The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit

Alive and well in the 2014

　

　

　

　

i have written alot on the Holy Spirit, i talk about Him all the time, but i have not sat down and devoted a complete sermon to this very important subject. Before you read this message you may want to read Gifts of the Spirit. Not all gifts are for all believers. We are diverse. The Holy Spirit fellowships with us as individuals, one to one. Once you have read that, and searched out the Scriptures quoted, come back and let me introduce you to the closest friend i have in this world...

John 14:16-17 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

John 16:12-14 "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."

Now if you are not Saved by Grace, or are not absolutely sure of your salvation, this message is not going to make alot of sense to you. First you must know Jesus. There are some seeds of salvation here, but this is a Word more toward believers. You may want to read the sermon on Salvation first, then jump right in here.

To start off, let me clear up some theological points. First of all, the Holy Spirit did not have some short term mission in Judea. He is pre-existent with the Father. Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The words there are ruwach 'elohiym, literally the breath of GOD. He didn't just show up at Pentecost. There are many examples of His activity in the Old Testament Scriptures. King David was filled with the Holy Spirit, and danced before the whole assembly. In the Gospels, John the Baptist lept in his mothers womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit as Mary approached. Nor did He leave us and return to Heaven some time in the first century after the Church was established. The Holy Spirit has been active in this world from before its creation, right up until this day, and will remain until the end. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is God. But He is not the Father...

That brings up another point that must be addressed. The Trinity. This is a hard one for any mortal mind to understand, but we are no longer mortal, we have life everlasting in Jesus Christ, so lets give it a shot. Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:" (yehovah 'elohiym 'echad yehovah) GOD is GOD! There is no other, none with whom HE must share. HE is our Father, our Creator, our LORD, our Master, our Salvation, our Judge. I AM . That says it all. Jesus is the Son of GOD. The only begotten of the father, King of King, Lord of Lords. But Jesus said "Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I."

All Jesus is, all Jesus said and did, was by the will of His Father. Yes He is God and yes He is equal to GOD (the Father) but only because GOD said in Psalms 110:1 "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Jesus is God, and worthy of our praise and worship, because GOD the Father wills it to be so. And in the will of the Father, Jesus too is from everlasting to everlasting. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." But the Spirit of Christ is not the Holy Spirit (ruwach 'elohiym), the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove at His Baptism, nor is either the Father, GOD spoke at that time "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." So the three are not singular, nor are they ultimately equal. (though from our limited human perspective they are) GOD is GOD and both Jesus and the Holy Spirit acknowledge HIS ultimate preeminence.

But i digress, i could do a whole series of sermons on the Trinity. But lets get back to the Holy Spirit. Ruwach 'elohiym, the very breath of GOD. He is the force of Life in the universe. All things are ordered and held together by Him. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that angels fly, that a child is formed in its mothers womb, that atoms bind together to form a star, and by His power that light streams across the universe to become a twinkle in the eye of a child. The Holy Spirit flows through all things, bringing order and life to GOD's creation. Jesus called Him the "Comforter". And promised that in the Name of Jesus, we would have a personal relationship with Him. He (the Holy Spirit) would lead us to all knowledge and truth. He would give us power and life. Once we received the Holy Spirit Jesus said "and greater works than these shall (we) do;"

i hope we all agree on the Divinity and Authority of GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So lets focus on the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit. First, He is in us, around us, as He is in everything. We would not have life without Him. But, as the Word says "the wages of sin is death" and "all have sinned" so our life is forfeit. When we confess our sinful nature and fall on GOD's grace through Jesus Christ we are quickened and the Holy Spirit brings Life. We are "Born Again", born of the Spirit. We are alive, truly Alive for the first time.

We are Baptised in the Holy Spirit and the spark of life, only possible through the Breath of GOD (ruwach 'elohiym), begins to grow within us. But that is a gift not a relationship. We are promised a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Yes He is with us, giving us new life, eternal life, and He guides us and speaks to us, but our salvation is perhaps more like conception than birth. We are alive, but there is so much more.

As a child, cradled in its mothers womb, we live. We even experience some stimuli from the world beyond, hearing the muffled sound of voices, our mothers strong heartbeat. But there is a greater reality, and bit by bit we are drawn beyond our safe world into that greater life. To be 'born' we must give up all, release ourselves to a will beyond our will. Trust the Spirit beyond all reason, against all logic, that He will lead us on a journey we are unable to take alone, to the arms of our Father. We must be willing to die, to cast away all we know and hold dear, to throw ourselves without reserve in the hands of the Holy Spirit. When we were saved, we acknowledged our inability to save ourselves and our need for Jesus as our Savior.

Through Jesus Christ we are washed of our sin and justified before our Father, we are given Life and the Holy Spirit as our Guide and Comforter. When we are truly Born of The Spirit we enter a new form of being, old things are passed away and all things are made new. We are no longer simply cradled in the Spirit or even Baptised in the Spirit, we are Filled with the Spirit, shaken, pressed down, and overflowing. Every cell in our body shines in the light of redemption. We are a new creation in Jesus Christ. Totally sold out to GOD. Everything in our lives now take on a new perspective, a Spiritual perspective. We see things in the light of eternity, not the mundane cares of this world. Not to say we become super saints or free from sin, the flesh is still alive and kicking, but if we sin, we are not in fear of punishment, but deeply saddened by our own weakness and our failure to GOD. Our "religion" becomes a lifestyle and an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Now comes the controversy. What is being Filled with the Spirit? Many deny anything beyond salvation. They maintain that we receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved and that is the end of it. Either you are saved or not, either you have the Spirit or you don't. Some go to the other extreme, yet come to the same conclusion. They say you are not truly Saved unless you are Spirit Filled. Some demand you display Spiritual Gifts as evidence of your salvation, while others deny those Gifts are still available. As i said at the beginning, if you are not saved, all this is not going to make alot of sense. If you are not filled with the Spirit, it is hard to imagine the possibilities. When we are saved it is hard to believe there could be anything more wonderful. We have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit guiding us, giving us life. We were dead and in a twinkling of the eye we are alive. But there is more...

The Holy Spirit is as active now as when He moved across the primordial chaos. Yes, if you are saved by Grace the Spirit is with you, guiding you, leading you to GOD. But if you let go, if you forget the cry of ego, the needful morning of the flesh, the constant clamor of self, and look into the eyes of GOD; with no strings... no preconceptions... no thoughts of punishment or reward... only love and a burning desire to do HIS WILL... then the Holy Spirit, the ruwach 'elohiym, the very BREATH of GOD, will fill the void that once was your SELF. We are saved within our own selflishness. We don't want to die, we don't want to go to hell. So we seek forgiveness, salvation. But when we go beyond that selfishness, life and death, heaven and hell, have no desire or fear. There is only GOD and HIS will. Then we follow Jesus up the hill of Golgotha and say "nevertheless not my will but thine be done". We have at last become the Children of Obedience, the later fruit.

Spiritual gifts are another subject left for another sermon. But they too are active today as Jesus promised. They didn't end with the beginning of the "Church Age". Jesus promised we would do greater works. But again, when you experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit, that is not important except in how it can further the Gospel and serve GOD. We are given the Gifts we need to complete GOD's will for our life. If we need to speak in tongues, we will speak in tongues, if we need to prophecy then prophecy. But gifts are not evidence of your salvation nor evidence of being filled with the Spirit. GOD can and will work through you even if you kick at the goads. They can be used as evidence to the unsaved, bringing them to repentance, but they can be used without being filled with the Spirit. Many speak of the "Annointing" of the Holy Spirit and if you have experienced that then you have had a taste of being filled. Let go... Let GOD take control... Sink into the Holy Spirit and lose yourself in the greater reality of GOD's WILL.

Some who read this will silently Amen, others will possibly take offense. Don't listen to me, Listen to GOD. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit, put aside you own thoughts, fears, desires. Lay yourself bare before GOD and let HIM breath into your nostrils the Breath of Life. Forget all the coverings you have made for yourself, there is only One covering, Jesus. Cast away your will, it's what got you in trouble to start with. Just ask HIM to take control. You've accepted the Gift of Life through Jesus, accept the Comforter He sent. He is not some dusty old relic of the pre-church age who just splashes you once when you get saved. He is active right now, ready to take the lead and usher you into the throne room of GOD. Get to know Him.

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