A message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Akron OH, Sunday, December 15, 2024.
For the “Live in Church” audio of this message, select HERE.
It’s good to spend some time now talking about the Spirit of God, which we commonly refer to as the Holy Spirit. It may be more about perception, but the Spirit is not spoken of as often as God or Jesus; however, the Spirit is just as important to the believer in Jesus as it is to have a relationship with Jesus or in having fellowship with God the Father. As the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is not a lesser God whatsoever. He is not to be diminished. He is to be given full consideration as we do for Jesus and our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit makes up the third of three persons of the Godhead. All are equal and I refer to them as the uncreated Creators. The Spirit was there in the very beginning:
Genesis 1:1-3 NIV
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 Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
This past weekend, my lovely bride and I were in Florida attending a church service highlighting the children of parents within the congregation who presented sermonettes, music, a little dance, and a lot of praise for the Lord Jesus. My 5-year-old nephew was an active participant in the program as a singer. I was informed that he was not a great singer, but that he really worked hard at it! He blended in nicely with the other 40 children on stage. The program lasted for a couple of hours, and it was not all about Christmas or the season. It really was a celebration of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It was also refreshing to see the church packed out with young men and women who were there to watch their children, and from what I could tell, the vast majority of them were in on the celebration, as well.
Finally, the speaker, at the close of the program, made a comment that I was hoping to hear. He said, “The Holy Spirit is truly in this place.” And I believe that He indeed was present. Let’s look at Scripture and hear the words of Jesus to make the case for this statement:
Matthew 18:20 NIV
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Jesus declares that He is present when two or three get together. With that logic, can God the Father or the Spirit be absent from His presence?
John 14:5-11 NIV
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
And for our subject today, the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is eternal, is an extension of God the Father and is obedient to the will of the Father and Jesus Christ.
John 16:13-15 NIV
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
And I have one more example that reveals all three persons of the Trinity in one important area of Scripture—the baptism of Jesus:
Matthew 3:16-17 NIV
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
This event fulfilled the prophetic words from Isaiah:
Isaiah 11:1-3a NLT
1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
The Spirit moves in accord with Jesus. He is the physical representative of the Godhead in the life of the believer in Jesus.
So, what does this mean for us? Are we well-acquainted with the Spirit? We speak about Jesus often, but we should take note of the fact that without the Spirit, we will not grow in our relationship with Jesus.
It stands to reason that each of us need to become more and more acquainted with the Holy Spirit.
John 14:23-26 NIV
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The Father sends the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus to every believer. He is a real person who takes up residence within those who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Here’s a question that I will offer for you to consider: Does a believer feel any different with an indwelling Holy Spirit? From my own experience, you don’t really ‘feel’ different inside. In fact, you feel as normal as you always have—except you now possess the ability to learn new things that your flesh could not previously process in your own reasoning. When the command of “Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) is given, you have the understanding necessary as to what that means for you because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Spirit enables you to move forward in life and put your old life in past tense.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
What’s new in the life of a believer? A new way of living. A new way to love others as we learn to love Jesus. A new creation that is no longer a slave to sin.
Romans 6:1-4 NLT
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
The presence of the Spirit guides us as we move forward in our relational growth in Jesus. The Spirit is necessary for this progression in helping us to fight temptation and resist the enemy.
In order to help us to understand more about the role of the person of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, let’s explore these seven character traits:
1.) He has a divine nature (because He is God).
Acts 5:3-4 NIV
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
The Holy Spirit brings the truth of God into your life. And He is keenly aware of who you are and what you’re doing. And that includes everything. You can’t keep a secret thought from Him.
Romans 8:8-11 NIV
8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
What a wonderful passage! You have the assurance of eternal life because of the presence of the Spirit in your relationship with Jesus. As we believe all of this in faith, we have the eternal promise of life with Jesus because of the righteousness of the Spirit in Christ.
2.) He has an “up close and personal” nature.
Ephesians 4:29-30 NIV
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 NIV
Do not quench the Spirit.
Because the Spirit is a person, He has the ability to experience joy and grief as we do. Remember, we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27). Even though He dwells within the believer, acknowledging His presence is a choice. When we do acknowledge Him, He responds to you with an intimate nature, and He acknowledges when you are acting with kindness and compassion towards others (Ephesians 4:32).
3.) He stands for and upholds righteousness.
John 16:8-11 NIV
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
This is our assurance of the One who is lives in spirit and in truth, Jesus Christ. He came to us to be our Lord and Savior, and when He returns, He will be our Judge. (And prayerfully, it will be in the not-too-distant future.)
Until that time, the Spirit desires for every person to know who He is through a relationship with Jesus. He wants that very much. The Spirit wants to get to the heart of a person. He loves you, and He wants you to grow in a love relationship with Jesus.
4.) He is our Advocate (our Helper).
John 14:15-17 NIV
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.
John 15:26 NIV
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”
5.) He empowers us.
How do we do what we do in ministry for the gospel of Jesus? He energizes us to move beyond our own understanding.
Acts 1:8 NIV
“But 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.”
6.) He unifies the body of Christ with the diverse array of spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NIV
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 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. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
The Spirit is free to give the gifts according to their relevance and necessity for the present age.
7.) He gives us fruit for life in Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
There’s no better time than right now to welcome the presence—the gift of the Holy Spirit for each of us who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. He is our righteous Helper who enables us to live in His wonder working power as servants of Jesus and messengers of His good news—in Spirit and in truth.
Copyright © 2024 Melvin Gaines
Melvin Gaines 