Acts: The Church Comes Alive Intro 2 Who is the Holy Spirit and What Does He do? The Holy Spirit is God, sent by the Father to regenerate, indwell, empower, grow and gift every believer for the glory of Jesus. If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit. The degree to which this has happened (and I would argue that it is a prolific disease in the body of Christ) is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God s Word completely. -Francis Chan Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a Person Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything... He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person. -A.W. Tozer intellect 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 emotion Ephesians 4:30 will 1 Corinthians 2:11
The Holy Spirit is God eternal Hebrews 9:14 omnipotent Luke 1:35, Luke 4:18, Genesis 1:2, Job 33:4 omniscient 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 omnipresent Psalm 139:7-8 What Does He Do? The Holy Spirit Glorifies and Gives glorifies Jesus John 16:14 gives conviction John 16:7-8 gives salvation John 14:17 gives regeneration John 3:5, Ephesians 2:4-7, Titus 3:4-7
God the Father, by the agency of his Holy Spirit, regenerates freely whomever he pleases and by this draws a person to the Son enabling him to believe in the Son and be saved. the new birth is the result of the free and sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, preceding and enabling our first act of saving faith. We do not bring about the new birth by faith. On the contrary, the Spirit must first create a new person who then, according to his new and spiritual nature, has the desire to believe in Christ. -John Piper The Holy Spirit Grows and Gifts Grows: indwells Romans 8:9 bears witness Romans 8:15-16 power to transform Romans 8:11 power to witness Acts 1:8 The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. It s the power of the resurrection the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead. Think of the things you see as immovable slabs in your life your bitterness, your insecurity, your fears, your self-doubts. Those things can be split and rolled off. The more you know him, the more you grow into the power of the resurrection. -Tim Keller Gifts: guides in truth John 16:13 ability to live daily Galatians 5:16 enemy of self-effort Galatians 3:3 agent of growth Acts 9:31 producer of fruit Galatians 5:22-23 Every believer is gifted by the Spirit for the good of others and the glory of God. given gifts to all 1 Corinthians 12:7 for the body 1 Corinthians 12:7 for God s glory 1 Peter 4:10-13
Gifts of the Spirit: Prophecy Serving Teaching Encouraging Giving Leadership Mercy Marriage/Celibacy Helps Apostle Administration Evangelism Word of Wisdom Word of Knowledge Faith Healing Miracles Distinguishing Spirits Tongues Interpretation of Tongues Two Views on The Manifestation Gifts: Cessationist (ceased) Continuist (continued) 1Corinthians 13:8-10 The Holy Spirit Guards and Guarantees intercedes Romans 8:26, Jude 1:20 seals Ephesians 1:13-14 comforts John 14:26-27 hope Romans 15:13 Every growth of spiritual life, from the first tender shoot until now, has been the work of the Holy Spirit... The only way to more life is the Holy Spirit. You will not even know that you want more unless He works in you to desire it... The Spirit of God must come and make the letter alive, transfer it to your heart, set it on fire, and make it burn within you, or else its divine force and majesty will be hid from your eyes... Prayer is the creation of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do without prayer, and we cannot pray without the Holy Spirit. -Charles Spurgeon Kay Morrison Greenwood Community Church 9.20.17