I want to speak to you this morning on the person of the Holy Spirit. Of all the messages that I've had the privilege to speak over the last year, this is one of these that I enjoy so very much because the Holy Spirit is a good friend. It's interesting because He's here. As I was preparing my heart this morning in prayer, I said "Holy Spirit, I get to talk about you today so help me do a good job". A lot of things that we do we forget how very personal He is. How many of you know He is in this place right now? There are times when that grips me so marvelously in such a real way that I just become amazed that God Himself would come and meet with us.
In John 14:15-17, "If you love Me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him or knows Him, for you know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you".
Holy Spirit, we thank you that you're here as we learn about you and we talk about you. Holy Spirit, have your way in us this morning and I pray Lord that I'll do a good job representing you. I thank you for being a friend, for being closer than anyone ever could be to any of us. Not only are you here with us today but you live in us and through us. Spirit of God we thank you for that. May we decrease today and may you increase, in Jesus name.
I want to introduce you to somebody today that you might know about theologically. Someone you may know because you recognize His power and your experience with Him has been wonderful as He's met with you and guided you and talked to you. But I want to ask you this morning, Do you know the Holy Spirit personally? Do you know Him? Do you know Him like you might know a friend or like you know your spouse?
Do you recognize that He is real? You know, the Holy Spirit is part of the trinity. The trinity we recognize is the Godhead, three in one, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We understand God is a person because He is our Father and we talk to Him that way. We know God because He is the creator, He is powerful. We know Jesus as a person because He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The Son of God sent to earth as a man, born of a virgin, walked and grew from childhood into adulthood here on the earth. He's someone that we sing about at Christmas time and someone we worship at Easter because of the
sacrifice He made on the cross. The Holy Spirit, many times we don't speak about and rarely acknowledge.
There was a time when I was growing up that my prayers were always to God the Father and I would pray to Jesus. I think for most Christians that's very true, we pray to God and speak to the Son but many times we fail to recognize the person of the Holy Spirit. Let me ask you this morning, who is the Holy Spirit to you? For many He's a mystical force. For those who are in Pentecostal churches the Holy Spirit is a one time experience, a strange but a welcome endowment of power that they know about when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I remember when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was at Youth Camp in July of 1981, it was a Wednesday night and I think like most camps, Monday night was about being saved, Tuesday night was about living right for God, Wednesday night was about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How many of you kind of know the program if you've been in church for a little while?
I had remembered seeing people in our church receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and I remember that night as I came to the altar and I watched my friends, I was 13 years old. I remember it was a powerful night, we had started just as we always did with song and preaching. The evangelist came and taught on that wonderful gift and he invited us up to receive the baptism, that power to be a witness for God, that power for Him to flow through us with the evidence of speaking in tongues. What a wonderful experience it was as many of my friends and I were filled with the Holy Spirit. I remember as we left that night, it was one of the greatest nights of my life but it wasn't until years later that I began to experience the Holy Spirit as more than the power of God but as actually a person.
If we only know the Holy Spirit for what He does in us and through us we're missing so much more out of having a relationship with Him because He is God. A.W. Tozer wrote in a book called, "How to be filled with the Holy Spirit", he said, "The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is not only a being having another mode of existence but He is Himself a person with all the qualities and powers of personality. He is not matter but He is substance. The Holy Spirit is often thought of as a benevolent wind that blows across the church. If you think of the Holy Spirit as being literally a wind, a breath, then you think of Him as non personal and a non individual but the Holy Spirit has will and intelligence, feeling and knowledge, sympathy and ability to love. He sees, thinks hears, speaks and desires the same as any person does. Just like God does, just like Jesus does, the same is with the Holy Spirit".
The Holy Spirit knows how to love and to be loved. He can be grieved, He can be resisted. The truth is He can even be blasphemed. A thing does not possess feeling or character or qualities but a person does. The Holy Spirit is relational. He is knowledge, wisdom, strength, power and joy. How many of you know that He is God? How many of you know I'm not teaching some kind of weird doctrine this morning but I want to introduce you to somebody who maybe you haven't thought about in a little while or maybe you only called on Him when you needed something. Jesus said to us that it was to our advantage that He goes and the Spirit comes. Jesus looked at his disciples and told them it was a good thing that He die on the cross and offer His life as a sacrifice but that He's not going to leave us alone. How many of you are thankful this morning that we're not alone?
John 16:17 says, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but If I depart I will send Him to you". Imagine the disciples, "Jesus, how could it be any better than you. We've walked and talked with you, we've listened to you and eaten with you, we've watched you and lived for you". Jesus said, "It's to your advantage that I go because I'm going to give you something so much better". I wonder if the disciples felt the same way we do sometimes, how could it get any better than Jesus?
When Jesus walked the earth, His ministry was confined to about a 75 mile square radius of earth. He was physically confined, He could only be in one place at one time but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere at one time. He is person but He is Spirit, He can move in people's hearts with much greater freedom without confines of space and time than Jesus could. Jesus was limited because He became like us. How many of you
recognize so often the limitations that we have as individuals?
I remember that night at youth camp. Although at that point in my life I had been living for Jesus and had known Him as my Lord and Savior, I was so aware all the time of the limitations that I had but something happened when I was filled with the Holy Spirit. The possibilities that God began to place in my life, the ability to do things and remember things, the ability to serve Him, the boldness that came over me began to take the limitations that I had in myself and God began to refine them and use them for His glory in an even greater way. That's what the Holy Spirit does for each of us. Although we can't see Him, His presence can be felt. I wonder how many of you felt the presence of God in this place today? Make no mistake about it, that presence that you felt was the presence of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of God coming into this place with gentleness but with power, with authority but so personal that He's able to touch each of us in a wonderful way.
In Acts 2:2 it says, "And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting". Think about that for a minute, what an entrance, what a wonderful way to introduce yourself to people. How many of you have ever known someone that when they walk in the room they just seem to light it up? There are some people that are able to slide in some place and you'd never know that they were there. There are some people that have a lot of flare just by their very personality, when they walk in the room they just let you know, "Hey, I'm right there with you". Some people do it with a commanding presence, some people do it with a joy in their hearts that even if you're discouraged they are there and the whole room brightens up.
It's amazing how the Holy Spirit can do all that at once. He comes with power and dignity and with kindness. His very presence transforms the very atmosphere of a house, His very presence transforms the attitude of our soul. His very presence is able to comfort and heal. He is a person that comes and when He is there He does wonderful things. He promises to never leave us and never forsake us. The Holy Spirit was sent so that we would never be alone. The truth is that you could be in a group of people and still be alone unless you talk with them and share your life with them. How many of you have ever been in a great crowd of people and yet felt so lonely?
I remember when we were traveling through California just a week before the Super Bowl and we stopped off in Pasadena. They were going to play in the Rose Bowl that year. We stepped out into a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people and it was amazing how quickly we parted. I looked at a couple people and said, "I'm going over there but we're going to meet right back here". It's amazing how with all those people I knew nobody and I remember walking through that place and thinking, "I wonder how many people here are actually lonely? How many people could just get lost in this crowd and no one would even know the better"? What a wonderful thing to know that God is with us daily. The Bible says that when we see Jesus as the Lord and Savior that the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us. I know that this is kind of basic theology for you this morning but listen to me, What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing to know that He is with us always. Even in our loneliest times we only choose to feel that way because we've got a friend that sticks closer than a brother. How does someone stick closer than a brother? They dwell in you.
I know when I married my wife, what a wonderful thing it was, I loved being with her. How many of you when you married your spouse knew you felt complete? How many of you have ever just felt so in love and you just knew at that point if it were spiritually possible, physically possible, not in a sexual sense but in a very wonderful loving sense, the two of you could become one? It's impossible to be that close to anyone except with the Holy Spirit because He actually does dwell in us, that relationship completes us. It's that walking with God that so fills and makes us whole. People talk about wholeness and completion in such a new age sense but the truth is if they'd just know the Holy Spirit for a little while they'd stop all that nonsense in a moment because they'd know the joy of being made whole.
The Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead who fellowships with us, who talks with us and walks with us. You know there used to be a time when I would talk to myself but now I don't have to anymore. The truth is now I have someone who listens, who's right there beside me. I might be walking down the street when I've felt lonely, when I've felt afraid, abandoned or alone, when I've been discouraged or confused, I'll just begin to talk to the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that He has fellowship with us. Listen to this verse, we read it in the Bible and pass over it, in 2nd Corinthians 13:14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion or the fellowship of the Spirit be with you all".
Paul said, "I want you to know the love of the Father, I want you to know the grace of Jesus, I want you to know what it was like to be set free from your sins, I want you to know what it is to have a God who is Father, He is powerful but still so personal just like your earthly father to guide you and be there with you. I want you to know the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the daily walking and knowing and living in Him. The Spirit of God wants our fellowship, not just our petitions. I want to tell you church, I want to tell you Christian, it is good to pray to God, it is definitely essential that we be saved but it is so necessary that we have that fellowship with the Holy Spirit everyday, walking and talking with Him.
The Holy Spirit is our partner, He was sent by Jesus. Jesus could only walk with one disciple at a time and invested strongly into the lives of 12 men, one on one with them at a time. The Holy Spirit does the same thing that Jesus did except He is able to be with every one of us on a daily basis. People say, "If I could just walk with Jesus, If I could just go back in time, I can't wait to get to Heaven and stand at the feet of Jesus, I want to bow and worship the King of Kings, I want to walk with Him and talk with Him". Listen, the truth is we can do that today because God has given us the Holy Spirit. We don't have to wait until then, we can do that very thing today.
Around this country today there are many people who know of God the Father, they recognize that He is God. There are many people who believe in Jesus and they have given Him their life and have received forgiveness of their sins but there are few Christians today who truly understand the depth of walking in the fellowship with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. That transforms the life of a disciple like nothing else. My prayer at Harvest is that each of us will become disciples of Jesus who walk with the Holy Spirit daily and what we do with this place would not be about religion and ritual and songs but it would be about that wonderful dynamic of walking and talking with the Spirit of God everyday and knowing Him as a personal friend. To know Him in all His fullness not just in the power, not just as someone you can call on when you need to heal the sick or when you need help but for the daily wonder and privilege of living with Him everyday. Jesus sent Him to be our partner and our helper.
David Yong E. Cho, now known as Paul Yong E. Cho, pastor of the world's largest church has 750,000 members, that's the size of West Palm Beach. They start at 2:00 in the morning and they go for 24 hours just trying to get basic services going. People are hungry for God. The difference of why there is such a move of God is because they've been taught it's not a religion, it's a life, it's a relationship. They've come to know Him very personally and wonderfully. He is the one, Paul Yong E. Cho calls his senior partner. He's the one that we call on when we need help in all the areas of our life. The Spirit of God carries out the will of the Father on behalf of the Son of God. He says, "I'm going to send you a helper" which means one called along side to help in any way, to bring counsel, encouragement, direction, comfort and strength.
Listen, How many of you know you've got the friend who walks with you and talks with you at every moment, someone who you will never get tired of and someone who will never get tired of you. He's someone who wants to be with you and someone who you want to be with. How many of you have ever had a friend who was able to empower you to do the things that needed to be done? There's no one like Him in all the world. In the Greek the word helper means, "Paracletos". Many times we hear it as a word called counselor, like a lawyer counselor, but the truth is if you've got a lawyer, at some point they're going to charge you for your time. As a matter of fact, if I call you on the phone you're going to bill me for the hours and the minutes that we talk, you'll break it down.
The Holy Spirit has all of that counsel and all of that help but as a friend, a friend who loves us and who has our best interest at heart. He comforts us, can give us advice, helps us to know what to do and what to say. What a wonderful gift it is that Jesus gave us. I wonder who couldn't use a friend like that? Someone right there. As my senior partner I can run everything that I need through Him. I once heard someone say they consulted Him as to which way they should go to work, maybe what they should buy at the store, what phone calls they should make. I heard someone else say, "Those people are so religious, they're so goofy, they can't even pick out their own clothes when they get up in the morning". I believe that If we'll consult Him on even the most mundane things in our life we would be better off. We forget who we are, we're children of the King.
I was reading about Princess Diana and Prince Charles, they had people who even put toothpaste on their toothbrush for them and lay out their clothes for them in the morning, the ultimate concierge. We may not have royalty doing that for us but we do have royalty helping us in every way because we are children of the King. I wonder how many of us have avoided accidents because the Holy Spirit told us to go a different way to work? There have been days when the Holy Spirit told me not to go to this grocery store today, He told me I'd enjoy going to another one instead, Then I would run into someone at the store whom the Holy Spirit told me to pray for and talk to or to help that one person who dropped something on the ground and they were discouraged and the Holy Spirit told me to help them pick it up. How many of you need someone to help you live for Jesus every once in awhile? It's hard living like a Christian, it's not easy because flesh gets in the way all the time but you know what a wonderful thing when you have the Holy Spirit.
Right now I can help my kids when they're doing something and someone is nice to them and hands them something and I say to them, "Now what do you say"? Say thank you. Sometimes we need the Holy Spirit helping us to remind us of those things, guiding us in all that we do even in the little things of life. What a wonderful blessing to have a friend like that?
Listen, as a person, the Holy Spirit impacts my life the way He expresses Himself as an individual. You know you impact my life the way you are as an individual. We all impact each others lives and the Holy Spirit impacts us the way He is for who He is.
Isaiah 11:2 tells us about Jesus "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him".
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. As the spirit of the Lord, He keeps me accountable, helping me to live clean and holy, not just a check in my spirit when I'm about to do something wrong but a friend who helps me to live for Jesus. How many of you want to live for Jesus today? I'm so thankful that the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of the Lord, helps me to know how to be like Jesus everyday. The truth is, in my flesh, I don't know how to be like Jesus and sometimes I don't want to be like Jesus. How many of you have ever been there? Something is going on in your life and you just don't care. The times you just want to let your hair down if you've got some and you want to party a little more and you know that you won't be a witness, the times that someone gets on your nerves and you just want to let them have it, the times that you just want to be careless and do things half way and then there's the Holy Spirit who calls along side you and says, "You gave your life to Jesus, now live like Him, act like Him, be like Him" and He's right there to help us to do it. What a blessing and He doesn't feel awkward.
The truth is there is peer pressure with friends. I might be out with some of you and you might be doing something and in my flesh I might want to give you the pass but that's not being a friend. The Holy Spirit, He feels obligated to Jesus. He said, "I came to do the things that Jesus did". He's wisdom, He gives us good advice and insight with the ability to clearly see through situations, seeing things as they are. When you need the wisdom of God, what a wonderful thing just to stop and ask, "Holy Spirit , what do you think?"
What is it that you're going through? I'm so thankful that so many times during the day, things that I need to do, He's there. How many of you have needed to do something and you had no idea what was the right thing to do? Do you realize that never again do we have to be without a counselor? The Bible says, "If any one lacks wisdom, just let him ask, Holy Spirit, I need some help", and He's right there. How many have found Him to be faithful? He doesn't have to break open the law book and put you on the timer and tell you this one is on the clock. He says, "I'm going to help you any way I can". As understanding, He gives us the ability to discern and to discriminate between good and evil, right and wrong, best and better. As the Spirit of Counsel, He helps us to weigh facts and to have faith. He talks me through things, comforts me, heals me, speaks to me when I'm down.
How many of you have ever felt the encouragement of the Holy Spirit? Listen, you can be next to someone who loves you, there's times when my wife has said, "I don't understand, I'm trying to help you but I just can't seem to do anything". How many of you know that sometimes the person closest to you can't even help you in your times of need but then there's the Holy Spirit. He's not just a benevolent wind that blows through and gives us power and anoints us to do things, He is there to comfort and to heal and encourage when we are at our lowest, If we'll just recognize that He is right there. Everyone else, they can say nice things to you but there is only one person who is God in Spirit who is able to reach inside of you and be able to touch that deepest part and actually bring encouragement when no one else can say anything that has any meaning. The Spirit of God is so real.
He's the Spirit of might, He gives us courage and strength to carry out God's will. Not only will He counsel us on what to do, He will empower us to do it. How many of you have ever had to do something and lacked the strength to carry it through? You know you've been through the battle and you've been weak, you've been down and discouraged, but here's someone who can give you good advice. You know your best friend can give you great advice and tell you, "I'm with you but you've got to do it on your own and you know what, I'm glad I'm not you".
The Holy Spirit is right there saying, "I'm with you, I'm in you and I am empowering you".
Listen, I want to tell you that when you are at your lowest there He is giving you that strength, not just cheering you on from the outside but He is the spirit of counsel and of might on the inside. When you've been down and needed courage, when you've needed to confront someone because you know they're in sin and you're afraid to do it, there's the courage and the power to do it. When God has called you to lay hands on the sick and you know they need to recover but you've never seen a deaf person hear before, there's the spirit of God that will empower you.
Not only will he give you the courage to walk up and say the prayer, He'll give the power of God flowing through your life and through your hands to make sure what you're asking for will happen. He's the power, the spirit of power and of might.
He's also the spirit of knowledge and He gives us revelation and insight. This is personal insight for the things of God. Listen, not secret knowledge. Here's the thing, you can get into this place and get real mystical. Some Pentecostal people walk with the Holy Ghost and all of a sudden they get kind of weird. How many of you know the Holy Spirit is going to teach you the things that Jesus did? There's going to be nothing new that's going to happen, there is nothing new under the sun. I want you to listen to me, Christian, the things that Jesus did He said we would get to do, the knowledge that Jesus had the Holy Spirit will give to us. The only reason it's secret knowledge is because you just didn't know it yet. He's going to whisper it in your heart, the mysteries of God. The things you don't understand He'll help you to understand, not mysteries of the universe that the world is trying to discover and unlock because God already knows them. How many of you understand what I'm talking about this morning? He gives us understanding of Him that comes through the privilege of a personal relationship with God.
What else does the Holy Spirit do? Take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 16:7-15. It talks about the work of the Holy Spirit. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you". Notice how the word "Him" is in capital letters, He's a person.
"When He has come, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in Me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me for He will take of what is mine and will declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said that He will take of mine and declare it to you".
The Holy Spirit does what Jesus did today. The primary mission of the Holy Spirit is to bring people to salvation. When we witness, when we share Jesus He's speaking through us and giving us the words of Jesus to say to others. He's standing there right beside us cheering us on and speaking into the heart of the other person saying, "Listen, what he's saying is true, hear him, know what he's saying" and He applies that word into their heart. What a wonderful thing to know that the words we say have more power beyond just our voices. It impacts lives.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. He tells us what's right, He reminds us there's a judgment. He glorifies Jesus, everything that the Spirit of God does is to draw attention to Jesus. The gifts that He gives us through prophecy, revelation and tongues bring glory to Jesus. The gifts of miracles, the gifts of healing bring attention to Jesus. Everything that the Holy Spirit does is to draw people to Jesus and that's what He does in and through us.
What else does the Holy Spirit do? Think about this. John 14:26 says, "The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you". How many of you know that this is a key element of living out our peace in Jesus Christ? He'll lead us into all truth. He is the Spirit of knowledge and revelation, He helps us to know things and teaches us things that we could never have known on our own. He helps us to see God in all of our circumstances.
The Holy Spirit anoints us with power and ability and gifts to accomplish His plans and God's dreams for our lives. The Holy Spirit is the anointing of God. We always pray that we would grow and be used powerfully by God. Do you know how you do that? By having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the anointing. You say, "Lord, would you anoint me?" He says, "I've already given you my Spirit".
Isaiah 61:1-3 talks about the anointing that came on Jesus, the anointing to break yolks, to heal the brokenhearted, to see people forgiven and to see people brought out of life's hardships and to be delivered. He empowers us to carry out the will of God. I want to introduce to you one more thing before we come to communion today, the Holy Spirit is our greatest prayer partner. I notice a difference when my wife and I pray together and when we pray separately. I notice a difference when we gather with other believers on first Friday prayer. What a difference when we pray with the Holy Spirit. Listen, prayer is more than asking, it's more than just talking and thanking but it's also about enjoying the very presence of God and knowing Him.
In Romans 8:26 it says, "Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered". The truth is that we need someone to help us when we bring our requests to God. We might desire or ask for things that might destroy our life or ministry. How many of you have ever prayed before and God hasn't given you what you've asked for? How many remember the song, "I thank God for unanswered prayers"? How many of you prayed for a spouse, you believed that God had someone for you and then God brought you someone a whole lot better. Aren't you glad you didn't marry that first person you were wishing God would bring you to?
The Holy Spirit says He will teach us, not that if we pray to God He'll give us something that's not good for us. Listen to me, the truth is that He counsels us before we pray. I believe that many Christians would be a lot less discouraged at God's "No" if they would go to the Holy Spirit first and say, "What am I supposed to be bringing to God today, How should I be praying"? And if we prayed wrongly He helps us to understand because He's the counselor. He'll tell us the reason God says No. How many of you know we'd waste a whole lot less time praying for things that God never intended for us anyway if we'd run it through the Holy Ghost first? God won't give us something that would destroy us but I wonder how many people get frustrated when He doesn't answer their prayer. We should understand things first. When I run out of things to say or I don't even know how to express it, I've got a friend that begins to pray through me in a way that I've never known. How many of you have ever known the joy of praying in the Holy Spirit, that prayer language He gives you, that wonderful way to speak to the Lord.
I want you to notice something and I want to close with this, Romans 8:26-28, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the Holy Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God". Here's where this verse comes into context, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose". We know that all things work together for our good because we have prayed with the Holy Spirit to God and He has given us the understanding that all these things are working together for our good.
How many of us would come out different in prayer time if we'd be praying with the Holy Spirit? He dwells in us. "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God and you are not your own". The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to dream, to desire, to have the thoughts of God, to have the mind of God so that the will of God can be accomplished in our life. Listen to me, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are not our own. Aren't you glad today that you're not your own, that you belong to Jesus?
My prayer today is that as believers we would get to know Him more and more personally every day, that we would walk in Him and He would live through us and we will be amazed what He does through us. Amen
