Music from today
-Acts 1:8
-Holy Spirit
-Spirit of the Living God
-This I Believe

“I Believe in the Holy Spirit”

READ the CREED together

Who is the Holy Spirit?

** He is God

The Spirit of God was present at and involved in the creation (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 33:6).

The Holy Spirit moved the prophets of God with the words of God (2 Peter 1:21).

The bodies of those in Christ are described as temples of God because the Holy Spirit is in us (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Jesus was clear that to be “born again,” to become a Christian, one must be born “of the Spirit” (John 3:5).

One of the most convincing statements in the Bible about the Holy Spirit being God is found in Acts 5.


Acts 5:3-4 ESV
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

When Ananias lied about the price of a piece of property, Peter said that Satan had filled Ananias’s heart to “lie to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:3) and concluded by saying that Ananias had “lied to God” (verse 4). Peter’s words equate the Holy Spirit with God; he spoke as if the Spirit and God were one and the same


** He is Another Comforter / Helper Who is not Just with Us but IN Us

John 14:16-17 ESV
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Greek word translated “Comforter” or “Counselor” (as found in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7) is parakletos. This form of the word is unquestionably passive and properly means “one called to the side of another”; the word carries a secondary notion concerning the purpose of the calling alongside: to counsel or support the one who needs it.

Jesus is preparing to leave His disciples. He promises that the Spirit of God would come to the disciples and dwell in them, taking the place of their Master’s physical presence. Jesus called the Spirit “another Comforter”—another of the same kind. The Spirit of God is not different from the Son of God in essence, for both are God.


To have the Holy Spirit as our Paraclete is to have God Himself indwelling us as believers.

How Do We Relate to the Holy Spirit?

[two negative commands; one positive]

1: Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:25-32 ESV
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.


2: Do Not Quench the Holy Spirit

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 ESV
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.


** Quenching the Spirit is despising the supernatural work of the Spirit

+ there was a misuse of the gift of prophecy in the church in Thess.
+ Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water

** Quenching the Spirit is neglecting the use of spiritual gift(s) the Spirit has given us

+ Comparing 2 Timothy 1:6 and 1 Timothy 4:14 we could infer that neglecting to fan into flame the gift of God given by the Holy Spirit is a form of quenching the Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:6 ESV
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,

1 Timothy 4:14 ESV
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

3: Seek to be Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ


** ASK and DESIRE to Be Filled with the Spirit

Luke 11:13 ESV
11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This statement by Jesus, coupled with the command in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit tells me this is something we need to seek after.


John 7:37,39 ESV
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Desire all that God is for you and has for you in him. Thirst for him like it says in Psalm 42…

Psalm 42:1-2 ESV
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.


** MEDITATE On God’s Word


Comparing Ephesians 5:18-19 with Colossians 3:16

Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Colossians 3:16 ESV
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The command to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” stands in the place of the command, “Be filled with the Spirit” because the indwelling of the word is the way we experience the indwelling Spirit.

If you want to be full of the Spirit, pursue the fullness of the word.


** OBEY the Word of God


John 14:22-23 ESV
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.


For those who love Christ and keep his word, there is a special intimacy of love given by the Father. And the Father and the Son draw close with unusual fullness and sweetness. And they do so by the Spirit.


—-
2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.