Recently we’ve been talking about the different ways in which we can live for Jesus every day. And I thought it may be a good time to step back and spend some time on the Holy Spirit.
Francis Chan calls the Holy Spirit in one of his books – the forgotten God (also the name of his book). Chan says that by and large the church has forgotten this key person in the Godhead. And I certainly agree that the Holy Spirit has been largely left out of mainstream Christianity.
And to be fair, in most of our services and lives, we show no need for Him. Our church services tend to be entertainment oriented and therefore, why would we need the Holy Spirit to draw people to Jesus when our hip music and funny sermons can do a much better job (that was sarcasm).
“The church becomes irrelevant when it becomes purely a human creation. We are not all we were made to be when everything in our lives and churches can be explained apart from the work and presence of the Spirit of God.”-Francis Chan
Not only do our churches struggle with inviting the Holy Spirit into our church services, but we, as Christians, struggle with even acknowledging that He exists. We live our lives doing our best to ignore Him.
The lives that we live, devoid of God’s Spirit, would be totally foreign to a believer in the New Testament era. So much of the Bible focuses on the Holy Spirit and God’s promise to send Him to us and then what His arrival looked like and how it affected the world that we live in.
In the book of Joel, God promises that in the last days he would send his Spirit.
“ I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
God’s promise is that he will pour out his Spirit on all of his people – young and old, male and female. This promise, Peter explained, was fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2. And Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would never leave us in John 14:16. So we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit is here today and He has not abandoned us.
With all of that in mind let’s look at the basics of the Holy Spirit:
- The Holy Spirit is a person. Far from an impersonal force, the Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third member of the Godhead – along with The Father and The Son. He is an equal member of the Godhead.
- The Holy Spirit is actively working the world today. “The work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the active presence of God in the world, and especially in the church,” according to Wayne Grudem in his book, Systematic Theology. We see from the very beginning of creation that the Holy Spirit was active in our world. Genesis 1:2 says that “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”
- The Holy Spirit can be resisted, quenched and grieved. The Bible tells us that the Spirit can be affected by our behavior. And while I don’t think the Spirit is fickle, there are ways in which we act that can affect him. We need to be mindful of how we act and what sins we commit. All of those things can affect our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
We will be taking a closer look at these things in our blog this week, so be sure to visit www.everydayjesus.net to dig deeper into the Holy Spirit.
Good News –
Cancer-stricken Farmer Helped by Neighbors
Unreached People Group –
Today’s Word – John 3:1-15
You Must Be Born Again
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind[e]blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you[f] do not receive our testimony.12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[g] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]
everydayjesus.net 