The Holy Spirit
Ministering: Pastor I.S James
Topic: The Holy Spirit
Text: John 14:15-17
References: Col. 3:5, Gen. 1:1-3, Gen. 1:26, 1 Cor.2:7-12, Prov. 20:27, Job 21:17, 18:6
By coming to earth in the form of man, it wasn’t God’s intention to make life difficult for us. It was actually to make it easier for us.
God came to the earth of His own free will.
Why is the average person’s mentality geared towards thinking the life of a Christian isn’t easy?
When we accept Christ, we are meant to be dead to the world. But most of us are not dead to the world yet. Why is that the case then?
We are meant to mortify/kill the part of our lives that desires the things of the world through the help of the Holy Spirit.
If we are struggling to live our lives as Christians, it is because the One Who is meant to help us live according to God’s plan is not present in our lives.
In the last service, we saw that creation in addition to forming a new thing also means the separation of order from chaos.
From the creation of the world until today, we can split the time into 3 dispensations:
- God in the time of the prophets
- Jesus in the gospels
- The Holy Spirit in the Church age
The names of deities don’t as much as tell of their identities, but it’s a revelation of their character. So, when we call God “Father”, we are actually referring to Him as our Father, because that’s Who He is.
Since Jesus ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit has been in charge of this dispensation.
The Trinity has been in existence since the beginning as evidenced in Gen. 1:26
In every generation, God reveals Himself in different ways & the people of these times relate(d) to Him according to this revelation.
The Holy Spirit is here with us now, but people treat Him like He doesn’t matter. That was the same way people related to Jesus when He was on earth.
We are finding life difficult because we rebelled against God’s orders and we are refusing to accept His help to get better. God desires for us to be better, it breaks His heart to see us suffer.
God has never forsaken His creation and is looking to help us get back to the place God intends for us to be, but we keep ignoring the Holy Spirit.
A major part of the problem we have is that we want to have the Holy Spirit’s gifts, but we reject His person. God wants us to desire the person of the Holy Spirit, our failure to desire Him is why we suffer & struggle in life.
According to John 14:17, we are meant to know the Holy Spirit & He’s meant to dwell in us.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
He is the Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counsellor, Strengthener, Standby & the Spirit of Truth
The Holy Spirit is meant to monitor and regulate your behaviour as a Christian. But we
There is a unique difference between the Holy Spirit & the other parts of the Trinity. That’s why we call Him the “Holy” Spirit, God wants us to have special level of respect and regard for Him.
He is a Person with feelings just like you. The things that hurt you will very likely hurt the Holy Spirit as well.
He’s actually more sensitive than the other personalities of the Trinity.
What’s the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s coming into our lives?
1 Cor. 2:7-12
If you can count all that God does for you, then you can list the purposes of the Holy Spirit in your life. Whatever is important to & for us is important to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to let us know the things the Father has freely given us.
These things might have been given “freely”, but they are not cheap and should not be treated trivially.
There many things that God wants us to know & have but we are not ready for them yet. It’s the Holy Spirit’s purpose to lay hold on what’s been made freely available and lead us into those truths.
There are two ways we can do this:
- We can believe it and lay hold of it through faith (as we have been taught for long & have not been able to make work for us)
- We can yield to and become intimate with the Holy Spirit & allow Him lead us into the things that will make life easy for us.
How does the Holy Spirit speak to us?
Man, just like God is tripartite. We communicate/interact with the physical world with our bodies (using our feelings). Our souls communicate with the mental world (with our reasoning). We communicate/interact with the Holy Spirit with our spirits. The voice of our spirit is the conscience.