The HOly Spirit: Part 1

Prayer: Almighty God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, speak to us in the language of our hearts, that we may hear Your Word with understanding and answer Your call with confidence. Amen.

          Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11

SERMON:  The Role of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives: Part 1

We are very familiar with God the Father and God the Son—yet we sometimes are not so sure about God the Holy Spirit—the third member of the Trinity. He often seems very mysterious to us. In the past the Spirit was often called the Holy Ghost and I think that probably set some people a little on edge. Yet, it is the Spirit that Jesus said in Acts 1:8 to wait for so that the disciples would be empowered to share the Gospel around the world. It was the Spirit that would work through the regeneration of our salvation and make us new.

The Holy Spirit is seen throughout both the Old and New Testaments. We are first introduced to the Spirit of God in Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters and creation is about to happen. And then in Genesis 1:26 we read the introduction to the Trinity—let us make man in our image.

The Holy Spirit is active throughout the stories of the lives of men and women in the Old Testament and New Testament.

In the next few weeks, we will be exploring the various things about the Holy Spirit that I am hoping will help us to more fully understand His workings and role in our lives. So, today, we start with Romans 5:11 and work our way out from what Paul has to say.

First off, one of the roles of the Spirit is to “pour God’s love into our lives.” In John 1:33, John the Baptist said that Jesus would be the One that would baptize us in the Spirit. The Greek word for baptize means to make fully wet, to cover completely. In other words—fill us to the full and overflowing. It is the idea of being dunked in the water where every part of you gets wet.

Jesus said in John 7 that streams of living water would flow in and out of you! The entire idea is that you don’t receive just a part of the Spirit in a portion of you, but that you are fully immersed in who the Spirit of God is and how He will work in your life.

When we think about the role of the Spirit “pouring” the love of God into our lives, we are immediately aware that this is a love beyond our full understanding. The idea that even while we were in sin, before we had a personal relationship with Jesus, the love of God is being poured out on us. This love is being poured out so that in turn our hearts would turn toward the Lord and receive Him as Savior. And that is not where things stop—it is only the beginning of a life where the Holy Spirit now comes along side us and dwells within us to help us to not only navigate our walks with Christ, but to navigate all of life—the ins/outs and all the in-betweens!

Love sustains us. There is something very deeply intrenched in human beings and really all of creation, that depends on the power of love to survive.

Today let’s explore a few things that Jesus said about the role of the Spirit in our lives. The ones we will explore today are probably very familiar to all of us. So lets start with:

1.     Spirit of Truth—Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will remind us of all that he said and taught. I can about imagine what that would have been like for the disciples after 3 years of being with Jesus.

a.     For us this means that the times we take to be in the Word of God, to be in prayer, to listen to teaching, to listen to the voice of the Lord speaking to our hearts—the Spirit will help us to remember various verses and things that will help us as we walk out our journey of faith. I know in my own life, there have been more times than I could ever count when the Spirit reminded me of a Scripture to encourage my heart and to give me direction at the moment. But we have to understand, you have to put the word of God in you in order for the Spirit of God to bring it out of you to help you along your way!

b.     We all know that we live in a world of untruths, half-truths, distorted truth. We desperately need the Spirit of God to help us navigate all the various voices out there. But not only the voices in the world, but our own as well.

c.      The Holy Spirit will help us to speak truth to ourselves and to one another.

d.     In Acts 17:11 we read of the Bereans. It said something that I think we all need to heed to: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. The actions of the Bereans is something that we all need to model—even listening to me as your Pastor.

                                                             i.      The word examined in the Greek can be translated as to “sift up and down, make careful and exact research.” One person writes that “Bible preaching should make Bible students out of the hearers.”

2.     Comforter—for each of us we have probably experienced the loss of a loved one, hardship, struggles, temptations and the like. It is the Holy Spirit that comes along side us to help us, comfort us, remind us of who we are in Christ and who we belong to.

a.      Psalm 34:18 says that “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

b.     Psalm 23 tells us that his rod and staff comforts us! It is the Spirit that brings that continual comfort.

c.      Psalm 86:17 the psalmist proclaims, “O Lord, you have helped me and comforted me.

d.     Isaiah 49: 13 proclaims—For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

e.      Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is one me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the years of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.

                                                             i.      Jesus quoted this about himself. We must understand this anointing from the Spirit is upon Jesus as man and not at God. This same anointing from the Spirit is upon us as we walk with the Lord and fulfill his work here on earth.

3.     Power—before the Ascension of Jesus, written in Luke 24, Jesus says for the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they receive “power from on high”. In other words, the fulness of the Spirit will descend on them, fill them, and enable followers of Jesus to have the courage and needed stamina to be valued witnesses of who Jesus is and why He came. Luke reiterates this truth in Acts 1:8 where he says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

a.      This gift of the Spirit not only imparts power to witness about Jesus but it also strengthens and increases its effectiveness because of a deepening relationship with the Trinity that comes from being filled with the Spirit.

b.     The Holy Spirit helps us to sense in a greater way the presence of Jesus with us and helps us to have an ever-increasing love, honor, and desire to please the Lord.

c.      This power helps us to stay steady, to be grounded in our faith so that when tough times come, and they will, we will not stumble or falter but will remain strong.

The Holy Spirit has been given to us to enable us to live victorious lives as followers of Jesus. There are several other things throughout the Bible that help us to see how the Spirit works in people's lives and we will continue to explore that next week. Let each of us open our hearts to the work of the Spirit and desire His fullness in our lives.