Who Is The Holy Spirit Pt3 Series

Series: Holy Spirit Rising

Sermon: Who is the Holy Spirit? Pt. 3

Mike McCartney, “The Holy Spirit is a person in and of God and a presence who dwells within a spirit filled believer!”

Quotes about the Holy Spirit: from http://www.spirithome.com/holy-spirit.html#quotes

"We do not need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come: he came on the day of Pentecost. He has never left the church."

------ John Stott, "Setting the Spirit Free" (*Christianity Today*, 12 Jun 1981, p.21)

"In Luke ... receiving the Holy Spirit is the way that those who already believe in Christ are empowered to serve Him. .... It's more important to focus on how one lives the Spirit-filled life than on a rigid formula for receiving it.... Receiving the Spirit in the Lucan sense is not a one-time event, but an ongoing way of life."

------ Larry Christenson (attrib.)

"Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything...... He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person."

------ A. W. Tozer, *The Counselor*

"The Holy Spirit, object of faith, is also an object of prayer : we must not only pray that we receive the Holy Spirit. We must pray to him."

------ Karl Barth, *The Faith Of the Church*

Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.

------ J. B. Phillips, *Plain Christianity*

Series Summary:

The Holy Spirit is our biggest need in the church today, not money, not more people, not larger crowds, not more programs, not more Bible translations, not more study aids to the Bible, not more Christian books, not more Bible seminaries or Bible colleges, not more Degrees, not more tech stuff like lights, projectors, video illustrations or even better websites. No the biggest need of the church is the in filling of the Holy Spirit. This infilling brings empowerment to us as Christians and to the church. It transforms us into what God wants us to be and it points us to God’s agenda not ours.

Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

I want you to know that transformation will not happen in our country, state or city by the elephant or by the donkey but by the Lamb and His Holy Spirit. The White House nor Congress can bring transformation to this nation nor to your life, it can only come by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we have to open up our hearts to the Holy Spirit to allow Him to come in and immerse us with his power.

The Main Question we are seeking to answer in this series: Who is the Holy Spirit?

Summary of the 9 attributes of the Holy Spirit:

1. The Holy Spirit possesses a divine personality and personally chooses people for

ministry assignments (Acts 13: 2).

2. The Holy Spirit communicates with us (Rev. 2: 7).

3. The Holy Spirit searches out the deep things of God to make them known to

believers (1 Cor. 2: 9– 12).

4. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes Christ a living reality to the believer (Eph. 3:

16–17).

5. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8: 9).

6. The Holy Spirit is coequal with both the Father and Son as part of the mystery of the

triune God.

7. The Holy Spirit is God’s Agent of change and transformation on this earth sent by

Jesus to us – the question is do you want Him to come into your life and transform you! (Acts 1: 4, 8; 2:1-4).

8. The Holy Spirit can be grieved – can be offended and hurt. The Bible warns us not to

grieve or quench the Holy Spirit in our lives or in our churches. We need to be cautious that we do not forsake the Word of God, or be rebellious, sinful and divisionary, we need to make sure we do not forbid the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we need to make sure that prayer stays at the forefront of our spiritual lives – both independently and in the corporately (Ephesians 4:29-32; 1 Thessalonians 5: 19-22)