Message: “Who or what is the Holy Spirit”

Who or What is the Holy Spirit? Lesson Objective: This is the third and final installment in the series that discusses what many refer to as the Holy Trinity. This lesson will answer some of the questions surrounding Who or what is the Holy Spirit. Scripture: John 14: 15-17 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.   Introduction The Holy Spirit of God (Trinity) was there from the beginning – Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the (Holy) Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Holy Spirit was there when man was created- Genesis 1: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” The question we asked when we want to really know the person is “Who?” Tall /short describes the person but does not say who the person is In order to answer the question of who, we must look inside Acts 13: 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ “What” may define the object i.e. What was David? He was a man and he was king but does not define who The proper question is who not what. The Holy Spirit is a person and we were created in his image The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Holy Spirit (Trinity) at time of creation- Job 26:13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent Holy Spirit working through Joshua Numbers 27:18 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; Othniel Judges 3:10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. Saul’s disobedience caused the Spirit to leave him. 1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him Foretelling of the Messiah Isaiah 61: 1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Messiah arrives in Nazareth but not accepted. Luke 4: 16-2020 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Holy Spirit abounds around and in us John 14: 16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will bein Holy Spirit at the baptism of Christ- John 1: 32-34 John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33) "I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' 34) "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." Baptized as instructed by Christ- Matthew 28: 20 Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Power of the Holy Spirit- John 1: 7-8 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;8) but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Day of Pentecost Acts 2: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2) And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3) And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance Baptism of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Acts: 1-5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (Spoken by Christ) Acts 19: 1-5And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied Gifts of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. Speaking in tongues may be the most controversial of the gifts Unforgivable sin- Mark 3: 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons Mark 3:28 Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit. Blaspheme is choosing to ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit Another definition is calling God (Holy Spirit) the devil The Holy Spirit Today – What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit Now? In the Old Testament we had instances where the Holy Spirit was with a select group of people for a particular task and not ongoing. In the New Testament we find that after the death and resurrection of Christ all believers received the Holy Spirit. Today we all have the benefit of the Holy Spirit Summary The Holy Spirit is a “Who” not a what Many would say that The Holy Spirit is God The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual power The Holy Spirit serves as our guiding post The Holy Spirit is an advocate for us with God The Holy Spirit will remain with us as long as we so choose  

From Series: "Sunday Service"

These are the regularly scheduled Sunday lessons