The Promised Spirit Series

A 4 year old boy was visiting his aunt’s home. She was pregnant with her first child and she allowed him to place his hand on her belly and feel the baby kick. His little face scrunched and said, "How does the baby get out of there?"

She wanted to keep it simple so she said, "The doctor will help."

His eyes widened in amazement as he exclaimed, "You’ve got a doctor in there, too?"

APPLY: Of course, she didn’t have a Doctor inside.

To get that kind of help she needed to

· get into her car

· drive down to the Hospital

· wait in the ER Room

· … and even when they got her into a hospital bed, she’d still have to wait until the BABY decided to come out.

It would be so much easier for pregnant mothers if the doctor WERE in there helping out.

The Bible tells us that God believed our lives as Christians would be so much easier if He were inside us helping us out. Over the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about God’s presence inside us.

Galatians 4:6 tells us “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts..."

When we became Christians God placed His Spirit inside of our hearts.

We don’t have to go to a special building.

We don’t have to wait in line.

We don’t have to wait for… anything.

If we need God He’s there right inside us.

As 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”

We don’t have to go to a church building, or a cathedral, or a prayer closet to get in contact with God. We ARE the temple of God. He’s always with us (in us) whether we’re at home, work or play. He’s always there.

Now Ephesians chapter one tells us that this Spirit was “Promised”.

Way back in the Old Testament God promised that the day would come when God would put His Spirit INSIDE of His people.

In Isaiah (for example) God said “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” Isaiah 44:3.

And in Ezekiel God promised “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

Then, when Jesus came, He also promised that we would receive His Spirit.

In John 14 He said: “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 14:26

And again He said: “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. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:7-8

THIS was the Holy Spirit that had been promised.

(pause…)

Now, the reason the Holy Spirit was promised was because God hadn’t ever given His Spirit quite like this before.

In John chapter 7 we’re told that Jesus said: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit HAD NOT BEEN GIVEN, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7:38-39

You see… back in the Old Testament God would place His Spirit on and in people to

· guide them and

· strengthen them and

· teach them, etc.

For example, in Exodus, when God told Moses He wanted His tabernacle built. God chose a man named Bezalel to be the General Contractor. And He placed His Spirit inside Bezalel so that he would know exactly how to construct the Tabernacle, and how everything should be put together.

In I Samuel we’re told that the Holy Spirit came upon King Saul and his men. And when that happened they were able to prophesy. (I Samuel 19)

In the book of Judges, we’re told that there were times when the Holy Spirit came upon Samson to give him strength to deal with the Philistines. And when that happened, if you were a Philistine you better be in the next county… cause somebody was going to get hurt.