5-16-2021

Chapel of the Hills, Pastor Pete

THE HOLY SPIRIT

#1 - OVERRATED OR UNDERRATED?

INTRODUCTION:

I listen to Mason and Ireland sports radio show and they play this game every afternoon
-Overrated, Underrated, or Accurately rated?

This game doesn't involve cutting your ankle off, but it's equally as fun! It's
called overrated, underrated, or accurately rated. If you believe something is
overrated, vote accordingly. If you think it's underrated, vote accordingly. "Accurately
rated" simply means that you feel it's exactly where it should be in the zeitgeist—no
unnecessary hype, and no negative baggage; it just is what it is.

You decide. Are you ready? Let's go!

Pizza
1. Accurately 73% 29.2K votes
2. Overrated 18% 7,267 votes
3. Underrated 9% 3,773 votes
Love
1. Accurately rated 42%15.6K votes
2. Overrated 34%12.8K votes
3. Underrated 24%8,926 votes
Avocados
1. Overrated 62%22.2K votes
2. Accurately rated 26% 9,185 votes
3. Underrated 12% 4,213 votes
Holy Spirit
1. Overrated
2. Accurately rated
3. Underrated

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How you answered that question is likely an indicator of how you feel about this series.

Some of you are excited, you are saying about time! We need more of the fire of
the Spirit.

Others of you are less excited - even a little wary.

Both are understandable given the current climate in the church today.

There's a lot of confusion in the church today about the Holy Spirit - there are
some churches which seemed to be so sold on the Holy Spirit that they talk of
little else and there are others that are so wary of the dangers of an emotional
ecstatic experience centered Christianity that they tend to screen the Spirit out
except for special occasions.

But you can't get too far in reading the New Testament and specially the Acts of
the apostles and then the letters without realizing that actually the Spirit is at
work all over the place. Working in individuals and the church as a whole.

Truth is part of the whole point of Christianity is that the Spirit calls people to be Jesus
followers, recreates them and then energizes them to be shaped by Jesus and do the
same kinds of things He did.

All of this, this three-part process: Calling, New Birth and Empowering is a work of
the Spirit.

GOAL: I want to provide clarity regarding the Holy Spirit and I want you experience The
Holy Spirit.

It's been said that the Holy Spirit is more caught than taught and there is some
truth in that and at the same time it would be nice to know what it is that I am
supposed to be catching.

1 Corinthians 2:13 (NLT)

13 
When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human
wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words
to explain spiritual truths.

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 So my goal for this next 4 weeks that there would be a balance between the
knowing and the catching. That we would spend time learning about the Holy
Spirit, but that we would make time and room to experience the Holy Spirit as
well.

THIS MORNING WE WANT TO EXAMINE THESE THREE QUESTIONS: Who is the Holy
Spirit? What is the role of the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit have to do with
me?

WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY - HE IS GOD.

Wayne A. Grudem

“God eternally exists as three persons, Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully
God, and there is one God.”

 Westminster Catechism of Faith

“In the unity of the Godhead there be three

persons, of one substance, power, and eternity:
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy
Ghost.”

The word trinity does not occur in the bible. True, but the evidence for the trinity is all
over the bible from cover to cover.

In the Old Testament

▪ Genesis 1:1–2 (ESV)

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 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was
without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

▪ Targum Neofiti – Dated roughly 200 BC. – Ge. 1:1-2

“In the beginning, by the firstborn, God created the heavens and the earth. The
earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

The New Testament

▪ The Trinity appears at the birth of Jesus.

Luke 1:35 (ESV)

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High (God the Father) will overshadow you; therefore the child
to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

 The trinity is involved in our salvation.

Titus 3:4–6 (NLT)

4 
But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not
because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He
washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy
Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our
Savior.

The Holy Spirit is a person, not an it and not an impersonal force.

▪ Observe the following proofs from Scripture of the Personality of the Holy Spirit,
as well as His separate identity from the Father:

a) Personal pronouns are used in relation to Him: Jn. 16:14.

 John 16:14 (NLT)

14 
He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

b) Personal characteristics are ascribed to Him.

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 The definition of a person is: “One possessing intelligence, emotion or feeling,
and will.”

1. The Holy Spirit possesses intelligence:

1 Corinthians 2:10–12 (ESV)

10 
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit
searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 … So also no one
comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

2. The Spirit possesses emotion and feelings: the Holy Spirit loves and is
grieved.

Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)

30 
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed
for the day of redemption.

3. The Holy Spirit possesses a will.

1 Corinthians 12:11 (ESV)

11 
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions
to each one individually as he wills.

c) Personal actions are attributed to the Holy Spirit:

1. He speaks: Acts 13:2; 21:11; Rv. 2:7, 11, 17, 29.

 Acts 13:2 (ESV)

2 
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit
said, “Set apart for me Barnabas …"

2. He testifies: Jn. 15:26.

 John 15:26 (ESV)

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will
bear witness about me.

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 3. He teaches: Jn. 14:26.

 John 14:26 (ESV)

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, he will teach you all things …

4. He intercedes: Rom. 8:26, 27.

5. He guides: Jn. 16:13; Acts 16:6.

6. He gives commands and ordains: Acts 13:2; 20:28.

7. He works miracles: Acts 8:39; Rom. 15:19.

SUMMARY: The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity, he is God and yet a person.
Which means that I can have relationship with Him.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The Holy Spirit imparts life.

Genesis 1:1–2 (AMP)

IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens
and the earth. [Heb. 11:3.]
2 The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the
face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding)
over the face of the waters.

Genesis 2:7 (ESV)

7 
then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The Holy Spirit provides supernatural power

Judges 14:5–6 (NLT)

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 5 
As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly
attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. 6 At that moment the Spirit of the
LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare
hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or
mother about it.
WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?

The Holy Spirit draws us to God.

John 6:44 (ESV)

44 
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will
raise him up on the last day.

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

John 16:7–8 (AMP)

8 And when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict and convince the world
and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of
heart and right standing with God) and about judgment:

It's by the Holy Spirit that a person is born again and enters the family of God.

John 3:2–8 (NLT)

2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all
know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that
God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the
Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into
his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being
born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the
Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You
must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the

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 wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain
how people are born of the Spirit.”

John 20:21–22 (ESV)

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even
so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said
to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

There is a second work of the Spirit, after a person is born there is a baptism/
immersion in the Spirit, for empowerment and supernatural witness.

Acts 1:3–9 (NLT)

3 
During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles
from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.
And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
4 
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave
Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.
5 
John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit.”
The Ascension of Jesus
6 
So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time
come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
7 
He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and
they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me
everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.”
9 
After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and
they could no longer see him.

This is where we are going to leave off today, because we are going to drill down next
week and look at this second work of grace. This second act of the Spirit in the believer's
life.

APPLICATION:

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THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE THIRD PART OF THE TRINITY - THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON - WHICH MEANS YOU CAN HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH
THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE WAY AND THE MEANS BY WHICH GOD WORKS IN OUR LIVES.

Christianity is not just a philosophy, a code to live by. It's otherworldly, it

transcends the laws of nature, it often goes beyond what we can comprehend -
it's supernatural.

If you take away the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts, the one who makes the
supernatural happen, miracles to occur - what happened after Jesus left you are
not left with much and what's left makes little sense.

There is no Pentecost, no rushing wind, togues of fire, no prophesying, no

speaking in tongues, the 3,000 are not saved, not baptized.

There's no healing at the Gate beautiful …

You just have a shell of a book with a lot of missing pages and a story that makes
little sense.

The truth is without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our church
then we make little sense.

Let's ask Jesus to send the Spirit.