Holy Spirit
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Introduction
- This is session two in Fruitful Living, where we will explore the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Lillian and I are team teaching this study, which is based on Beth Moore’s study, but we will also include other information we’ve acquired through our own study.
- The name of Beth Moore’s study is Living Beyond Yourself, which is exactly what God calls us to do - not to live in our own power or ability but in his care and power.
- That is certainly what I desire. I’ve tried living in my wisdom and it hasn’t served me well. How about you? Has living your way given you the peace, contentedness, belonging you desire?
- Only in living a life in the Holy Spirit can we experience true freedom. The goal is to experience genuine freedom – which is a life overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
- 1 John 4:19 says ‘We love God because He loved us first.’ That is so true of all good things. They all come from God. So for us to experience freedom, peace, and joy, we need God first and foremost because all good flows from Him.
- Matthew 6: 33 says ‘Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Receiving and experiencing His love and full live is a result of the Holy Spirit being in us. Then we can live life at its fullest.
- What does a full, righteous life look like? God has given us a blueprint. He has laid out his plan for our lives in His Word, the Bible. But Galatians 5:22-23 provides a good summary: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” A life submitted to God will be a life that has an increasing measure of the fruit of the Spirit.
- We’ll explore each fruit in detail, but first we need to lay a foundation. Lillian laid the first part of the foundation last week.
- We need to understand why Jesus died for us:
- To rescue us from sin - it is the Father’s will - to restore relationship with the Father - and because he loves us
- Become aware if you are an easy target for false teaching. You are an easy target if you:
- Don’t know the truth/don’t explore the Bible for yourself – get bored/are complacent – seek the approval of others rather than the approval of God
- Be assured that you have Jesus’ righteousness credited to you
- Have faith in God and receive his grace
- Knowing God as Abba Father
- Next week we’ll start looking at the specific fruit of the Spirit, but today I am going to lay the second part of our foundation, an exploration of the Holy Spirit. This is definitely an essential foundation in order to embrace the Bible’s teaching on the fruits of the Spirit. We will talk about the following:
- Who is the Holy Spirit?
- What is the Holy Spirit’s role in Creation?
- What is the Holy Spirit’s Relationship to us?
Who is the Holy Spirit?
- I have heard about a lot of different teaching in churches on the Holy Spirit, about who he is and our relationship to him. There is some controversy and my intent is not to address that controversy, but to touch on the basics of what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit.
- Simply put, the Holy Spirit is God. It is definitely a mystery. God is three-in-one, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- It is beyond our understanding. There are specific references to each throughout the Bible, while at the same time making it clear that God is one.
- Jesus spoke of the Father and of the Spirit separately.
- In Genesis 1:26a God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”.
- Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
- The Hebrew word for God in that verse is Elohim, which is plural. But the verb used is singular, implying God is multiple yet one.
- Genesis 1:2 continues, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
- I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is the first one of the three that is specifically mentioned in the Bible.
- Throughout my study and preparation, I was surprised to see how many times the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned. There were many verses where my vague memory assumed the verse mentioned God or Jesus, when it actually specifically references the Holy Spirit.
- He is a person with a personality, not an ‘it.’ Here are a few examples.
- We can grieve the Holy Spirit, just like we can grieve a person.
- Ephesians 4:31a says “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God”
- We grieve him when we act in an ungodly way.
- He is our counselor, as in John 14:16, when Jesus says “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”
- I often think of Jesus counseling me, giving me advice, but the Holy Spirit is also our counselor.
- We can limit the Spirit’s work in our lives, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
- I have experienced times when I have been excited about something in my life and I’ve shared it with someone that was completely negative. It dampened me, limited my enthusiasm. Similarly, we can dampened or crush the Spirit’s good work in us by being negative, such as disobeying or doubting or being fearful.
What is the Holy Spirit’s role in Creation?
- The Holy Spirit is the energizer, applying the power and energy of God into creation.
- Earlier we looked at Genesis 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
- ‘Hovering’ means to flutter, move or shake.
- All three were involved in creation and continue to uphold creation. Different commentators describe each one’s role differently. Beth Moore describes it this way, “The Father willed it, the Son spoke it, and the Holy Spirit energized it into being.”
- The Holy Spirit regenerates creation, including us.
- John 3:5-6 “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
- The Holy Spirit lives in us. This is why the Holy Spirit has been precious to me. Since the beginning of my regeneration, I have had hope in the Holy Spirit being with me. God the Father has seemed distant in Heaven, Jesus is more approachable to me but He is no longer on earth. When I so badly have felt I needed God here in physical form, the presence of the Holy Spirit in me has been the closest I could get to God’s physical presence.
- Colossians 1:26b “Christ in me, the hope of glory”
- 1 Corinthians 2:16b “ We have the mind of Christ”
- The Holy Spirit seals us. We can be assured of our salvation.
- Ephesians 4:30 “with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”
- To seal means to close up and make secure. Satan cannot indwell us when the Holy Spirit has sealed us.
- It also means to mark something as authentic and approved. God the Father sees the seal of the Holy Spirit upon us and knows we are his.
What is the Holy Spirit’s Relationship to us?
- Speak truth into our lives
- In ourselves, we are deceived by Satan and our own harmful desires and can’t see truth
- Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
- Thankfully, God understands our hearts and know how to present truth to us at a time when we need it and are open to it, and the Holy Spirit reminds us of truth.
- John 16:12-13a “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
- Enables us to resist sin and bad choices
- Galatians 5:16 “So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature”
- On our own we are not able to resist sin and make good choices. Beth Moore says it this way, “Have you noticed that you never have to make the conscious choice to sin? Left to what comes naturally, regrettably, we all will sin. That’s what the carnal man is all about. He just does what comes naturally from his old nature. If we are going to live as a spiritual man, it will result from a deliberate, conscious surrender to the Holy Spirit of God. Surrender is a daily choice. We can be spiritual one day and not the next. We can be spiritual one morning and not that night. We re spiritual when we are out of control and the Holy Spirit is in control.’
- The Holy Spirit fills us with righteousness
- Ephesians 5:18 “be filled with the Spirit”
- My brother was an alcoholic and I appointed myself as his caretaker. When I made the choice to stop, it felt extremely uncomfortable. I had peace and confidence in my decision, but much of my life revolved around him. With that responsibility gone, what was I think about, to do, to focus my attention on?
- Have you experienced a void in your life? Perhaps it’s an area of sin or a bad habit that you conquered with the help of the Holy Spirit, but you have not yet transitioned to the next phase of your life. You are in that grey realm of transition where you need the Holy Spirit to guide you in the way of righteousness. He has taken you out of the realm of darkness and you are glad to be doe with it. But now you need him to teach you his ways.
- Matthew 11:24-26 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of the man is worse than the first.’
- Boundaries are a good example. Perhaps you have learned to say no to the things that have turned your life into chaos; you no longer feel obligated to participate in every church function that occurs. You have said ‘No!”. Good job. That’s a great start. But the next question comes quickly upon the heels of your ‘No!’: What do I do with my free time? Is it OK to sit and read a book or take a walk? Is there another area of ministry God wants me to pursue? Do I spend those two hours that I have free with my spouse, my children, my friends? Those unanswered questions can lead us right back into poor choices if we don’t cry out to the Holy Spirit, not only to help us stop harmful behavior, but to show us what beneficial behavior looks like.
- Enables us to shine God’s light into the world
- Gives us the ability to follow God’s commands and grow up into Godlier living, which will overflow into others’ lives
- Michael Youseff, Leading the Way – story of a man who asked a friend which was the best Bible translation. The NIV, King James, the Message, English Standard version? His friend answered ‘No’ to each one. After his friend went through all of the versions he could think of, he was very interested to learn which His friend thought was best. He was anxious to hear of a new translation that would help him understand the Word. So he anxiously asks, ‘Which one? What is this new translation that I have not heard of?’ His friend replied, ‘It is not new, I have had it all my life. My father. My Dad showed me what was in the Bible – he was loving and honest and kind and generous, and quick to forgive, always willing to listen. Yes, my Dad was the best Bible translation I have ever seen.’
- We are Christ’s ambassadors. 2 Corinthians 5:20 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though Christ were making his appeal through us.” When we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, we are revealing Christ to a spiritually and emotionally hungry world. How refreshing it is to me when I make a mistake and instead of receiving a response of frustration or anger, I receive gentleness, mercy, forgiveness from the person I negatively impacted. That is revealing God to a weary world.
- Helps us evaluate our spiritual health
- When we are in Christ and seeking Him to follow Him, the Holy Spirit will work within us and change us and enable us to grow.
- If we don’t see the fruit increasing in some way, that is a good indication to pause and evaluate your spiritual condition.
- Conversely, there is great comfort in seeing the fruit of the Spirit increase in our lives. When we doubt God’s presence in our lives or are frustrated with what we perceive as a lacking in Godliness or a slowness, we can look at the fruit in our lives and we will most likely see an increase, however small in one of the fruits – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control – and we can be assured that God is in us and we are growing up into what He calls us to be.
Summary
- God wants us to live a life of freedom. That life can only be found by giving up our ways and choosing to let God run our lives by filling us with the Holy Spirit.
- Let the Holy Spirit teach you the truth and enable you to live it out.
- Open yourself to the Spirit in all areas of your life so that you are overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit. This is not only to for our own delight, but it also allows us to benefit those we encounter.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” That is hope.
Questions
1. What were you taught about the Holy Spirit when you were younger? How did your family, friends or church react to the Holy Spirit? What is your view of Him today?
2. Have you experienced a void left by the relinquishing of a bad habit or sin? Did you fill the void with God’s guidance or did you leave the space void, and what was the result?
3. Have you had a great Bible translator in your life? Who? Can you identify the fruits of the Spirit in that person?
4. Are you surrendering your life to the Holy Spirit on a daily basis? Is there an area you are still holding onto and controlling in your own strength?
5. As we prepare our hearts for studying the specific fruits of the Spirit, contemplate the following questions:
a. Is there a fruit you are lacking? Which one or ones?
b. Have you seen an increase in a fruit of the Spirit? Which one or ones?
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