What Is God’s Spirit and What Does It Mean for You?

[Music] boy what a great day what a blessing to be here what a blessing to know about the truth to know about God's Way of life to know what this day pictures you know we you know we should have been thinking about this as the the weeks have led up to this day you know we kept the Passover and talked about this talked about this time in John 14 in John 16 when Christ promised that he would send the Holy Spirit what a wonderful blessing that we can have that we can have that in us we could have that working with us I don't want to go too deep yet that's what I want to talk about today of course right that's what we're here for that's what we all came to hear about to learn about let's turn to John 4 John 4 and verse 23 we have Jesus Christ speaking to us John 4 and verse 23 Jesus Christ says but the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers and that is who we are brethren that's who we need to be true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father is seeking such to worship Him God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth he says the time is coming and now is as God's people we have to worship Him in truth that according to this word his word and the spirit guiding us and directing us according to this word giving us the strength to live according to his word in John 16 let's turn to John 16 dawn 16 Jesus Christ preparing the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit guiding them preparing their minds and boy he really did spend time preparing them for the work that was ahead of them showing them how they could use the Holy Spirit the way they were it was intended to be used he gave them guidance and direction John 16 and verse 13 however when he the Spirit of Truth we're going to get into some of the wording here a little bit later but I want to pull a couple things out here the Spirit of Truth has come he will guide you into all truth God's Spirit will guide us into all truth not lies not the imaginations of men but have just thought things up about how to worship Him but into all truth I asked my mother one time maybe I maybe I've told this before forgive me whatever when when I was a kid I was about this high about that big no probably bigger somewhere in there I asked my mother you know why don't we keep these weird days you know I got a take off school got a you know why why don't we keep all this other stuff like the normal people do and you know she told me she grew up as a Catholic and she told me we don't keep it weird they're the ones that keep it weird this came from God's Word what we're doing came from this book and it can be proven that he is the God and the creator we do it the way God says to do it according to true truth he will guide us and to guide you into all truth for he will not speak of his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come now let's turn to acts 1 so God prepares her Christ was preparing the disciples for what was about to happen on the day of Pentecost just whatever 50 plus days later from the time he spoke in John 16 Acts chapter 1 Acts chapter 1 the former account I made Oh Theophilus this is Luke writing of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after through after he through the Holy Spirit had given Commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he had also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during the forty days speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God he had been spending time with them 40 days teaching them helping them guiding them preparing them for what was about to happen it was a big deal what was about to happen a really big deal verse four and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father to wait boy imagine you know it's easy to not obey sometimes it's easy to kind of slip back and forth not be here at services of course anybody not here wouldn't hear that but it's easy it's easy imagine if we didn't show up that day the day of Pentecost about to come here in 31 ad don't depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you have heard from me for John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now verse 8 but you shall receive power it is power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth now let's move forward to chapter 2 the day of Pentecost now had come he told them be there he prepared them emotionally mentally spiritually for it the best he could he taught them about it now we're in Acts chapter 2 this from up there it looked like a a bottle of water cut in half and with just the just the the top sticking down like that oh good mountain water x2 verse 1 when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one Accord in one place and of course this is the first example of a car a Honda Accord Oh oh that's bad I suppose that jokes only been around for the past 20 30 40 years or so though okay and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and they and there appeared to them divided tongues of fire and one sat upon each of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and it goes on to explain you know that they they were speaking and those there there were people from all over in fact if you didn't see the the latest T W now you could watch the latest T W now and is about speaking in tongues where you know we talked about looking through Acts to hear the example is people hearing in their own languages they came from all over to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost they spoke different dialects mr. Frank pointed out that there were even different synagogues inside of Jerusalem because of the different dialects so they could go there and understand in their own language in their own dialect but now it was the job of the church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world and preached this incredible message and God opened up the blessing to be able to speak in tongues to be able to communicate so that everybody in the audience could hear exactly what was being said as one of the gifts of God's Holy Spirit so they were asking what happened verse 14 a Peter standing up with the eleven raised his voice and said to them men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and heed my words listen to what I say for these are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day so it's 1119 2018 it's a real simple math not not anything big but not that's nineteen hundred and eighty seven years ago and nine hours and 20 minutes ago approximately that's kind of neat it was only the third hour of the day was about 9:00 a.m. there in Jerusalem but this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel and it came to pass and it shall come to pass in the last days says God that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions your old men shall dream dreams and on my men men's servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy this was a four type of really what was going what's going to happen in the future God was opening it up opening it up to a small number of people his Holy Spirit he was opening it up to a small number of people a little flock that's what he was doing he gave access to His Holy Spirit in a much broader way than it ever had been though to that point it was only a few people really when it when it comes down to it up to that point had experienced working directly with God's Holy Spirit relatively speaking you know a few number of people was the significance of this what is the significance of God's Holy Spirit being opened up to his people what exactly is the Spirit of God what is it and what does it mean for us what does it mean for us individually sitting in this room and God's people around the world that's what I want to talk about for the remainder of the sermon today what's the significance what is God's Spirit and what does it mean for us so we'll answer these questions in this sermon will be surveying the Bible going through God's Word looking what God's Spirit is identifying what it is looking at attributes of God's holy spirit and then what that means for our life first before we we get into what God's Word says about the Holy Spirit and the attributes the characteristics of it so we can be broken into two parts characteristics and then what it means for our life but before we do that I want to talk a little bit about the Trinity doctrine you know I get a lot of phone calls and talk and people call and you know one question that comes up do you teach the Trinity do you believe in the Trinity and of course the answer is no we don't teach that because that is not a biblical teaching it's not a doctrine that comes out of the Bible and they say whoa well I shouldn't say they they say oh so you don't you don't believe in the Holy Spirit and maybe at that point I've said that the Holy Spirit is not a person it's not an entity it's not a separate person of a three-person Godhead they say oh you don't believe in the Holy Spirit well no no that's not what I you know that's not what I'm communicating here we believe in God's holy spirit cuz I mean hey it's all throughout God's Word but it is not a separate person so I just want to talk a little bit about the Holy Spirit we do have several new people here and even for those who have been here for many years and decades boy it's good to be refreshed on some of these things not gonna go too deep but I do want to read a couple things from mr. Weston's booklet John 3:16 hidden truths of the golden verse ok so there's just a few excerpts here that I want to read to help wrap our mind around you know where the Trinity came from and that type of thing he says Urban's he's going to quote from eerdmans handbook on the Bible Birdman's highly regarded handbook to the history of Christianity tells us that Tertullian developed the doctrine of the Trinity ultimately he kind of took it and put it into Christianity Tertullian was a man he was born around 160 AD so what a hundred and thirty years after Jesus Christ died he was born and by the time he would have written would have been another 30 years so whatever 160 years or so after Jesus Christ died and received the typical education of the late second century he demonstrated how pagan intellectual achievements these wonderful pagan intellectual achievements could be made to serve Christianity how wonderful that was a joke in case you didn't know the difference been the differences between the orthodoxy of kind of going on and in the booklet for instance Alexandria and Carthage arose out of the different ways of thinking in their of their theologians Tertullian used the language and thought forms of law rhetoric and stoicism and menthe montón ISM Clement in origin other men who helped form these doctrines Clement and Origen used the concepts of Platonism and and other isms and Christian Gnosticism these theologians read the Bible through the lenses of their non biblical biases these men were not led by the Spirit of God they read the the Bible through their through the lenses of their non biblical biases and one of the great debates of their day involved the nature of God who and what is God in addition to the problem of preconceived perceptions about dog based on heathen influences it's important to understand that listen to this this is interesting what mr. Weston points out here are actually Edmunds handbook mixed with some of mr. Weston's words it's important to understand the arrogance that accompanied these prejudices the arrogance that accompany Origen felt this came comes from Birdman's handbook Origen felt quite superior to the Apostles Peter John James and the other men Christ personally chose who feels superior to those men the speculative origin not only includes paragraphs on the sole free will devils and angels but also claims that the Apostles left much else to be investigated by those who were fit for the higher gifts of God [Music] okay we'll throw that idea out the Trinity well I mean of course you know that there's a lot more beyond that we're not gonna get too deep into it but that's that's where it came from that's its origin origin sorry okay a couple of definitions before we we get into what God's Word says I really would love to try the Greek and Hebrew pronunciations of these but I may not do it okay so the first one is and it that's the Hebrew that's the exact Hebrew pronunciation it is a interesting we think about the we think about the the Trinity doctrine and you know the the the use of thinking about the spirit as a here you know in that regard and we're gonna get into some scriptures to talk about it in that way but this is actually Hebrew feminine noun right Hebrew is the feminine noun the meaning from Strong's is you know wind resemblance of breath life spirit it's it's kind of difficult to get exactly around it but wind tempest so forth are some words there the Greek word pneuma it's a neuter noun okay so we've heard this before you know feminine noun oh man I okay let's see hmm La Mesa I think that's the table in Spanish right yes okay good so that's the table in Spanish La Mesa that means it's a feminine it's its feminine in that way but the table is not a she we and then there's other things to talk about el you know something else and that is the male gender of the word okay this is Numa it's neuter so it doesn't have it's not female or male in that way it means Greek word pneuma means current of air that is breath or breeze spirit that's the kind of overall picture of it the Holy Spirit it's used as okay and then there's another word that's Parakletos that's used in John 14 and John 16 Parakletos means intercessor console or advocate comforter it's it's translated helper in the New King James Version okay this word Spirit of God used in both the Hebrew both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament okay it's used in the same way this word spirit it's used to not only represent the Spirit of God it's used to represent the spirit of man I say represent too it's used in the wording of the spirit of man it's used in the wording to delineate the difference between I think it's might be Jeremiah we're not gonna go there but I think in Jeremiah talks about horses are a flesh but God is of spirit okay so so to just delineate between flesh and spirit the essence of what God is composed of what the angels are composed of they're composed of spirit and any really it the same word is used to represent in many cases even you know that the spirit of anger the spirit of jealousy it could be used to picture you know an evil spirit okay so the word spirit alone is not holy okay it is when it is attached to God that's when it's holy with it's either called the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit or it's very clear it's talking about the spirit in the context of the of the passage so those are some things too to have in mind okay next I want to read the statement of fundamental beliefs what does the living Church of God teach about the holy spirit and some of this we're gonna get into while we look at the attributes and then while we get into when we get into how it works in our life but the statement of fundamental beliefs the Holy Spirit this is what it says God is spirit the Holy Spirit is the very essence the mind the life and power of God it is not a being the Spirit is inherent in the father and the son and emanates from them throughout the entire universe Jeremiah I'm sorry it was through the spirit that God created all things it is the power by which he Christ maintains the universe it is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized and is the power by which all believers may be overcomers and will lead and will be led to eternal life that's what our statement of fundamental beliefs says about the Holy Spirit now I want to get into we're gonna get into several attributes we're not gonna cover everyone we're just gonna pull out some kind of some major ones and you may be able to think about others I'm sure you will be able to think about others boy talk about them at lunch I want to hear them whatever else you can think of bring it up so we're gonna look at several passages here first attribute of God's holy spirit that we're gonna pull out how many are there several brace yourself first one is God used it to create the universe let's go to Genesis 1 and verse 1 God used his Holy Spirit and we're gonna build a picture by looking at these attributes fill in the puzzle pieces about what God's Spirit is what it looks like to us what it means for us okay Genesis 1 we're all familiar with this but I want to read it out loud anyways here in the beginning Genesis 1 verse 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was with was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep right there at the beginning of course we understand there's a there's a time gap between Genesis 1 verse 1 and 1 verse 2 we understand that but here right at the the beginning of the creation account in Genesis we see God's Spirit was there heavily involved God's Spirit was there let's go to job 26 again building a picture we're gonna look at several scriptures to take and build and put together here job 26 we're building on top of what we've already looked at and God's Word reveals all of these things to us job 26 and verse 13 but his spirit by his Spirit he ordained he adorned the heavens God through His Holy Spirit adorned the heavens the stars and galaxies that however you know many billions of stars and hundreds of billions or trillions of galaxies whatever it is and I think the number has been raised since the last time I had paid deep attention to her came up with an you know an exact number of stars I didn't come up with an exact number of stars but 76 Chilean stars is one number and that might be you know hundred times more now so but if you wanted to count to seventy-six Tilian that's a lot and you wanted to account you know could count one per second okay one per second and you would just have to keep counting and you couldn't sleep or eat or do anything else per count it would take you to quadrillion years to quadrillion years and you wouldn't be able to sleep or eat during that time that's a long time and a lot of stars he had or adorned the heavens with his Holy Spirit by his Spirit he did it Psalm 104 Psalm 104 verse 30 Psalm 104 we see David speaking here 104 and verse 30 says you send forth your spirit and they are created God spirit created and you renew the face of the earth the Genesis 1 verse 2 account there by your spirit you renew the face of the earth he gave it light and the land and the water and the animals in the sea and the birds and animals on land and he made us he made mankind by His Holy Spirit okay so attribute number one that we've looked at is God used his spirit to create the universe and create everything in it number two by it he maintains the universe he didn't just create it and let it all go but he maintains it let's look at Hebrews 1 in verse 2 Hebrews 1 and verse 2 hebrews 1 verse 2 in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the world's who being the brightness of his glory and Express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power and he does it through his Holy Spirit when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high he uh pol upholds all things by his power it needs maintenance what created thing doesn't need some form of ongoing maintenance or just falls into total utter decay Psalm 104 and verse 29 so I'm 104 verse 29 God has to maintain what he's created Psalm 104 verse 29 this is right before where we were at says you hide your face and they are troubled you take away their breath God allows us to have breath God allows he gave breath to the animals he gave breath to us you take away their breath they die and return to their dust and let's go to one other one here in regard to this point that he maintains the universe job 34 this is really telling to me and is very powerful Joh 34 job 34 and verse 14 so he upholds everything through his spirit job 34 this is powerful to me verse 14 joke 34 verse 14 if he should set his heart on it if he wanted to if he really wanted to if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath if he would bring it all back if he really wanted to he could bring it all back in verse 15 all flesh would perish together and man would return to the dust he keeps it going he gives us the air we breathe he gives us the life we have he gives us everything we have and if he wanted to he could take his spirit and all flesh would return to dust what a blessing so point number two attribute number two is that he maintains the universe by his spirit attribute number three God spirit has worked with several individuals throughout the history prior to the setting up of the church okay we're not gonna turn to oh yep we are gonna turn to one scripture you can turn to Nehemiah let's turn to Nehemiah 9 verse 30 Nehemiah 9 and verse 30 Nehemiah 9 verse 30 but you could probably think of some that he worked with prior to opening it up to the larger relatively speaking number of people that is the Church of God the Bible specifically says that he opened it up to Moses whether it was you know it was in Moses but then you know some of these individuals that may have been with them or in them or and so forth but Moses and Joshua it says the seventy elders that were with Moses God gave his spirit to them in a special way the judges of Israel it specifically mentions that he put his spirit upon them off neo Gideon jetha Sampson he gave it to as some of them it's difficult to see probably not so much maybe not in them but working with them in a very direct way difficult on some of them to know for sure God as the judge of that some of the kings of Israel Saul and David are specifically mentioned as those he he had his spirit work with them Nehemiah 9 verse 30 yet for many years you have patient you had patience with them and testified against them by your spirit in your prophets God had mercy and patience with the people of Israel and he testified to them by his Spirit he did it through his spirit that was in his prophets let's go to Ephesians 3 Ephesians 3 and verse 5 fees and three and verse 5 it says which in other ages was not made known the the the truth the understand during the understanding and knowledge of the truth the mystery of Christ it was not made known in other ages I was not made known to the sons of men verse 5 and it has now been revealed by the spirit to his holy apostles and prophets so God worked through his prophets and he gave them his Holy Spirit but it wasn't opened up as we know until the day of Pentecost 31 ad wasn't opened up to the church and it wasn't opened up in a general way yet but the church being the firstfruits began to receive it so attribute number three is that God gave his spirit he worked with several individuals prior to 31 ad through and by his Spirit attribute number four it emanates out from God throughout all the universe let's turn to first Kings first Kings verse chapter eight first Kings chapter eight God's Spirit emanates goes out from him to all of the universe you know III don't remember I was probably 12 or 13 or I don't remember exactly but when all of the changes started taking place in our former former Association and but one of the things I think I either remember or maybe I had these wrong thoughts myself I don't I don't remember exactly but you know God was this you know kind of big blob that just filled everything in all the universe and was in everything and and that type of thing that is not what God's Word says about him at all he sits on his throne and to sit you need to be able to sit he's described in Revelation you know one having feet and hands and hair face nostrils in other places mouth he's made us in His image what does God look like he looks like us or we look like him I should say we look like him helps us get a picture about what God looks like not a big old blob that's wrong that's false that's a lie first Kings 1 verse 8 and verse 27 chapter 8 verse 27 but will God indeed dwell on earth behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you and that's through His Holy Spirit how much less the temple that I have built yet God sat there in his temple Psalm 139 this is a familiar one Psalm 139 so I'm 139 and verse 7 here another psalm of David David through his meditations being able to express these things that that we couldn't otherwise know and even he said that some of these things came through God's Spirit working through him verse 7 Psalm 139 verse 7 where can I go from your spirit o or where can I flee from your presence I can't get away I can't hide we can't hide from God if I ascend into heaven you're there if I take my bed into the grave behold you're there no matter where I go no matter where I am no matter where we could ever be God is there through his Holy Spirit that emanates out from him throughout the universe okay attribute number four is God spirit emanates throughout the universe from him attribute number five it is the spirit of wisdom knowledge and understanding you think I'm dancing up here no I'm not dancing just getting the little rug down there good let's go to Exodus 31 and there are several places that talk about this but this is going to help us cover a couple of the attributes here Exodus 31 I think last time I spoke I acquit early so that means I can go long no I won't I won't do that exodus 31 and verse 3 this is God working with the Israelites as they were building the tabernacle and this gives us insight to God's Spirit and how God used his Spirit Exodus 31 verse 3 and I have filled them with I've filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom in understanding in knowledge in an all manner of workmanship so God will give understanding and wisdom it is the spirit of wisdom we might look at that later the spirit of knowledge and God gives that through his holy spirit and he can help he gave Samson's strength through his holy spirit how he tore the the lion into like you would a young goat it said I have no I'm never Turin a young goat into seems intense more intense for a lie and I imagine he gives strength he gives the ability that this this in all manner of workmanship to put things together to figure things out to take care of things this was for the tabernacle but I'll tell ya I don't know for sure but I think there were times at least that I know I had problems on different projects that I had you know work used to work on and there were technical issues that were beyond my thought process I didn't know what was happening I didn't I've I had spent probably already too much time looking into the problem and I'd pray about it and God would just show you what the problem is I'm sure we've all run into that where he will help he'll help even with the physical things and he can he has the ability to do that through His Holy Spirit if we get to an impasse he can help so attribute number five is that his spirit is a spirit of wisdom it talks about here spirit of wisdom knowledge and understanding attribute number six you don't to turn anywhere for that but you could write it down because we just pulled it out here and that is it it can help with physical attributes it can help in a physical way number five number seven so six is it can help in a physical way or have can help with physical attributes number seven is it is called the comforter the comforter or the helper Parakletos the greek word let's turn to john 14 and verse 17 the comforter the consoler john 14 and verse 17 the Spirit of Truth again called the Spirit of Truth Spirit of Truth which happens to be the next attribute I gave it away before I should have I couldn't hold it back though the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither knows him nor neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you over 16 and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper or caught the comfort her and he will abide with you forever and then in John 16 verse 13 let's go to John 16 and verse 13 then I want to read from actually mr. Weston's article in the LCN we just got it maybe a week ago or something like that I think but if you haven't read it yet about the Holy Spirit do it it's a wonderful wonderful helpful article just how to understand the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the name of the article by mr. Weston John 16 verse 13 however when he the Spirit of Truth has 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 all tell you things to come he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you so the word Parakletos it is the it is a greek word and it is a masculine greek word okay so has that masculine gender so I want to just read address it here it's a little bit off-topic but it's a wonderful time to address it that mr. Weston brings up here in regard to why it says he and whether or not we should use it that way or look at it that way again he only uses this in John 14 and John 16 pet the word Parakletos mr. Weston writes in both John 14 sixteen Jesus used a literary technique known as personification to describe the Holy Spirit another biblical example of personification is found in proverbs eight why don't we go to proverbs eight real quick proverbs chapter 8 proverbs chapter 8 personification verse 1 proverbs chapter 8 verse 1 does not wisdom cry out oh how could wisdom cry out an understanding lift up her voice she takes her stand on the top of the high hill beside the way where the pads meet she cries out by the gates at the entry of the city and at the entrance of the doors referred to as she crying out speaking out lifting up a voice he points out personification neither wisdom mr. Weston goes on neither wisdom nor understanding our persons but each is described as possessing personal character s characteristics in this passage so when Jesus spoke of the comfort her he was not contradicting other passages of scripture that clearly show the Holy Spirit is the projection of power and mind of God instead of a person it's not a contradiction so you know if you ever asked if we're ever asked about that well then that's the answer for that part of the answer for that and he goes on to say are there three people in the Trinity you know in some Trinity the answer to that is no no no no okay so that was attribute number seven that the Holy Spirit is the comforter or helper and attribute number eight I already told you we're not gonna go anywhere else for that and that is it is the Spirit of Truth truth comes from God's Spirit and it will lead us into all truth okay so we've looked at eight attributes again there there are many more if you can think of them I say let's talk about them now now Ted oh don't yell them out now we'll do it later don't yell them out later either but you know what's up okay for the rest of the sermon I want us to focus on what does it mean for us individually what does it mean for us individually I I say but also you know the Church of God in general what does it mean how does it impact our life that's what I want us to focus on again looking at God's Word drawing out from God's Word what he says how it affects us how it impacts us so the first what does it mean for our our life and you know you may rephrase that however you want to but that's fine for now the first one the first point is how do we access it or the first question how do we access the Holy Spirit how is it accessed let's go to acts 2 acts 2 and verse 38 let's read verse 37 actually verse 36 therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ now when they heard this they were cut to the heart this hid them it hit them hard what do we do how could we have done this we have sinned how can we how can we reconcile this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter men and brethren what shall we do verse 38 Peter answers the question then Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit being baptized me a repenting first changing from our our old way of life we've we've heard many times repenting you know we've been going this way of life and repentance is ongoing thing it's constant after we're baptized its ongoing we're continually repenting we're repenting of of our nature of who we are we're going this way repenting is changing and saying no I'm going this way I'm going to go God's Way God's Way of life that's what I'm going to do repenting and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins to be cleansed completely from our sins of past totally 100 percent clean then we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit acts 5 verse 32 there are other requirements acts 5 verse 32 and we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the holy spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him and really that falls in line with with repentance but those who obey Him he has laws and we have to obey in order to receive God's Holy Spirit I forget may have been one of my children forgive me children but we were talking about how to receive God's Spirit how can we you know receive God's Spirit and you know I think one mentioned something about you have to work for it you have to you have to earn it so they got a spanking for that no I'm just kidding that's a total joke no spankings at all that was a joke joke okay total joke so no but you know it did make us think and it made us talk about it no way there is nothing we can do to receive nothing we can do that we will have earned the Spirit of God nothing we receive it through the grace the mercy of God through the forgiveness of our sins and he gives that to us that only happened through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ now we can't go around I think dr. Scott has mentioned before okay so if you're pardoned from you know you've been charged with a crime and you go to prison and then you're pardoned but you can't keep going back and committing that crime there's a problem with that you have to change your way of life and so that's that's what we do but we don't earn that it's not something we earn okay one more acts 19 verse 46 acts 19 verse 46 what verse 5 acts 19 verse 5 okay repent believe be baptized obey acts 19 verse 5 when they heard this they were baptized and in the name of the Lord Jesus verse 6 and when Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied the Holy Spirit came upon them only after they had hands laid on them by a minister of Jesus Christ and that has been happening since this time right here that's the only way that we can receive the Holy Spirit be baptized a baptized have the laying on of hands and just for clarity you know really we as we understand it we only receive the Holy Spirit so we're baptized put under the water we come up from the water you're not baptized you're not you don't have God's Spirit yet it's only after you come out of the water and whatever ministers are there lay their hands and one of them prays and asks and that God grant the Holy Spirit and then it's given that's what we understand okay so the first point about how what it means for us is is the question how do we access it okay so point number two it sets us apart let's go to 1st Peter first Peter 1 and verse 2 it sets us apart it sanctifies us God's Holy Spirit sets us apart first Peter 1 and verse 2 we're not in that way we're not like the rest of the world it doesn't doesn't make us better but it does set us apart it's only through His mercy that we can have it first Peter 1 and verse 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ and there are other verses we're not going to go to them but it sets us apart God's Holy Spirit sets us apart in a special way and anybody with god's holy spirit 1st corinthians 7 we're not going to go there but 1st corinthians 7 points out about the children if the parents or one of the parents's has god's holy spirit the children are set apart and made holy that's special ok it sets us apart that's point number two point number three God's Spirit lives in us let's go to 1st Corinthians three and verse 16 so now we have this the mind the character the power of God that he gives to us to live in us 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16 and there's a lot here there's a lot in this passage in there there are many other passage we're just gonna pull out one here for the sake of time just gonna pull this out do you not know that you are the temple of God the temple of God why and that God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you for if anyone defiles the temple of God God will destroy him for it the temple for the temple of God is holy which temple you are God's Holy Spirit dwells in us like it did the temples of old and the tabernacle except this is a very special way this is inside of us dwelling in us that same power that same Majesty that same strength the same power that he created the universe with is dwelling in us through His Holy Spirit so what does it mean for us point number three God's Spirit is living inside of us if we've been baptized and have had laying out of hands point number four we receive the very nature of God some of these run together and that's okay but second Peter 1 and verse 2 2nd Peter 1 and verse 2 I mean this is how incredible is this second Peter one averse to grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness God lean he gives us the strength he gives us the ability to overcome as it mentions even in our statement of fundamental beliefs the divine power has given to us all things verse 3 that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by thy glory and virtue verse 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises the sermons mr. Aames has given about the precious promises of God that we can look to believe in and know that he will fulfill like dr. Whannell talked about yesterday he cannot lie precious promises we have that spirit living in us and that power living in us that divine power verse 4 that through these we you may be partakers of the divine nature the very nature of God the creator of the heavens and earth the one that's made everything that is the one that's been there from all eternity we have that living in us having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust we have the very nature of God living in us through His Holy Spirit that's attribute number four I'm sorry point number four about what it means for us and we're building on these points here each one should should build slightly on the other number five yes the nature but to think about it more specifically it is the very mind of Jesus Christ the mind of Jesus Christ living in us he said let this mind be in you Philippians 2 verse 4 Ephesians 3 let's go to Ephesians 3 verse 16 we'll start in verse 14 for this reason I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he who would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts Jesus Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love we're not going to turn there but I want to read Philippians 1 and verse 19 says for for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Jesus Christ living inside of us we of course know Galatians 2 and verse 20 okay so point number five about how this affects us what this means for us is that it is the mind and spirit of Jesus Christ living in us the nature yes but the mind of Jesus Christ number six it opens our mind to understand the things of God we can understand the things of God or know the things of God let's look at Romans 8 and verse seven Romans 8 and verse seven so Romans 8 verse 7 this scripture here so when God was when I was first beginning to respond to God's calling I I you know I had a messed up you know it wasn't that messed up but you know it was just I took some detours and then God helped get some things clear for me and I was sitting in services with my my mother my mother said okay wherever you're at you're gonna come to services with me she picked me up or whatever however it worked on Saturdays and she would bring me there and I I didn't I'd at that point I didn't want to be there but God helped me see differently and but I was I think at that time I was reading the Bible I was reading the Bible I was I wanted to find out how to be a better person so I read the Bible because I figured well one thing side I was I was with one of my friends one time and I told him hey man I started reading the Bible and he said man be careful [Laughter] he said sometimes people read that book and they change so I said don't worry about me I'm not gonna change man I'm yeah and then a couple months later I was sitting in services and and then it was mr. mr. Raymond McNair was was giving the sermon and he read this verse Romans 8 and verse 7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God and it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be and I had been reading the Bible because I wanted to learn how to be better somehow I knew that clearly the way I was living was not good wasn't leading to any good things that was having problems in life and I thought well I'm sure not gonna look at my friends and figure out how to be a better person because they were not good people and I wasn't gonna figure it out from television I wasn't gonna figure it out from the movies I wasn't gonna figure it out from music I was listening to the only way to know it has to come it has to be revealed that's the only way otherwise it comes from the mind of man and it's worthless useless and so that stood out to me that's why I can't know that's why I can't understand verse 6 for to be carnally minded is death and to be spiritually minded is life and peace it can only come through God's Holy Spirit that's the only way first Corinthians 2 verse 9 first Corinthians 2 and verse 9 what a wonderful passage here and we the only way we know this is because God's Word tells us these things first Corinthians 2 verse 9 but it is written but as it is written eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him without God's Spirit it cannot be understood with our own little mind it cannot be understood you can think of all the things you want to but you're not going to get close but God has revealed them to us through his Spirit we can know the things of God because of this because of his spirit because his spirit lives in us for the spirit searches all things yes the deep things of God for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him that's the only way we can know animals can't understand what we do because they don't have the spirit of man living in them and if we don't have the Spirit of God and we cannot understand the things of God but with God's Spirit we can now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God these things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and we're trying to preach this world and whose mind God is not opening up if it's foolishness I had someone told me one time that they knew the true that they've been they had read some of the truth in the magazine but they said I can't understand it I don't I just don't get it the way you do you know it's only through God's merci that we can understand and through his spirit their foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned okay so number six is we can know the things of God and understand the things of God through His Holy Spirit point number seven and you can write down the passage here we're not going to turn to it it gives us access to the father access to the father the supreme almighty god that's Ephesians 2 and verse 18 it gives us it gives us access in the ability to have the fruits of the spirit let's go to Galatians 5 it gives us that ability and access to that to overcome to change from our ways to obey gives us a strength to obey to produce these fruits 5 verse Galatians 5 verse 16 these are benefits the world longs for wishes they could have access to as it was mentioned about the the shootings again how just horrible and this year there's been more schoolchildren who've died because of shootings than there have been US military personnel it's sickening but God's Spirit gives us access to be able to have these things verse 16 if I say then walk that walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh if you walk in the spirit you can overcome the lusts of the flesh that it goes on to talk about verse 22 but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law these are the things the world wishes they could have peace that surpasses understanding joy he gives us these things through his spirit so I think that was number eight number eight was fruits of God's Spirit we he gives us those through his spirit number nine gifts of the holy spirit let's go to first Corinthians twelve first Corinthians 12 first Corinthians 12 and verse four there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit in verse eight for to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit again spirit of wisdom to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healings in the city of the same spirit to another of the working of miracles and other of prophecy another of discerning the spirits another of different kinds of tongues another of interpretation of tongues and but one in the same spirit works all things distributing to each one individually as he wills God uses each one of us individually and we should be asking God to help us to know how we can serve and build and help the body of Jesus Christ and the work of God so it gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit okay let's now turn to Luke 11 we've seen the attributes some of the attributes of God's Holy Spirit we've looked at how that impacts our lives what that means for us the access it gives to the power and mind of God to overcome to grow right there at our fingertips it's right there it's available to us if we're sitting in this room it is available to everyone of us Luke Luke 11 Luke 11 and verse 13 this was read yesterday but or I want to read it again we just have just a couple more verses here if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him it is right there right at our fingertips for the asking all we need to do is ask God and we may need to beg him to please help us please give us your spirit to overcome to change to do what you want us to do to continue to preach the gospel consistent continue to do the work to continue to help build the body to continue to help build our families it's right there at our fingertips 2nd Timothy 1 and verse 6 2nd Timothy 1 and verse 6 it's right there it can be quenched it does say don't quench the spirit but boy God is merciful he is merciful if you said boy I hope I haven't quenched the spirit well then you probably haven't because you want to get back on track and all we need to do is ask and and fast and he will help he will give strength first Timothy 1 verse 6 2nd Timothy sorry 2nd Timothy 1 verse 6 therefore Paul T speaking to Timothy therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you by the laying out of my hands stir it up it takes you know a fire bonfire takes air it takes moving things around and it doesn't take much a little blowing on it a little attention and as much attention as we put on it boy it will become an inferno but it's all about how much we put into it therefore stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands for God has given us not given us a spirit of fear but God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind this day pictures one of the greatest blessings of all time we've been given the first opportunity to have access or we've been we are some of those who have been given opportunity to have access to God's Spirit the mind the power the character of God let's ask for let's beg God that he will give us more let's take full advantage of what has been put right in front of us you

Channel: Living Church of God

Views: 6,038

Rating: 4.9006209 out of 5

Keywords: Pentecost, God, God's spirit, Holy Spirit, Baptized, Baptism, Baptize

Id: kwvdd_KaBPQ

Length: 81min 4sec (4864 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 11 2019