Pastor Leon Seaton

God's Holy Spirit

John 16:1-15

Dear Lord,
So far today I haven’t
gossiped, lost my temper,
been greedy, nasty, selfish,
or overindulgent.
I’m really glad about that.
But in a few minutes, Dear God,
I’m going to be getting out of bed
and from then on I’m probably
going to need a lot more help. 
Amen

   This morning I want to visit with you about the best three friends you will ever have. They have planned a wonderful life for you and have made provisions for your success in this life and a wonderful eternity with Them in heaven. Of course I am speaking about God…God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

          Hopefully your next best friends will come from your family….

          We can call God our Friend because those are the words that Jesus used.

   “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this… that he lay down his life for his friends.

   “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other.”  John 15:9-17

          A friend is a person that knows all about you, but loves you anyhow. And there is nothing at all that God does not know about you and me… He knows your shoe size, your waist size and your hat size. He knows the thoughts and motives of your heart. And He loves you just as much as He loved Jesus! (John 17)

The twelve disciples that Jesus picked had a wonderful relationship with Jesus for three glorious years. Oh, they had some stressful moments when Jesus walked on the water in the middle of the night and scared them half to death. And they did work long, hard hours and often had very little rest…but in the end, Jesus always took care of them.

          Then everything fell apart! Big time! Judas betrayed Jesus, and then committed suicide. Jesus was put to death, but after a terrible three days the Holy Spirit resurrected Him. Forty days after the resurrection Jesus returned to heaven and left them on their own. Or did He? 

          First of all, they were well instructed. They knew that they would have problems… and Jesus has told us the same thing! He says, “All this I have told you so that you will not give up and go astray. They will put you out of the Church – in fact some people will be convinced that they are doing God a favor when they kill you.”

We know that Jesus was describing Saul (Paul) and many others who would follow through the years to come.

          Why would people kill Christians? Because they did not know God!  Although insults are directed at us personally we should not take it personally because what they do only shows their ignorance.

 Know What the Bible Says!

1.   If you know what God has promised, you can have faith to receive the blessings.

2.   By knowing we will have problems, we will not get discouraged.

Because people hate God they are going to hate us. That’s just the way it is! Jesus acknowledged the disciple’s grief. They did not ask Jesus where He was going or to whom He was going because they were stunned. God truly understands our feelings – He does not offer empty platitudes like, “Smile, you’ll feel better” or “don’t worry, things will work out.”

As a matter of fact, Jesus shocked them! He said, “It’s for your good that I am going away!”

WHY would He say that!? Because when Jesus, who walked with them, returned to heaven He sent the Counselor – the Holy Spirit – to live in them. If something is IN you, then you have a better understanding than if it is WITH you.

When you dated your boy friend or girl friend you drew little hearts with arrows through them and wrote things like “Leon + Roberta” on them…using your name of course. But when you married, a lifetime commitment was made and the doubts and fears left.

The Holy Spirit is the 3^rd person of the trinity. He is God, and Jesus introduces Him as our Counselor. Looking at John 16 verses 13-16 we see that for us the Holy Spirit will do the following…

1.   Guide us into all truth

2.   He will teach us the full counsel of the Father and the Son

3.   He will teach/instruct us about what is to come in our lives.

4.   He will bring glory and honor to Jesus. If the spiritual things you hear do not bring glory and honor to Jesus, it is FALSE DOCTRINE.

                John 14:16, 17, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--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.”

          There is only one God; He presents himself through three personalities: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is powerful and dynamic and forceful, but it is wrong to refer Him as “the force.” That is a fictional Star Wars term and does not describe God at all! Coming in contact with the Holy Spirit may energize you, but He is not a force like electricity.

If we see the Spirit as a power or a force, He becomes someone that we want to get to work for us. That is not the case at all. Our goal should be to let the Holy Spirit take hold of us so that we can be used to bring glory to God.

          The Holy Spirit is not an “It”… He is a Person.

          The Holy Spirit has a name. Jesus called Him the “Comforter.”

          There are two significant ideas in Jesus’ statement that He would pray and ask the Father to send “another Counselor.” In the Greek language in Jesus’ day, there were two words for “another.”  One referred to another thing of a totally different kind. The other meaning is “another one just like me.”

          The significant word is the Greek word “Paraclete” which literally means, “one called alongside to help.” The Holy Spirit is our personal helper!

“Personality”has four essential elements

1.     Intellect – 1 Corinthians 2:11 “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” We spend a lot of time in our cars and pickups. We may even talk to our vehicles – but they do not know our thoughts, they do not understand how we feel.

2.     Feelings – Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” When we are tempted to walk and talk in   a sinful way we need to realize that it grieves God’s Holy Spirit.

3.     Will – 1 Corinthians 12:11 says the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of us according to His will.

4.     Actions – The Holy Spirit takes action… “force” does not do that.

a.     He speaks – Acts 13:2 – The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

b.     He testifies – Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”

c.      He teaches – The Spirit helps us understand what Jesus taught.

d.     He convicts – The Spirit convicts us of sin and the righteousness and judgment to come. (John 14.26)

e.      He intercedes for us – Romans 8:26, 27 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”

 The Spirit guides us into all truth and directs our steps.  (John 16:13, Acts 16:16, 17)

f.      He reveals God’s Word to us

  g.     He can be tested

h.    He can be lied to

  i.    He can be grieved

  j.   He can be resisted

                 k.    He can be insulted

           Now that we have established that the Holy Spirit is God in us, what difference does it make? One would think that the answer is so obvious that we should not need to answer it. Unfortunately, many folks - even Christians - have not fully understood the power of God’s presence in our lives through His Holy Spirit! This empowers us to represent Him on earth. When we follow the Holy Spirit and let Him speak through us we make the right decisions and speak the right words to encourage our family and friends!

The Spirit comforts us and inspires us in both the best and worst of circumstances. Please give Him full access to your life today!

Sunday, July 26, 2009