures relating to the infinite nature of God. But I believe that if we consider the nature of our own desires as persons... we realize that God in three persons meets us in the very depths of our nature.
The Father – establishes who I am
The Son – reconciles me to who I am
The Spirit – empowers me to be who I am
The Holy Spirit enables and empowers me to know and grow in unending life with God.
The Holy Spirit actuates and aligns me with the reality of who I was created to be.
In our current culture people might think of the Star Wars movies... and the central role of what was called The Force. And in some ways it’s not an entirely different type of concept of force. In a similar way, we could say that the Spirit is the force that is at the center of everything... an animating force....a force that transcends material nature. But the Holy Spirit is not merely an impersonal force...but a personal force. The Holy Spirit doesn’t represent mere power...but the power that flows from the love of God and empowers life with God.
So in one sense, it may be natural that we don’t sense the same personal nature of God the Spirit the same way we do God the Father or God the Son. But the Spirit is the one who is actually at work in us to enable and empower the work of the Father and Son.
It was the power of the Spirit that was at work in Jesus ....and it’s the power of the Spirit that he now sends into all who receive him.
Jesus is explaining how everything is going to change... and he was very clear...it was going to be better... better for them...and expand all that he was doing... in bringing the kingdom of God.
Naturally it was hard for them to grasp how this change would be better. It would be a different type of presence that would come... but one that would transcend the limits of physical body. As I described before... in his earthly life....he could only be in one place at one time. But now he would send the Spirit and through the Spirit... he would be with them. Those who receive him... receive his righteousness... and they receive his life at work within them. His nature now dwells within far and wide. And the one earthly body of Christ has now become embodied in all who receive him...becoming in essence... his hands and feet... what is now called the Body of Christ. That is what the church in it’s truest sense actually is. [7]
And this is exactly what unfolded. After he had been raised from the dead, Jesus is with his disciples... actually eating with them... and they are still in a state of fear about the world around them...and what will happen when he leaves. And he tells them... in fact he commands them...do leave Jerusalem but wait until for the Holy Spirit to be poured out...and when he comes...he will empower you to live as witnesses in all the world. [8]
And he soon departed and in a few days... many came into Jerusalem to celebrate one of the special days the Feast of Weeks...and they gathered in prayer...and suddenly the Spirit comes like a wind upon them and everything changes. [9]
It transformed them. They become united across all their national and social differences. They begin to minister to people in need with power that brought signs and wonders. And inwardly... they become unstoppable ... rooted in something that the powers of this world cannot overcome.
Everything changed. It wasn’t some form of magic they could control. It wasn’t something they could easily describe. It was earthly life that now experienced a presence of God at work within them. It was the Holy Spirit now being poured out for all...just as God had said he would one day do.
The Holy Spirit is the personal force that unites and empowers life with God.
As A.W. Tozer describes [10],
It is not physical power nor even mental power though it may touch every thing both mental and physical in its benign out-workings. It is spiritual power. It is the kind of power that God is.
Now how does this power operate? At its purest it is an unmediated force directly applied by the Spirit of God to the spirit of man. The wrestler achieves his ends by the pressure of his physical body upon the body of his opponent, the teacher by the pressure of ideas upon the mind of the student, the moralist by the pressure of duty upon the conscience of the disciple. So the Holy Spirit performs His blessed work by direct contact with the human spirit.
It would be less than accurate to say that the power of God is always experienced in a direct and unmediated form, for when He so wills the Spirit may use other means as Christ used spittle to heal a blind man. But always the power is above and beyond the means. While the Spirit may use appropriate means to bless a believing man, He never need do so for they are at best but temporary concessions made to our ignorance and unbelief. Where adequate power is present almost any means will suffice, but where the power is absent not all the means in the world can secure the desired end. The Spirit of God may use a song, a sermon, a good deed, a text or the mystery and majesty of nature, but always the final work will be done by the pressure of the inliving Spirit upon the human heart.
As Tozer captures... the work of the Spirit is always something beyond what we can produce ourselves. That is what the we hear affirmed by the whole of those who forst began to walk this out. They brought their part to play...but they realized that they were dependent on what only God could do... on the working of the Spirit. There is an ultimate point of humility here. Some of us may have worked hard to develop our own capabilities... and believe they have served others well...and they probably have...but there is a deeper work that only the Spirit of God can do. Developing ourselves in our physical and mental potential is good...but even the finest sailing craft without wind is just another boat that’s adrift.
So let’s conclude by quickly recognizing a few of the ways the Holy Spirit can empower us. First...
The Spirit convicts us of our need
Jesus says,
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” - John 16:7-8
Many of us may recall the initial prompting... or perhaps a season of prompting...when we sensed that there is a God and we need to be set right with Him. We may have had a moment when we looked upon the suffering of Christ when he was crucified...and thought...that was for me. It is the work of God’s Spirit. Something is awakened... that had been dead.
Secondly,
The Spirit gives and grows a new identity rooted in God
As the Apostle Paul explained in the Biblical Book of Romans [11],
Romans 8:14-16 (NLT2)
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
The Spirit calls us to claim our true identity. You may recall in the movie The Lion King... when the younger lion Simba... has run off in shame and is trying to escape his true position as the great lion’s son...and a moment comes when the skies part and he hears that deep James Earl Jones voice saying... “Simba... remember who you are.” And in that moment he is awakened to his true identity.
The Spirit is that voice that testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children. That is who we are and what we can now live out of.
Elsewhere in the Scriptures it says that the Spirit bears this identity as a seal ... describing how The Holy Spirit is serving as God’s seal of identity that declares “This life is mine. They are now and forever a child of God.”
So when we say we believe in the holy Spirit...we are saying that there is a new divine identity as work within is.
But this is not just s static state... it is at work in us... as we recognize that...
The Spirit seeks to transform our nature
The Spirit brings a new nature...the nature of Christ... and that nature is at work to change us. It doesn’t mean we lose everything unique about our distinct identity or personality... it means that our hearts have a new influence at work. It transforms our love for God... our ability to love others... our values. [12]
This is what is described in the Biblical book of Galatians, as Paul writes,
Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. .. The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. - Galatians 5:16-18, 22-23. 25 (NLT)
Here Paul affirms that the old nature can’t be overcome just by external rules...we need new hearts. And the Spirit bears a new nature....that will lead us from the inside out...in a way that rules alone won’t. The Spirit brings a new nature to reign within us. The idea of being baptized in the Sprit describes being
immersed… overwhelmed… it describes how something else replaces the governing and guiding forces within us... the new is to increasingly replace the old. That is why we are told to be continually filled with the Spirit. [12b]
And the fruit will be love... expressed in joy and peace and so much more. It’s really a process of liberation. He is bringing the potential to become free from so much that may be controlling us as we come under God’s love and leadership.
And he is clear that the Spirit doesn’t simply take control of us. The Spirit brings a new influence ... a new potential... which our wills are to cooperate with. It’s a process that involves our participation.
So when we say "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we are saying that there is a living God who enters the inner life of a human life and effects change.
Another way that the Spirit empower us is that...
The Spirit Speaks and Guides Us
As we read in Galatians,
If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. - Galatians 5:25
The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit now relating to our spirit... able to speak and guide our inner being. We can experience this is as ‘the Spirit bears witness to our spirit”… giving us an inner sense about what is right. We can experience this as an image or thought by which God is revealing something to us. We may hear something...generally an inner voice… just as we can hear your own thoughts… except it is a thought that we recognize is not formed by ourselves. [13] These can be what the Bible speaks of as prophetic words that impart something of God’s mind... what the Bible refers to as “words of knowledge” which may relate to something specific at hand. I have had such impressions or words... and shared them... always trying to model doing so with uncertainty. I recall sharing a word at the conclusion... being impressed with the name Mary or Martha...not sure between them...and a neck problem. And then as we closed I see my friend Marcy coming shooting down...and I laughed and thought ...well that explains why the name was more like the name than one particular name. And she said...you don’t understand...my real name is Mary Martha... and today I ha decided I wasn’t going to come because I had this neck injury...but then I felt prompted to just head on over before the end of service. Needless to say that God moved on her... and it all involved the Holy Spirit speaking and guiding.
And finally, we recognize that...
The Spirit Empowers Us with Different Gifts...to Serve Others
As the Scriptures explain in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12,
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. - 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
The Apostle Paul recognized that the Spirit was giving different members of the body of Christ different gifts... that is... a spiritual favor and flow for serving others. For some it was compassion...for some praying for healing...for some it was organizing to meet a need...for some it was knowledge about a need... for some it was spiritual discernment... for some it was teaching. Each of us have been given different gifts...gifts that can serve others... gifts that can be discovered and developed.
So when we say we believe in the Holy Spirit...we are recognizing that God is empowering us to serve others in different ways.
Let me conclude with a final invitation.
Our belief in the Holy Spirit is an essential part of our DNA as a Vineyard.
The Vineyard movement has been described as providing what many refer to as a third way for the work of the Holy Spirit...or a radical middle. For those less familiar...it is referring to how some lives began to hunger and thirst for God’s presence... and as they began to experience that God is still at work right now... the focus was not simply on the experience...but recognizing that Jesus trained and sent his disciples out to do the works that he was doing...and that is still the case. We are called to “do the stuff.”
And in doing so, there were two elements that had emerged in the more recent history of the church that we desired to walk down the middle of. On one side was that which was deeply committed to the Bible... a value we held... but that could become a form of faith that becomes very academic... a form of faith that can become reduced to simply propositions about God.... without the dynamic sense that God wants to work right now. As many who might identify as Evangelical Christians held a great value for the Bible... many found their faith reduced merely to knowledge about God...which can lead to feeling spiritually dry. And so the Vineyard seeks to affirm that we are a people of both the Word AND the Spirit... of welcoming the work of Holy Spirit while also being rooted in the truth of the Scriptures. It’s been described as the nature of sailing...in which you value both the wind and the rudder.
And on the other side... there was what we now refer to as the Pentecostal movements of the church. The Pentecostal movements held great value for the power of God to move...but many had begun to focus on experience itself...and value experience as an end in itself...which leads to trying to create an experience with God. In the Vineyard it’s been our desire to avoid the tendencies to seek experience in itself... but rather to simply be faithful to minister like Jesus.
In the Vineyard, we believe that we are called to become a people who value the Word of God and the Spirit of God... the words of Jesus and the works of Jesus.
For some of us...We recognize a call to be thoughtful but not try to contain God with our thoughts. We value a faith in God that we can understand... but we also accept that God is not bound to operate on our terms... or within our control and comfort. So we desire to be a people who welcome the Holy Spirit...who say “Come Holy Spirit”... with no need to create an experience of God... but rather with a desire to welcome all that God wants to do.
For some of us it means coming to recognize there is a vanity that we can have in our desire to understand. Our intellect is a gift, but it can become a source of trying to control more than we control... and we need to embrace that we are spiritual beings... dependent on the breath of God As Jesus said...the Spirit blows where it will... we cannot see it even though we know it is there. .
For some of us, it means coming to recognize that there is a vanity to our desires for special experiences and insights...that may be more about trying to chase some sense of new thing or special thing ...more than simply serving God’s purposes that are all around us. We may do well to also realize that Jesus experienced the Spirit in every form of quiet alignment with the Father’s will...and every quiet affirmation of his identity. We may do well to allow the Spirit will blow where it will.
So the invitation to all of us today...is to say “Come Holy Spirit”... with no need to create an experience of God... but rather with a desire to welcome all that God wants to do. That is the invitation that I want to extend to each of us today. For some it may be a reaffirmation of that desire....for some it may be a clearer understanding of what we believe as a community when we say we believe in the Holy Spirit.
So with that.... I want to invite us to take a moment to pray. I invite you to join me in closing our eyes... simply to allow us to focus on our own inner spirits in communion with God’s spirit.
PRAYER
Notes:
1. The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Simply as a note of interest, in regards to the Holy Spirit, the Nicene Creed states:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
2. A. C. Valdez, Sr., Fire on Azusa Street, submitted by Daniel R. Koehler, Wellspring Assembly of God, Carpentersville, Illinois
3. The article: Was the Holy Spirit at Creation?- Christianity.com here – rfers to an description from The Defender’s Bible by the creationist Henry Morris:
Then the “Spirit” (Hebrew ruach) of “God” (Elohim) proceeded to “move upon the face of the waters” (literally, “vibrate in the presence of the waters”). Waves of gravitational energy and waves of electro-magnetic energy began to pulsate forth from the great “Breath” (another meaning of ruach) of God, the Prime Mover of the Universe. The unformed “earth” material (Hebrew eretz), as well as the “waters” permeating it (Hebrew shamayim) quickly coalesced into a spherical form under the new force of gravity, and the first material body (Planet Earth) had been formed at a point in space (The New Defender’s Study Bible).
4. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 1so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
5. He is quoting the words of the prophet Isaiah, 42:7 and 62:1-2
6. Some specific references to what reflects the Spirit to be understood as a person:
He thinks – Acts 15:28
Acts 15:28 (NIV)
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
He speaks – John 16:13
John 16:13 (NIV)
But when he, 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.
Acts 1:16 (NLT)
"Brothers, it was necessary for the Scriptures to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided the Temple police to arrest Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David.
1 Cor. 2:13 (NIV)
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
He leads – Romans 8:14
Romans 8:14 (NIV)
… those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
He grieves – Ephesians 4:30
Ephes. 4:30 (NLT)
And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
(lupeo, -loo-peh'-o; from Greek 3077 (lupe); to distress; reflexive or passive to be sad :- cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, (be) sorrow (-ful), be (make) sorry.)
7. So long as Jesus is there, in person, the object of the disciples' faith would always be a tangible, external person. That's not necessarily bad. However, it means they would constantly depend on Him to direct them, or to answer their questions. Their own thoughts and conscience would perpetually be pushed aside, in favor of asking Jesus for His judgment. When He is not physically present, they would feel incomplete. - From here. Other ideas, such as the risen Jesus would have been “proof” that would not call for faith... here
How did work of the Spirit with them change?
In John 3:34, it is said of Christ that He had the Spirit of God "without measure". So as He was living on Earth as a perfect sinless man, Jesus had unlimited access to the Holy Spirit, who descended on Him to empower Him for ministry at His baptism. So the Holy Spirit was here, empowering Jesus Christ without measure.
In John 14:16-18, Jesus told the disciples, "you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you." So the Spirit of God was with the disciples, but He (the Spirit) was going to be with them and in them in a new way.
8. Acts 1:4-5 (ESV) - And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
9. When the Spirit is poured out on what is called the day of Pentecost...because it was 50 days after Easter... everyone nearby was wondering what had happened to all these lives. And Peter stood up and explained... that they were not drunk...
“Rather, this is what the prophet Joel spoke about: 17 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour my Spirit on my servants, on both men and women. They will speak what God has revealed.” - Acts 2:16-18 (GW)
He is quoting the prophet Joel. As it have been explained further, “Beginning in Joel 2:28, the prophet transitions to a description of events in the distant future (from his vantage point). Verse 28 says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” What did he mean? Has this been fulfilled?
A New Testament reference to this verse provides help in understanding this statement. In Acts 2:15-17 Peter is preaching on the Day of Pentecost: “For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.’”
In this sermon, Peter connects Joel’s prophecy with the Holy Spirit’s coming and the commencement of the church. Not every detail of Joel’s prophecy is yet fulfilled, but the “pouring out of the Spirit” began on the Day of Pentecost. From that time, the Holy Spirit indwells all those who come to faith in Jesus Christ.
This event marked a notable difference in the Spirit’s role from Old Testament times. The Spirit had previously only empowered certain individuals and sometimes only for a particular period of time. On the Day of Pentecost, the 120 followers of Jesus in the Upper Room not only experienced the Holy Spirit’s power but His abiding presence (cf. John 14:16). Three thousand people believed and were baptized that day. These converts all received the Holy Spirit into their lives that same day (Acts 2:38).” – Drawn from Got Questions - here
10. A.W. Tozer, "The Divine Conquest"+
11. This is expressed similarly in Galatians,
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6 (NLT2)
12. Consider also Ephesians 5:18-20 (NLT2) - 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
12b. Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. - Eph. 5:18 (NLT)
13. Here are some examples of God’s leading:
An inner word spoken into our inner being
Acts 10:19 (NIV)
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you.
Acts 13:2 (NIV)
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 8:29 (NIV)
The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
An image with symbolic meaning
Acts 21:11 (NIV)
Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' "
Dreams and visions
Acts 16:9 (NIV)
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
