4-29-2001 Loami
BUILDING CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION
“Understanding the Holy Spirit”
Theme: The Holy Spirit is the Person of God that Transforms Our Lives Today
Text: Various: John 14-16
Aim: The congregation will better understand the spirit and then allow Him to work in their lives by giving themselves cooperatively to His work.
INTRODUCTION
A. Great Commission and Baptismal Formula
B. Like the Great Third Wheel, uncomfortable and out of place
C. Difficulties
1. No large blocks of teaching
2. The imagery is difficult
3. The concept of the trinity.
I. The Importance of The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
A. The Holy Spirit is where the Trinity becomes personal to the Christian
B. The Holy Sprit is the person of God that is at work in our time
1. Father = Old Testament; Son=Gospels; Holy Spirit = Today
C. Our Culture is Experiential
1. Survivor, Boot Camp
II. The Identity of the Holy Spirit
A. Name
1. The Paraclete
a. Helper, one who comes alongside
2. The Holy Ghost
B. Identity
1. Not an “it” but a he.
2. Fully part of God
a. Mt. 28:18-20.
b. HS is fully God, like the Son, and the Faather.
3. Possessses a personality.
a. He can be lied to.
b. He can be grieved (Eph. 4:30)
C. In History
1. In Creation Genesis 1:2
2. In Leadership
a. Judges 6:34 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.
3. The Messiah would be blessed with the Holy Spirit
a. Is. 11: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
4. The Promise to God’s People
a. Joel 2: 28-29
b. 28 ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
5. On The Day of Pentacost
a. Acts 2:hen the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
b. The promise of God had come true. Every believer now had the holy Spirit
(1) Wind, lit. Breath, “like eden”
(2) Fire, the presence of God.
(3) Toungues, empowered to preach the gospel
III. The Industry of the Holy Spirit (What the Holy Spirit does in our lives)
A. Empowerer
1. Acts 1:8
2. The Holy Spirit is where we get our power to witness for Jesus Christ
3. Awesome power team
4. May be: boldness, endurance, gentleness
B. Indweller
1. John 14:16-17 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 a in you.
2. Small children need to have a light on to let them know they are safe. The Holy Spirit is God inside us, like a conforting presence. To let us know that God is with us all the time
C. Teacher
1. IL come up to me and say, “Thanks for talking about forgivness” the sermon was on prayer, but the Holy Spirit highlthed the ilusration of fogrivness in their life
2. Jn 14:26 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.
3. Doesn’t replace study, but it helps us so we don’t try to understand the Bible only on our own stregnth
D. Incecessor
1. Romans 8:26-27 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
2. God’s spirit helps us pray. I understand what this verse says
3. IL trip to the doctor in the 7th grade. “I have the peace that passes understanding”
E. Sanctifier
1. Sanctify means to make us like God. It repair the broken relationship
2. God will brings out the best in us as we become more like Jesus
3. Gal. 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
F. Gift-giver
1. The Holy Spirit gives to each person a spiritual gift from him to help build up the body of Christ.
2. Ephesians 4:11-13
G. Summary
1. All these things are what the Holy Spirit does in the life of each believer.
2. The Holy Spirit
IV. The Implications of the Holy Spirit Work
A. We are not in this alone
1. Like a marriage. Same idea with the holy spirit.
B. We are not soley responsible for our own growth
1. Do you make a plant grow? No, growth is natural. We are just responsible for the environment.
2. The holy spirit helps us understand and resist temptation. The Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus.
C. We can stop the Holy Spirit’s work
1. IL Drinving home the break on.
2. We can stop the HS’s work by ignoring his lead or a life of sin.
D. We are drawn together by God in us
1. We are all sons of God and the Holy Spirit weaves our gifts together to form A Christian community
V. Conclusion
A. We need to understand the Holy Spirit. We need to let him lead us.
B. We need to let the HS come into our lives in baptism.
C. Respond today.
