Six Things To Learn About The Holy Spirit

THIS IS A FAMILY SERVICE SO THIS ‘TALK’ IS MEANT TO BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN AND QUITE INTERACTIVE.

The scripture quotations are from the International Children’s Bible.

Today’s an important day in the Christian calendar. It’s day for celebrating! It isn’t Christmas. It isn’t Easter. So, what is today? Why are we celebrating?

At Easter, we remember that Jesus died and rose again. But move on 50 days and we come to another festival. It’s called ‘Pentecost’. The word comes from a Greek word meaning ‘fiftieth’. Fifty days after Jesus rose, God poured out his Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples. That’s what we’re celebrating today. What’s it all about? We’re going to find out.

To help us, I’ve got six verses and lots of visual aids.

1 THREE PERSONS

God created the world. He created the sky and the earth. He created the large sea animals and every living thing that moves in the sea. Then God plans to create human beings. But before he does so, God says:

“Let us make human beings in our image and likeness” [Genesis 1:26].

Do you think there’s something strange in what God says? Why do you think God says, ‘Let US make human beings in OUR image and likeness’?

Somehow, the people who wrote the book of Genesis knew that God was made up of more than one person. Many, many years later, in Jesus’ time, some people understood that God is made up of three persons. For example, Jesus said:

‘So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT’ [Matthew 28:19].

But how can ONE GOD be made of three persons?

People sometimes suggest analogies to show what the Trinity three is like. But these analogies don’t describe the Trinity well.

VISUAL AID 1: water, ice and steam are different, but they are all forms of water.

But this idea of water, ice and steam doesn’t work to describe the Trinity. It makes it seem as though God is ONE person who we see in THREE FORMS. But we believe that God is three separate persons.

VISUAL AID 2: an egg is made of the shell, the yolk and the white. They are different but they all form one egg. This idea of the egg doesn’t work either. It makes it seem as though the three persons of God are each made of something different. But we believe that the three persons of God have the same substance.

Perhaps a marriage is a better analogy. A marriage is made up of two persons, not three. But when people are really married, they become one unit. They think the same and act the same, and they are of the same substance. That is what the three persons of God are like.

2 THE PERSONS HAVE DIFFERENT ROLES

We often think of God the Father as the creator. We often think of Jesus as our saviour. What about the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit’s special role? Before Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples he would send the Holy Spirit. He said this:

‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper. He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth’ [John 14:16-17a].

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be our HELPER.

VISUAL AID 3: PowerPoint slide of books with the idea of the Holy Spirit as our HELPER.

Some versions of the Bible use other words. Some use the word ‘friend.’ I like that idea. A friend is someone you have a very close relationship with; someone you trust and who trusts you. That is certainly true of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever.

3 WHAT ELSE CAN WE SAY ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?

Jesus once talked with his disciples about the Holy Spirit. He told them:

‘The wind blows where it wants to go. You hear the wind blow. But you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit’ [John 3:8].

VISUAL AID 4: A fan blows away some paper.

VISUAL AID 5: Bernoulli demonstration with two balloons.

You can see how the wind from the fan blew the paper away. You could also see how a little bit of wind made the balloons move.

We can’t see the wind. Sometimes, we can hear it. But the wind has a force. It can move things. That’s what the Holy Spirit is like. The Holy Spirit is an unseen but powerful helper and friend.

Let’s now look at what happened on the day of Pentecost. This is how Luke described it, in the book of Acts: