Discipleship Series (Lesson 8) 11-14-12

WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? PastorAl Hulten

Text: John 16:7-14 Memorize: Acts 1:8

God is a ______, the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

He is a ______. John 16:13-14

He ______.

He speaks (Rev. 2:7). He loves (Rom 15:30). He hears (John 16:13). He prays (Romans 8:26).

He teaches (John 14:26). He forbids ((Acts 16:6-7). He counsels (Acts 15:28). He comforts

(Acts 9:31). He strives with man (Genesis 6:3). He calls to ministry (Acts 13:2).

He can be ______.

He can be lied to (Acts 5:3). He can be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31-32). He can be grieved

(Eph. 4:30). He can be resisted (Acts 7:51).

He is ______.Acts 5:1-5

Names the Spirit is called:

The Spirit. John 3:5-8The Spirit of Truth. John 15:26

The Spirit of God. Romans 8:9The Spirit of Grace. Heb. 10:29

The Spirit of Christ. Romans 8:9The Spirit of Life. Rom. 8:2

The Spirit of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:19The Spirit of Adoption. Rom 8:15

The Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 (Holy Ghost)The Spirit of the Lord. Luk. 4:18

The Holy Spirit of Promise. Eph. 1:13The Eternal Spirit. Heb. 9:14

The Spirit of Holiness. Rom. 1:4

The Comforter/Helper/Counselor/Paraclete/ John 15:26 “To call alongside”

WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO?

1. He always ______from Himself to the other members of the Godhead, especially to Jesus. John 16:13-14; 15:26

2. He ______of sin. John 16:7-11.

3. He ______into Christ, placing us in His body, the Church. 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27.

4. He ______of our salvation. Romans 8:16; 1 John 5:10; Galatians 4:6

5. He ______every Christian, their body being His temple. John 14:17; Romans 8:8-11; 1 Corin. 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 2 Tim. 1:14; Gal. 4:6

6. He ______: speaking to us, guiding us, teaching us, restraining us. 1 Cor. 2:9-14; John 16:13-14; 14:26; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18; Acts 13:2-4; 8:27-29; 16:6-7

7. He ______us spiritually. Eph. 3:16; Rom. 8:13

8. He helps us in our ______. Romans 8:26-27; Eph. 6:18; Jude 20

9. He ______those who speak God’s Word. 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 1 Thes. 1:4-5; Acts 1:8

10. He ______to us. 1 Corin. 12:1-11; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11

11. He ______in us. Galatians 5:22-23

12. He is the One with Whom Christians may be ______, filling them with Himself. Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; Eph. 5:18-20

13. He will one day ______our mortal bodies from the dead and they will put on

______. 1 Corin. 15:20-23, 35-54

OUR RESPONSES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Listen to His ______. Acts 13:1-3; James 1:22

Seek to be filled with the Spirit ______. Ephesians 5:18-20

Seek for and ______. 1 Cor. 14:1, 12

Seek to ______in your everyday life. Galatians 5:22-23

To find past lessons in this series, go to click on ministries, then pursuit groups, then teaching and study. Scroll down to “discipleship class” and then click on the lesson you want. The first page will be the worksheet, and my notes in subsequent pages.

Discipleship Series #8 11-14-12

They Are Full of the Spirit

Acts 1:1-2:4 – Memory 1:8

Go over verses.Pet. 3:18; Ps 25:4-5; Job 23:12;Mat 7:11;1 Pet 1:15-16;Jam 4:7; Ephesians 4:32;

I don’t think there is a Biblical topic that in the 20th century caused more discussion and disagreement than the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Good Christian people argued and sometimes broke fellowship over their disagreements about this topic.

So Biblically, Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do? That’s what I want to address tonight. We really ought to use our 4 remaining class sessions together on this topic, but it will have to be a survey more than an in-depth study because we have 3 other topics to look at as well.

Do you remember this book? (pic & read from Horton Hears a Who)

Why is the title of this book not “Horton Hears a What”? What’s the difference between a “who” and a “what”?

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13-14But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me.If you know what a pronoun is, look at the pronouns in those verses. All the pronouns speaking of the Holy Spirit are personal pronouns. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is a Person not a thing, a Who not a what, a He not an it.

So when you talk about the Holy Spirit, us personal pronouns: Him, HisHe, not “it”.

The Bible speaks of God as a unity of 3 Persons: the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus we understand best; He was God in a human body. He became one of us. When you cut Him, He bled. When you pounded nails through His hands and feet, He felt excruciating pain. He got tired; He got hungry; He got disappointed. We understand all that.

The Father is a bit more difficult to understand. We know that He has the same qualities that we see in Jesus, for Jesus said: He who has seen Me has seen the Father.John 14:9. We usually think of God the Father as more the disciplinarian, the God of judgment, who rains down fire on places like Sodom and Gomorrah.

When it comes to the Holy Spirit, He seems to be the one of the three that we understand the least.

Christian Science says that the Holy Spirit is “Divine Science”

J.W.s say the Holy Spirit is only “an influence or power exercised by the one God.”

Mormonism defines the Holy Spirit as “An ethereal substance diffused thru space.”

Modern theology often describes the Holy Spirit as “the impulses to righteousness that some to man.”

How we understand the Holy Spirit will determine how we relate to Him, and how we allow Him to relate to us. Can I speak to Him? Or pray to Him? Or worship Him as God? Or do I just acknowledge the Spirit as God’s power on earth?

DISCUSSION QUESTION: What are some things we know about the Holy Spirit? RESPONSES.

WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

That should be a session all on its own. And then What does He so? That’s should be another session. What about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit? This is a huge topic we are trying to condense down into the next hour or so. So take good notes.

We said a moment ago that

He is a Person. And it’s not just the personal pronouns. He acts like a person: He speaks and hears and prays and teaches. And I’ve given you a lot of the Bible references on your worksheet.

He not only acts like a person, He can be treated like a person: we can lie to Him, blaspheme Him, resist Him and grieve Him. He’s a Person.

But wait, there’s more.

He is God. He is said to have the attributes of God: He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and eternal. And in Acts 5 He is actually called God.

His names also tell us something about Who His is, and also what He does. ASK: What are some names by which the Holy Spirit is called?

RESPONSES.

The Spirit. John 3:5-8The Spirit of Truth. John 15:26

The Spirit of God. Romans 8:9The Spirit of Grace. Heb. 10:29

The Spirit of Christ. Romans 8:9The Spirit of Life. Rom. 8:2

The Spirit of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:19 The Spirit of Adoption. Rom 8:15

The Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 (Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost?)

The Holy Spirit of Promise. Eph. 1:13 The Spirit of the Lord. Luk. 4:18

The Spirit of Holiness. Rom. 1:4The Eternal Spirit. Heb. 9:14

The Comforter/Helper/Counselor/Paraclete/ John 15:26 “To call alongside”

WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO?Turn to John 16. John 14-16 gives us a fair amount of information about the workings of the Holy Spirit. I have listed for you on your worksheet 14 things that the Holy Spirit does, and I’m sure I do not have a complete list. This list could be topics for a 14 week series of teachings. But here is an overview. (read John 16:7-14)

1. He always points away from Himself to the other members of the Godhead, especially to Jesus. John 16:13-14; 15:26

The Holy Spirit is not interested in promoting Himself; He is interested in promoting Jesus. It is not by putting our trust in the Holy Spirit that we are saved; it’s by putting our trust in Jesus. It wasn’t the Holy Spirit Who died for our sins; it was Jesus. So the Spirit constantly points us to Jesus.

2. He convicts us of sin. John 16:7-11.

The Holy Spirit wants to work through us, but first He must work in us, convicting us and purifying us. It’s interesting that it says He convicts the world of sin. That would seem to indicate to me more than the Christian. And if that’s true, this is the only thing I could find that the Holy Spirit does in the life of the unbeliever – the conviction of sin.

3. He baptizes us into Christ, placing us in His body, the Church.

1 Corin. 12:13; Gal. 3:27. One of the reasons that I believe the baptism in the Holy Spirit is different than salvation, is that in salvation the Holy Spirit is the one baptizing us into Christ, and in the Baptism, it is Jesus Who is the Baptizer, baptizing us in the Holy Spirit. More of that in a couple of weeks.

4. He gives us assurance of our salvation. Romans 8:16; 1 John 5:10; Galatians 4:6

5. He lives in every Christian, their body being His temple. John 14:17; Romans 8:8-11; 1 Corin. 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 2 Tim. 1:14; Gal. 4:6

6. He reveals spiritual truth: speaking to us, guiding us, teaching us, restraining us. 1 Cor. 2:9-14; John 16:13-14; 14:26; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18; Acts 13:2-4; 8:27-29; 16:6-7

7. He strengthens us spiritually. Eph. 3:16; Rom. 8:13

8. He helps us in our praying. Romans 8:26-27; Eph. 6:18; Jude 20

9. He anoints and empowers those who speak God’s Word. 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 1 Thes. 1:4-5; Acts 1:8

10. He gives gifts to us. 1 Corin. 12:1-11; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11

11. He produces fruit in us. Galatians 5:22-23

12. He is the One with Whom Christians may be baptized, filling them with Himself. Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; Eph. 5:18-20

13. He will one day raise our mortal bodies from the dead and they will put on immortality. 1 Corin. 15:20-23, 35-54

OUR RESPONSES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

One of the concerns I have about these Wednesday night sessions is that we would gain information, but that information would not change us. God desires more than that we would knowabout the Holy Spirit. He wants us to experience the Holy Spirit.

All these things the Holy Spirit does, He wants us to experience. Look back over the list we have just gone over. He doesn’t just want us to know that He convicts us of sin; He wants us to respond to His conviction. He doesn’t just want us to know that He brings assurance of salvation; He wants us to experience that assurance.

He doesn’t just want us to know that He reveals spiritual truth, and that He strengthens us spiritually and helps us in our praying, He wants us to experience those things.

Let me give you three final exhortations before we spend some time praying about all this.

Listen to His voice & obey.

Seek to be filled daily with the Spirit.

Seek for and receive His gifts.

Seek to bear His fruit in your everyday living.

Time in Silent prayer.

MEMORY VERSE:

Acts 1:8

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."