Tonight, we’re in the Gospel of John. If you don’t have a Bible, there’s probably one in front of you. If there’s not one in front of you, somebody stole it and broke some of the Commandments – feel free to grab a Bible. Lay this out – we’re gonna do theology tonight. I think theology is very sexy – it’s very sexy. Theology can be very sexy. There are two ways to basically study theology, one is called systematic. Systematics is where you take a topic and you put all the verses in the Bible together to come up with a summary of what the Bible teaches about a particular issue. Another way of studying Scripture is called Biblical theology, where you look at particular authors and books of the Bible, and how they deal with specific subjects. And so, that’s what we’ll be doing today.

I’m gonna start in John, Chapter 1, and I’m gonna go all the way through to John, Chapter 20 and I’m gonna look at each of the nine occurrences of the Holy Spirit that is overtly mentioned in John’s Gospel. And I’ll move pretty quickly, because there’s a great deal to say. First occurrence of the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel is in Chapter 1, Verses 32-34; just get used to flipping. John, the Baptizer, Jesus’ freaky, afro, bug-eating, living in the woods cousins says, “I saw the Spirit come from Heaven as a dove and remain on him,” Jesus. Verse 33 – “I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I’ve seen and I testify that he is the Son of God.” John says – John the Baptizer says, “I know that Jesus is God, because I was told that when I was baptizing people, preparing their hearts for the coming of the Lord, cleansing them from their sin, that the Spirit would descend upon one man, and when it did I would know that that was God, come in the flesh.” And he says, “As I baptize Jesus the Spirit of God descended upon him, therefore I know that that is God.” “That is very much the Son of God,” to use John’s language.

And if you remember the story in the Gospels, what happened was, it’s this beautiful picture of the Trinity. The church has always taught – the Bible has always taught that there is one God who exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; three different persons. Within that, some theologians have said, “If you try to explain that, you’ll lose your mind. If you try to deny that, you’ll lose your salvation. So, we’ll just leave it right there. There’s one God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And what you see at the baptism of Jesus, that John here is referring to, is that God the Father speaks from Heaven at the baptism of Christ and says, “This is my son, in whom I’m well pleased.” And then the Spirit of God descends like a dove and rests upon God the Son as he comes up out of the water, concluding his baptism. And John says, “I know that Jesus is the son of God, because of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s presence with him.”

So, we see the first thing that the Holy Spirit does, is he reveals to us that Jesus Christ is God. And for the duration of our talk tonight that is the primary function of the Holy Spirit, is to show us that Jesus is the one true God. Over in Chapter 2, the second occurrence of the Holy Spirit, is in conjunction with Jesus having a conversation with a religious teacher named Nicodemus, and he speaks about this issue in Chapter 3, Verse 1. We’re told, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees,” which is a strict sect of the Jewish faith, “And his name was Nicodemus. He was a member of ruling council, and he came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ In reply, Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth; no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born again when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ And Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he born of water and the Spirit.’ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it is going or where is comes from. And so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”

Jesus is having this conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus wrongly thinks that he is in a right relationship with God and has eternal life awaiting him, because he was born a Jew – into the right race – he lived according to the commands of God, he studied the Scripture, he was a good moral guy. Jesus said, “No, it’s going to take far more than that to get you into the Kingdom. You must be born again.” Nicodemus gets confused and says, “Well if the only way to into Heaven is to climb back into my mother, then I’m not going to Heaven.” Jesus says, “No, your mother wouldn’t like that – you probably wouldn’t like that either. If you do, we don’t want you in Heaven.” But, nonetheless, the fact of the matter is you have been born once, physically. Your mother’s water broke and you were birthed in flesh, brought into this world as a living, breathing human being. And now, to enter into the Kingdom of God you must undergo a second birth – a rebirth – you must be born again.

And that issue of being born again is a Spiritual rebirth, and he says that that is done by the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit will bring your Spirit to life and cause you to pass from Spiritual death to Spiritual life, thereby, enabling you to inherit the Kingdom of God. And he goes on to say, “That the Spirits work is like the wind.” The wind blows, we don’t see the wind, but we see its effects. We see its work. We see its power and its strength and its presence. And he says, “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The Spirit of God blows through the children of God, guides them, leads them. And we’ll see the other ministries that entail his work. But, that that’s how the Spirit works. And so, first we find in John 1, that the Holy Spirit shows us that Jesus is God, and in John 3, we see that the Holy Spirit gives us eternal life, makes us Christians, gives us salvation, causes us to be born again. The third occurrence is in the John 3:34, John the Baptizer again speaks, and he talks about one of the ministries of the Spirit. He says, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit,” the Holy Spirit, “without limit.”

Now, basically, John is stating here that when men speak on behalf of God – when servants of God speak, they speak by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, this is true for Jesus, this is true for John the Baptizer, this is true for John the author of this Gospel, that God speaks through people by his Spirit. What that means, is throughout human history, people have always needed to hear from God. We have needed a word from God, and so God speaks through his servants. We say this same thing in 2 Peter, Chapter1, like around Verses 20, 21, 22, right in there where it says, “That God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” And so, it is that to hear from God requires God lifting up a servant, placing his Spirit within that servant, and then speaking through that servant to his people. What that means in the present day is we’re teaching the Scriptures and speaking on God’s behalf, it must be done by the Holy Spirit if there is to be any power, or any life, or any truth to anything that we have to say. That the communication of the truth of God is contingent and depend upon the work of the Spirit, and so we need the Spirit to see that Jesus is God, we need the Spirit to have a relationship with God, and we need the Spirit so that we can have God speak to us, and that we can speak on God’s behalf.

The fourth occurrence of the Spirit in John’s Gospel, is over in Chapter 4, Verses 23 through 24. Here he speaks to a woman in the region of Samaria; she is considered a spiritual and a racial half-breed. There’s a great deal of animosity and racism between the Jewish people and the Samarians. And the Lord Jesus sits down to speak with her, and at the conclusion of their conversations, one of the issues that arises is she wants to talk about this issue of worship. And her point is simply, the Jews worship on this mountain, in this temple, in this way. We worship on a different mountain, in a different temple, in a different way. And she asks, then, “Which is the correct way to worship God? Where do we worship God? How do we worship God?” And Jesus gives a third category of answer that, basically, says, “Well, neither of those really matters. What matters is something entirely different.”

Beginning in Chapter 4, Verse 23, he tells her, “Yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” Jesus says, “If you want to worship God, here’s how you do it. You do it by the Holy Spirit.” You don’t worry about the time and the place, that’s not the primary issue. What that means for the rest of us is that God is Spirit. Some argue whether or not the Holy Spirit is, in fact, God. Here he says very clearly that it is. That God is Spirit and God is invisible and immaterial, and if we are to worship him, we are to worship him with our Spirits, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, therefore, we don’t need to go to Jerusalem. We don’t need to stand on the Temple Mount. We do not need to be in a particular place at a particular time to worship God, that we can be in our car driving to work, that we can be having breakfast in the morning. We can be at the laundromat cleaning our clothes, and there we have the opportunity to worship God, because the Spirit of the God is with us.

You see this in the Old Testament where God instructs his people to create an ark, whereby, his presence would dwell. He also informs them to create a temple, whereby, his presence would dwell. That God came in Jesus and dwelt present, tabernacled among us and now Paul tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit; that the Spirit of God lives within the child of God. And so, wherever we go, we can worship, because the Holy Spirit is with us and for us and through us, and worship is less about a time and a place and means and a way and ritual, and it is more about the Spirit causing our Spirit to be alive and give glory to God through Jesus Christ.

The fifth occurrence of the Spirit in John’s Gospel, there’s a few Chapters, 4 and in Chapter 7:37-39. Chapter 7, Verses 37 through 39, Jesus, here, speaks about the timing of the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is less related to his work and more related to his timing. Jesus says, Chapter 7:37, “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and he said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’” John then interprets this metaphor and says, “By this he meant the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not been glorified.”

Very simply, what it means is this. That you and I today, at this point of human history, stand a privileged relationship with God, whereby we can receive the Holy Spirit in a way that the Old Testament saints simply could not. The Old Testament Saints did not have a permanent, indwelling, and sealing of the Holy Spirit, as the children of God in this they do. God would come upon his servants and empower them for specific works. He would give them words of prophecy, or he would enable them to write Scripture with David. He would inspire David to write Psalms that were perfect and inspired by the Spirit of God. But, once that work was completed, the Holy Spirit would depart from those servants and they would be without the Spirit of God. That’s why David sings in Psalm 51:11, some of you may have sung this song, and he basically – there, says to God, “Take not your Holy Spirit from me,” because David knew that there were times when the Spirit of God was upon him and using him, and then there were times that the Spirit of God had retreated from him, and he did not have the Spirit working through him in that way.

That is changed in the New Testament. We’re told in Ephesians 1, “That the child of God has been sealed with the Holy Spirit,” as a down payment guaranteeing our inheritance, which is to come. And so we are sealed with the Spirit, whereby, they would have the Spirit upon them temporarily, and we have the Spirit with us permanently. And he says, “That the Spirit had not yet been poured out because Jesus had not been glorified.” What that simply means is that Jesus had not yet died and risen from death, and ascended back to the right hand of the Father, back to his position of original glory. Once that happened, then this Holy Spirit could be poured out and we see that early in the beginning of the Book of Acts, as the Spirit of God is sort of poured out upon the early church. And so, the Holy Spirit wasn’t given to us, as we now have privilege, until Jesus died for our sins, rose from death, returned to Heaven and God the Father and God the Son then sent God the Spirit.

The sixth occurrence of the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel is over in Chapter 14:15-17. In Chapter 14, beginning in Verse 15, Jesus goes on a long series of teachings about the Holy Spirit, and I just want to hit a few things from this particular section. In Chapter 14:15-17, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” The issue here is when Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as a counselor, he is basically instructing us in two things. That part of the work of the Spirit is one of comfort, that when we’re in sin, or we are struggling, or we are in a difficult place, that the Spirit of God comes to comfort the child of God. In addition, it’s also – accompanies with it, this means of instruction. That when we are straying, or when we’re lost, or when we misunderstand, or we need to know something, the Spirit comes in to instruct us.

And so, as our counselor, the Holy Spirit, comforts and instructs the child of God to continue them on their journey, as he says, into the truth, so that we can be free and rid of lies, and errors, and deception, and misunderstanding. And the Spirit of truth leads us and guides us into that truth as our counselor who comforts, and who instructs us. He then talks about the world, non-Christians, and how they respond to this. He says, “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and he will be in you.” Jesus then says, “I will not leave you as orphans.” Jesus basically – here, hours before his death, and he tells his disciples, “I am going to leave, the Spirit is going to come. He will not just be with you, but he will be in you. He will work through you as he works in you.” Jesus makes this tremendous promise.

And I love the fact that Jesus distinguishes his work from the work of the Spirit. In a way, he’s telling the disciples that they’re in this privileged place where his work is going to continue through them, by the Holy Spirit. It’s this great gift that he’s given to his children. He says, though, “That the world cannot receive this.” The world has a hard time, in some ways, conceiving of an invisible, immaterial, unseen God who is like the wind, and blows through people and changes their hearts and changes their minds and changes their lives, renews them, conforms them to his image. He says the world can’t accept that. Part of that is because the Holy Spirit doesn’t fit within the laws of scientific inquiry. You can’t test him and put him a laboratory and investigate him and, “Well, show me God. Where is God? Show me the Spirit of God. Show me this spiritual being.” The issue is you can’t, because our five senses do not perceive God. We don’t see him. We don’t hear him. We don’t taste him. We don’t touch him. We don’t smell him. But one of my favorite philosophers does say, “That God has given us this other sense called faith. And by faith we do perceive God.” And so, it takes faith, and the world without faith is incapable of believing in an immaterial God.

In addition, in Chapter 14, over in Verses 25 and 26, Jesus tells us a few more things about the Holy Spirit. He says, “All this I have spoken while I was still with you. But the Counselor,” – our comforter and instructor –, “or the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,” – or with my authority – “he will teach you all things
and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” So, part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is instruction. He’s teaching us. There’s a lot of things that we simply need to know. There’s a lot of things that we don’t understand. And Jesus says, “The Spirit will teach you. He will instruct you.” And so, as the Spirit is in us, and he is with us forever, his ministry of teaching is ongoing and continual. What that simply means is this. If you’ve been a Christian for some time and you only know the verses you used to know, and you only know the Books of the Bible you used to know, and you only understand the things that you were taught a while ago, you have not been spending enough time being instructed by the Holy Spirit, that you should be continually learning and building upon your understanding of God and his Word. It should be an ongoing instruction process, because the Spirit always has something else to teach us, we always have need to learn something new, and he is our continual teacher.

And so, for the child of God there is never a point whereby we sort of set our Bible and our studies on the shelf and come to this place of conclusion. It never happens. That God is endless and God is infinite, and the Spirit of God is continually teaching more, and more, and more, because there is so much for us to learn. And I love the fact too – he tells the disciples basically, “Don’t worry about what you have to say. I will bring to the forefront of your memory all those things that I have taught you through my Spirit.” If you’ve ever had an instance where you were reading the Bible, and all of a sudden it went from sounding like the teacher from Peanuts to making crystal clear sense, that was the Holy Spirit. If you’ve ever been speaking with someone, or had a life circumstances where the Scriptures came to your mind, or some truth of God came to your mind, you thought, “That’s what God was talking about. This is exactly what I need to do. This is the way this works.” That was the Holy Spirit taking what he had already taught you, and then surfacing it back into your memory so that it could be applicable in that time and place.

Any of you have a situation where you started reading the Bible as a non-Christian and it made no sense at all. You thought, “Why do people get fired up on this; vines and goats and – what in the world? Like, this is nuts.” And then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit comes in, and then all of a sudden the Scriptures start to make a lot more sense, and you go, “Oh, well this fits this. And I see how this and this go together. And this is about Jesus and – well this makes sense. This isn’t nearly as confusing as it once was.” I remember that in college, Grace gave me this Bible and I started reading it, and the first time through, I thought, “My goodness, it’s like reading the dictionary. There’s a bunch of words, but there’s no concepts. There’s no flow or order. It’s just a bunch of words that don’t go together.”

And I read the New Testament all the way through, and all I could really conclude was, “I don’t know why anyone reads this thing. This is just – this is complicated. It’s insane. It doesn’t make any sense.” And then, I remember the Spirit of God coming in and I’m reading it, and all of a sudden, it starts to make a tremendous amount of sense. Over and over, and over, I just keep saying that I stink and Jesus is great. And I figure, “Well, that seems to be the theme in this thing. I think I figured out the thread. I stink and Jesus is great. Well, that – there must be something to that, because everyone seems to be saying the same thing. It doesn’t matter what book I read, that’s the message I’m getting.” Come to find, that’s pretty much the summary of the whole thing – Genesis to Revelation – I stink and Jesus is great. That’s pretty much what it’s all about, and that’s the work of the Holy Spirit teaching you. So, if any point you’ve learned anything that was the Spirit of God doing his kind work. And that makes sense, because the same Spirit who inspired the servants of God to write the Scriptures, is the same Spirit that lives in you and I, and he teaches us.

And there’s a lot of debate today, “Well, why read the Bible? There’s a million interpretations. Everybody’s got their perspective. Nobody agrees – blah, blah, blah.” Well the issue is very simple. The Holy Spirit is bigger than that. The Holy Spirit wrote the Scriptures through the hands of his servants, he lives in his sons and daughters this present day who are reading it, and he can tell us what it is that he was talking about. It’s not that complicated. That’s why I will tell you, I am not opposed to study. I love to read. But, you give me someone who loves God and prays through every verse of the Bible, and I’ll tell you that is someone who probably has a better understanding of what it means, than someone who has a library filled with books but never gets on their knees and prays to the Holy Spirit asking him to teach them.

And so, in addition to all of your studies, you have to be asking the Holy Spirit to teach you, and he’ll answer that prayer. Sometimes he teaches us through people that he has in – his servants, who he has given the gift of teaching. 1 John says, “Sometimes he just teaches us all by himself, as we study and pray and learn and listen.” The seventh occurrence of the Holy Spirit is in Chapter 15:26-27. Here, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, Chapter 15:26, Jesus says, “When the Counselor,” – the Holy Spirit – “whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth,” – so the Spirit doesn’t lead us into lies and error and confusion – “when he goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” So, one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is he basically, tells people about Jesus. That’s the whole ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Jesus. Some of you may have been in churches where they talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. We don’t talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. The reason being, he is not the centerpiece of Scripture, he is not to be the member of the Trinity that we fix our eyes upon; that is supposed to be Jesus.

The Holy Spirit exists to reveal and testify Jesus. The Holy Spirit is, in some ways, like John the Baptizer, the best man at a wedding, and his whole function is to make the groom look good. There’s nothing worse than showing up at a wedding and seeing the maid of honor steal the show and the bride get pushed off the stage. That’s not the point. The Holy Spirit is that same way, he exists to show an reveal and glorify Jesus. So, if at any point Jesus is being glorified, Jesus is being loved, Jesus is being taught, Jesus is being worshiped, Jesus is being loved in a deep and profound way; you know that the Holy Spirit has been work. That’s what the Spirit does. Anytime people are talking about Jesus, freely, you know that the Spirit is at work. He says, “You know what, the Spirit will testify and so will you, because you’re my disciples.” That means for us whom are Christians, that the Spirit of God lives within us and he compels us to talk about Jesus. He compels us to share God’s love in Christ with other people. This is how the good news – the Gospel – goes forth into all nations of the Earth. It’s just by God’s people, by his Spirit, just sharing the love that God has and the wonderful things that God does.

The eighth occurrence is down in John 16, this is where we will spend the bulk of our time today. This is the longest section of instruction on the Holy Spirit, beginning in Verse 5, Jesus says, “Now I am going to him who sent me,” so Jesus is going back up to Heaven with God, the Father. “Yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.” The situation here is very simple. It is hours before Jesus’ death. Jesus is very soon to die, and he has just informed his students, “I am going to die and I’m going to leave.” And so, they are filled with a deep and profound grief that Jesus is completely aware of. And you can imagine a situation whereby the person that you love, more than anyone else, is on their deathbed, hours from death. Or, perhaps in Jesus’ situation, they’re young. They’re very young, they’re very healthy, they’re in great shape, there is no reason for them to die, but they tell you, “You know what. In a few hours, someone is going to murder me. I know I’m gonna die.” And you’re just filled with this overwhelming grief. That’s where his students find themselves, filled with grief, sad that Jesus is going to go. They’re lamenting his loss, which is impending. And then in Verse 7, he says something to them very peculiar. He says, “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I go away.” That’s very peculiar. I mean, how can it be good that Jesus is going to die and leave us?

I mean, can you think of any situation where you are hanging out with Jesus all the time, and he is going to leave and never come back, and he tells you, “Oh, this is really good for you.” It’s peculiar, to say the least. How could it be good that Jesus is leaving? Jesus is good, so being with Jesus would be good. You don’t need to be a logician to figure this out. He tells us why, though, it’s good for him to leave. There’s a good reason for Jesus to leave. He says, “Unless I go away, the Counselor,” – the Holy Spirit – “will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Jesus says, “It’s good that I am leaving, because the Spirit will come.” It’s good. And we’re here today, privileged by that fact. You know, we all want God to be present with us, but if Jesus was here in flesh and blood; he couldn’t be present with all of us, all the time. He couldn’t. I can’t be present with you at all times and places; neither could Christ if he were in human flesh.

But now, the Holy Spirit, he is with us all times, all places, all circumstances. Do you see why that is good for us? God is not absent. He’s not far – he’s right with us all the time, through the Spirit. So he says, “It’s a good thing I’m leaving.” God was present on this earth, in the person of Jesus. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection occurred. Jesus ascended back into Heaven. The Spirit was poured out and now God is present with us through the Holy Spirit. He then talks about the two relationships that the Holy Spirit has. One is with people who are not Christians. One is with people who are Christians. Beginning in Verse 8, he tells us how he works in the life of a non-Christian, “When he,” – the Holy Spirit – “comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

The Holy Spirit works this way with non-Christians. Jesus says he convicts them of sin so that they feel guilty, dirty, far from God, and deeply troubled. He also reveals to them the righteousness of God, that God is perfect and holy, and that they are not. And that God is perfect and they’re imperfect, and Heaven is a perfect place, and they are not a perfect being, and that they stand condemned before a righteous God. They stand condemned as an ally, and an advocate, and an adversary of Satan, the Prince of this world, who stands condemned with them. They’re enemies of God. If at any point, you have felt convicted of a sin, that was the Holy Spirit. And I believe that the reason that the Holy Spirit does that is to bring us to repentance so we realize, “I need God. I am a sinful person, guilty under the judgment of God, standing in allegiance with Satan.” Well, that’s bad. I need God. And I need Christ. And I need his righteousness for my sin. I need to get rid of my guilt and my sin, and I need to receive righteousness. The problem is I have none of my own. I need some to be given to me.

That’s the whole point of 2 Corinthians 5:21, that God made him Jesus, who knew no sin, to become our sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That Christ’s perfection and righteousness is placed on us, and our sin is placed on him, and he is punished in our place so that our sin and our guilt are lifted, and our condemnation is gone because Jesus was punished in our place. And the Holy Spirit convicts us of this tremendous need we have for Christ. I can still remember when I was a non-Christian in college; I thought I was a Christian. But I thought I was going to Heaven because I was a really good person. If you would’ve asked me how are you gonna go to Heaven, I’ll say, “Well, good people go to Heaven. I’m a good guy. I’m a great guy.” I told you in the past, I haven’t beat anyone up that didn’t deserve it. I haven’t stolen anything that I didn’t need. I haven’t told a lie that was that big of a deal, and plus I have a tremendous amount of humility. So, all of that combined indicates that I’m a very good person.

And then I started, all of the sudden, becoming very convicted of things that never previously had bothered me, like my tongue. I grew up in a working class family, and I played sports, and that combination does not lead to righteous speech. And I started being very convicted that I would take the Lord’s name in vain a lot, like as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, pronoun. Jesus Christ could be used for a large number of things. And all of the sudden, things that had previously never bothered me, all the sudden I felt really guilty about, really convicted of, really wicked. It troubled me deeply, like what is going on? How come all of the sudden I’m sensitive to everything and I’m not feeling so good about myself anymore, and I feel dirty all the time? Well, that was the Holy Spirit. That was the Holy Spirit convicting me of sin, pressing me toward Christ. You may have had an experience whereby with friends, and/or family members, they are committing sins that are grieving God, and they’re also ruining their life, and it bothers you because you love them, and you don’t want to see them continually do things that are so deadly. And so what you do is you speak to them, and you say, “You know, you shouldn’t be doing that. That’s a sin. That should really bother you that you do that. I’m worried that that doesn’t trouble you.”

And if the Holy Spirit is not working, the people will just simply say, “I don’t agree. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t feel the same way that you do.” And I have tried to do the work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives. Some of you have tried in your life, and I apologize for that publically now. The Irish option to the Holy Spirit is yelling, screaming, and threatening. And if I can’t get you to be convicted then I’ll just yell and threaten you until you do get convicted, but the problem is people never get convicted. They just get angry or they may demonstrate temporary conviction, “Oh, you’re right. I’m sorry. And they walk out and say, “Done. Back to normal.” The only way that true conviction comes is through the Holy Spirit. And so what you need not do is the failed Irish option of yelling, screaming, and threatening, because you can’t convict someone of sin, particularly if they’re not a Christian.

So what do you? What can we do? I think we can pray for that person. I learned this trick from wife. I talked to my wife recently – I talk to her all the time – but recently I talked to her about one thing in particular. I said, “You know, thank you so much. There’s a lot of women who yell at their husbands all the time, and some of them chuck things, and you are chuck-free and you don’t yell and I appreciate that.” I said, “How come you don’t yell at me like other women yell?” She says, “Well, you know when I feel like I’ve spoken to you and you’re not convicted about something you should be, I pray for you. I pray that the Holy Spirit would convict you.” I thought, “Oh, you sick God on my. That’s what you do.” But, that’s very effective. It works very well. And she says, “Then within a short time, the Spirit convicts you and you come back and you understand what it was that I was trying to say.” You say, “That’s a good woman right there.”

So I’ll tell the ladies a trick. The trick is, you could pray for the Holy Spirit, and he will take your husband to the woodshed. He’s very good at this. This is part of his ministry. And so, you can pray for people. I think in praying for them, it does two things. One, it may encourage the Spirit of God to continue his conviction. It’ll also change your heart toward that person. If somebody’s driving you nuts and you begin to pray for them, all of the sudden you become more compassionate and patient toward them. Realizing, you know, this is a God issue. I shouldn’t take this so personally. They are sinning against God, not just me. They need the Holy Spirit to convict them so that they can change. And so Jesus says, that’s the primary work of the Spirit. If you’ve ever been convicted to sin, felt guilty, just realized, “I am not doing well before God,” that was the Spirit.

He then talks about the relationship of the believer, the Christian, to the Holy Spirit, in Verse 12. He says, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” Jesus says, “I could talk forever. There’s a lot you need to know. You couldn’t even handle the number of things that I have to teach you. But, I won’t do that, instead when he,” – the Spirit of truth – “comes, he will guide you into all 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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. In a little while you will see me no more,” – I will die – “and then after a little while,” – three days later – “I’ll resurrect from death and you will see me again." Jesus says, “You know, as you’re getting ready to set out on your life, you have no idea what is to come. You have no idea what circumstances you’re gonna find yourself in, what needs you’re going to have, what information you’ll have to be aware – you have no idea.”

And Jesus says, “I’m not gonna tell you all at once up front.” It’s not like we get everything we need to know and then we go out and live our life, okay. In some ways, I would say that is the problem with the modern day educational system, particularly in the area of theology. Put them in school for two or three years, tell them everything they need to know, so that for the rest of their life they are ready. No. We don’t know what we’re gonna need to know. We don’t know what the future might hold. Some of you did not think you would be in this city, in your circumstance, working your job, living your life. You had no idea that life would be like this, and you never were prepared for it. The issue is, well, how did you get here? Well, the Holy Spirit put you in this place, and now he’s teaching you everything that you need to know, but he’s doing it on a step-by-step basis. Here’s something. Okay, you got that. Here’s something else. Here’s the next thing. I could teach you forever, and I will teach you forever, but we’re gonna go one thing at a time, bit by bit, you’re going to get what you need every step of the journey.

And so, the key is not knowing the future. People have asked me, you know, “What is Mars Hill’s ten year plan?” Our ten-year plan is to love God and do whatever the Holy Spirit tells us. I don’t know if we have anything beyond that. If we do, no one has let me see it. I don’t know if we can make many more plans than that. Jesus says don’t worry about tomorrow. I don’t think that means that we don’t plan, and prepare, and live responsibly. What I think that means, we can’t predict the future. We don’t know what is to come. So, what do we do? We rest in the fact that the Holy Spirit is with us and for us, that he knows the future, and he will instruct us, lead us, guide us into all truth, just as Jesus promised, as we need it. So, there’s nothing to worry about. Things are okay. It’s not like we’re marching off into eternity without any help. The Holy Spirit is like a loving father who takes the hand of his child and guides us on the journey. He’s very kind about that. Jesus says the Spirit will instruct you. He’ll lead you. He’ll teach you.

The last mention of the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel is all the way in Chapter 20:21-22. We’ve looked at the works of the Holy Spirit, that it reveals Jesus is God. He saves us and brings us into saving relationship of friendship with God. That he enables us to worship. That he convicts us of sin. That he teaches us, and lead us, and instructs us, and comforts us, and he guides us into the truth. And here he will tell us how the disciples received the Holy Spirit. I think it’s a beautiful portrait. Chapter 20:21-22, “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” I believe that is the theme and the summary of John’s Gospel, that God the Father sent God the Son, and God the Father and God the Son sent God the Spirit. And God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit are sending us, the children of God, as missionaries out into the world. Off we go.

Acts 17 says that God determines the times and the places in which we live. Some of you did not know you would be here now. “What am I doing here?” God put you here. Everything is under the sovereign hand of God. That God is sent us – and the issue is, “Well, where is my mission field?” Some people say, “Well, I want to be a missionary. I want to go to Istanbul. I want to go to Korea. I want to go to Africa,” how about going across the street, because there’s somebody there that doesn’t know God. Your place of work, your friends, your families, your hobby, your sports leagues; whatever it is that you happen to find yourself in a social network, that is where you have been sent. And we’re all in full time ministry, a priesthood of believers seeking through the Spirit in us, to testify publically about the Lord Jesus, so that others would be convicted and come into right relationship with him. So, we’re all in full time ministry. We’re all working on Jesus’ behalf and the Sprit has gifted us and sent us out into the world to get a lot of things done.

And it seems a bit overwhelming. How are we gonna get all this done? That’s a lot of people to touch. That’s a lot of churches to plant. That’s a lot of Bible studies to lead. That’s a lot of things to organize. How are we going to accomplish all that? You know, this year alone, our network is gonna plant 54 churches in 6 nations. How are gonna organize all that? How are we gonna keep all that together? Look at all the places God is sending people. Jesus tells his disciples how this will all get accomplished. Verse 22:20, “And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” Receive the Spirit, that’s how it’s gonna get done. How is the Gospel gonna get preached? How are churches gonna get planted? How are people gonna come into right relation with God? How is everything going to get done? The Holy Spirit blowing through the children of God. And you’ll notice where the Holy Spirit comes from. He comes from Jesus.

I’ve seen some nutty, freaky teachers get up and blow on people so they’ll receive the Holy Spirit. The only problem is they’re not Jesus Christ. Other than that, it makes perfect sense. You never see those guys trying to walk on water; they never do that trick. There’s too much risk. The Spirit – I can’t give you the Spirit, but the Spirit comes from Jesus. He’ll give you the Spirit, and he’ll give you the Spirit in such a way to send you out to do his work and continue the ministry that he’s begun. This language here, of the Sprit of God blowing, it echoes the teachings in Chapter 3 of John, with Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit is like the wind, and he blows freely wherever he pleases. It reminds me of the language in Ephesians, Chapter 5:18, where the Apostle Paul says don’t get drunk with wine, but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The word picture there in the Greek text is one where you and I are like ships, and when we sin, we are dropping anchor and basically telling God, “No. I will not move and I will not be directed.” And when we pull up anchor, that’s our confession and repentance, and we set our sail, our mast is up, and we’re waiting for the Sprit of God to blow. That’s what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s like a mast being filled with a strong wind that leads, and guides, and directs it on its journey. That’s what we’re supposed to be, Jesus breathing his Spirit on and through us, and then that guiding and governing the direction of our lives. That’s what it means to be filled with the Spirit. I’m gonna open it up for a little bit. What questions do you guys have about the Holy Spirit?

Response: What is the difference between the giving of the Spirit here and in Acts?

Yeah. Here they receive the Holy Spirit, and then in the Book of Acts there’s a permanent indwelling. I think part of the reason that he gave them the Spirit at this moment, is they would need that power of the Spirit to just carry them through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I’m sure as they saw him crucified, their faith could’ve been shaken to the core, and everything could’ve fallen apart with his leadership. But, because of the Spirits work sort of comforting, and encouraging, and instructing, you see the early church does hold together until the opening chapter of Acts, where it says all the believers gathered together – I think there was about 120 in number – and they were praying, and then the Spirit of God was given; that was following Jesus’ ascension.

And so Jesus told them in Acts, after his resurrection, before his ascension back into Heaven, “You’re gonna be my witnesses. I’m gonna send you out into all the earth. But don’t go yet, because you haven’t received the Holy Spirit. Wait. And when I send the Spirit, you’ll have power and authority. You’ll be able to go out and do what I’ve sent you to do.” And so here, I believe it’s more like an Old Testament context, where the Spirit of God has been given to these men to empower them for a particular ministry, to get them through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection to hold the believers together. And then the Spirit of God is given in a sealing way, beginning in the opening chapters in the Book of Acts. Other questions?

Response: How can we tell that the Spirit is working in us?

I think that the Spirit of God is always blowing through the children of God, because the issue is, what does he do? He convicts of sin. Well, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you should have a little of that going on. He instructs us; that means that there is something that he is teaching us and we’re learning. And even if we feel like, “I’m not moving, and going, and guiding, and God isn’t blowing through me,” what he may be teaching is patience, but he’s still working. He just may not be working in ways that we’re particularly excited about. We get excited when God does big things, like “Oh, people got saved and walked on water.” “What’s he teaching you?” “Patience. Long suffering.” “Oh, well, is he working? It feels like he left.” “No, he’s still there. He’s just doing things that I’m not real excited about right now.”

And so, I believe that the Spirit of God is always at work in the children of God, there are just some times that it’s less exciting than we would like it to be. And when we tend to think of the Holy Spirit, we tend to think of big, miraculous, wonderful, supernatural things. Let prayer – Romans 8 says we don’t know how to pray. He interprets the longings of our heart, and brings those to the Father as prayer. Bible study; he’ll lead us and guide us into all truth. Conviction; he’ll convict us of sin. You go, “Well, those aren’t very sexy things,” but no, you know what. That’s the bread and butter of your existence right there. You got to have those things. How about love? Romans 8 says that he has given us love by the Holy Spirit he has poured into our hearts. So, as long you’re learning to love, and being convicted of sin, and seeing Jesus more clearly as your God, and understanding the truth of scripture, and loving your neighbors and your enemies, you know that the Holy Spirit’s at work.

That’s what Romans 8 says. You know, we love with the love that God has given us. What that means is if the Spirit of God is in you, you’ll start to be nice to people that you can’t even stand. They drive you nuts. And almost against your will, you find yourself loving people, and it sort of bothers you. You wish you could stop. You know you have the Holy Spirit when you start being nice to people, when you love your enemies, when you pray for those who persecute you. The Spirit of God is just sort of pouring out this love in your heart, according to Romans 8. What else do you want to know about the Sprit?

Response: How does the Spirit relate to speaking in tongues?

About speaking in tongues? I knew somebody was gonna ask. They always ask. You guys should go to 1 Corinthians 12. I think after Proverbs, we’re gonna do 1 Corinthians, so if you’re here in five years, you’ll get to hear us do Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is a great book. 1 Corinthians is a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth was the church of Springer. This is the most jacked church you’ve ever seen. People are getting drunk at communion. You know you have a drinking problem when you walk up for communion, and we got the big goblet of wine and you finish it. You know you have a major alcohol issue. People – one guy’s sleeping with his mother-in-law. It may be his mom; we’re not real sure. And Paul is like, you know, non-Christians are throwing up about that. You should definitely talk to that guy.

They’re suing each other because they don’t want to go to work, and the Bible says you’re not allowed to sue another believer, so they hear, “Well, if I sue you and get all your money, you won’t sue be back, so then I can retire off of your money.” This is a jacked church. Everything in the church is messed up. And Paul starts off his Epistle here, saying, “I praise God for the grace he has given you.” That is not a compliment, by the way. If I walk up to you and said, “You know I am amazed at the buckets of grace God has given your pathetic, wretchedness.” You would not say, “Well, thank you. That is so encouraging. That’s so wonderful.” So, everything in the Corinthian letter is a rebuke. Don’t do this. Don’t do this. Stop doing this. Don’t do this. So, as you hit the section on Spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, some commentators all of the sudden leap and say, “Oh, and we need to be like the church at Corinth.” No. No. We don’t want to do anything like the church at Corinth. If we do, you guys can come and visit me in a round room somewhere. I don’t want to be anything like the church at Corinth.

And so, Paul is rebuking them because they’re misusing and abusing Spiritual gifts. Some people will tell you, “Well if you’re –,” – and some people do this, too. They have two kinds of Christian. They have varsity and junior varsity. Junior varsity means you’re just a Christian. Varsity mean you speak in tongues. You get a jacket. You get a letter. You get bars on your shoulder. And I get this all the time. I have people visit the church, and some of you are visiting – you know, I hope the next church you go to, you enjoy more than this one – but, I have some people come to the church, and the first thing they ask is, “Oh, that was pretty good. Do you speak in tongues?” I say, “No. I never spoke in tongues.” They said, “Oh, well I want a pastor who has the Holy Spirit.” “Well, I want a congregant that doesn’t give me a headache, so this isn’t gonna work out for either of us.”

And the issue is, you know, I can have the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues. And the issue is, “Oh, I convicted myself of my sin. I led and guided myself into all truth. I revealed Jesus as my God to myself. And now I’m a Christian without the Holy Spirit; lucky me. Aren’t I –,” no, I didn’t do jack squat is what I did. It was the Holy Spirit doing all of that work. I told you guys this, I had one woman come up to me in conference, and she said, “You do a really good job for a man without the Holy Spirit.” And I said, “Well do you have the Holy Spirit?” She says, “Yes,” I said, “Well, then you should be nicer than walking up to complete strangers and telling them nasty things like that.” I said, “You paid $200 to hear me preach. If you have the Holy Spirit, I should have paid $200 to hear you preach.” She left. I said, “You know I hate this fact that that some people will say, ‘Oh, you’re a Christian without the Holy Spirit, you need to get the Holy Spirit.’” And then, you got to do something like, “Come on up and I’ll smack you in the head or knock you over or –,” I don’t know what I got to do to – you know, whatever. If you want that, I’ll smack you, but – smacks are free at Mars Hill.

1 Corinthians 12 – that’s my introduction, 1 Corinthians 12 – “Now about Spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant,” okay. What that means is they’re what? They’re ignorant, okay. Everybody says, “Now, don’t be an idiot,” what I’m saying is, you previously had been an idiot and now we’re going to change that. “You know that when you were pagans, you were somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can says, ‘Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. How do you know if someone has the Holy Spirit? Well, one of the things they do is they recognize that Jesus is their God. He says, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit,” that the one Holy Spirit gives lots of different Spiritual gifts. He goes one, “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works them in all men.” He goes then and talks about the benefit of the gifts is for the building up of the church and for the common good. It is not that God gives us gifts so that we can be really edified and built up and feel really holy and pious about ourselves. No, the gifts are given so that we can help other people.

Paul, then goes on to list the gifts and he says, “That the,” – down in Verse 11 – “all these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives to each one, just as he determines.” What that means is who determines who gets what Spiritual gift? The Holy Spirit does. We don’t get to pick our gift. So, I won’t tell you, you know, if you want tongues, come on up and I’ll give it to you. That may not be the gift that God has for you. And he tells us, then in Verse 13, the – Verse 12 rather, “The body is a unit, though it is made of many parts; and though all the parts are many, they form one body. So it with Christ.” What he tells us is simply this. There’s a lot of different parts, we each have a contribution to make, and we’re not going to be the same and that’s good. You know, on a – last week, Mars Hill had about 600 people. Can you even fathom how terrible it would be if we all were preachers? Could you find a more painful experience than to walk in and have 600 people preach at you? No one with a gift of hospitality that shakes your hand, no one with a gift of service that actually plugged in a microphone, we all were just preaching at you, 600 of us, an hour each, just like me. That would be the most painful thing. I’m a preacher and I would hate that.

There is a reason that we don’t all have the same gift. God has put us together and he has given us Spiritual gifts by his Holy Spirit, to participate together. So, okay, you teach well, you’re hospitable, that means you encourage and nurture friendship among people. You’re an encourager, so you can make him feel better. You’re really organized, so now that we have all these people and it’s a total mess, you can do charts and graphs and count the money and keep us out of prison. We all work together, as a team. We don’t all have the same gift. So, it makes me really angry when people say, “Well, if you’re a Christian, you’ll have this.” No – no, because it is not that gift that shows that I have the Holy Spirit. I said I love Christ, which shows that I have the Holy Spirit. And he continues, then, if you look at Verse 13, some people will tell you, “Oh, you don’t have the Holy Spirit until you’re baptized with the Holy Spirit, baptized with fire.” Have you have been to one of those weird sort of youth rallies where they scare you to death at night. You come forward and get the fire, and if you get the fire, then you got the fire and it’s like – that’s guy’s yelling you, you’re all freaked out, you know, you don’t sleep for a week, and then they tell you, you had a Spiritual experience. No, you’re sleep deprived and you’re scared to death.

He tells us in Verse 13, “We’re all,” – I would emphasize all – “baptized with the Spirit.” We all had a baptism of fire – okay, we’re all fine. So, we all have the Spirit. We’re all baptized with the Spirit. They simply – it’s another nice way of saying, “You’re saved. You’re a Christian. You have the Holy Spirit.” Okay. It’s not like you’re gonna go from junior varsity to varsity and then you get the fire, and then all of a sudden you start screaming like an imbecile. You can scream like an imbecile without the fire. It’s not evidence of anything. And then he goes down – I’m sorry. I got a nap today. I’m feeling good. Verse 29, he tells us, then, rhetorically, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” No. The answer’s no. We’re different and that’s the way God’s designed us. So, as we’re sent out in the world we have our contribution to make.

So, one of the thing the Holy Spirit does, he gives us each a particular ability to serve him in a special way, so that we’re all in full-time ministry, and so that other people can come to know Jesus. That’s the point. So the body can be built up and people who are non-Christians can come to be part of the family of God. Good question and a wonderful opportunity for some comedy, so I thank you. What else would you like to know? You’ve got to give me some more material. I’m hot tonight. I need to use it. What else do you want to know? Anything else about the Holy Spirit? Yes?

Response: Should Christians sing the song, “Create in me a clean heart, renew a right Spirit . . . ”

Renew a right Spirit within me. I don’t think Christians should sing that song. I think it leads to a lot of confusion. Some of you have sung that song, you know, – I won’t sing for you, because Scriptures make a joyful noise – I’m good at half of that. I’m good at the noise part. But it says, you know, “Create in me a clean heart, oh, God. Renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Renew a right Spirit within me. Take not your Holy Spirit from me.” I don’t think we should sing that. If we do, I think we should modify it. I think we should say, “Thank you that you will not take your Spirit from me,” because God tells us, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Paul says, “Even when are faithless, he is faithful.” Can you imagine that you sinned and rebelled against God, and then the Holy Spirit left? You’re never coming back. You’re never gonna come to repentance. You’re never gonna be convicted. You’re never gonna change. Nothing will be different. “You are forever forsaken, but the Spirit of God does not abandoned the children of God,” Jesus says that. He says, “I will not leave you as orphans. I’m not gonna just send you off with no Father to hold your hand and walk you through life.” The Spirit of God will be there for the child of God.

Psalm 51:11, yeah. And it’s inspired and it fully makes sense to the people at that time. They had a different situation in their relationship with God, different than we do. What else do you guys want to know? Yeah?

Response: I think a lot of the people that believe in that varsity/junior varsity thing you were talking about?

Yeah.

Response: I get – it seems to me they get that from Acts 19, where it talks about Paul, that type of people on the road to the Holy Spirit. What do you have to say about that?

Yeah. Part of it is, is that in the Book of Acts, you will find people who come to saving faith in Christ and the evidence that was speaking in tongues. It’s true. And I can’t speak on authority. With the elders, when it comes to these kind of debated doctrines, we convene as elders to study together and I submit to those men. I will tell you my personal position, which again is not the position of the elders, necessarily, because we haven’t got into this issue. I believe that all the gifts probably do continue today, and that tongues does continue. I’m just not sure if what people are calling tongues is biblical tongues. I don’t know what is. Part of my problem is 1 John 4, tells us, “To test the spirits, because not every Spirit comes from God.” So, just because there’s something going on does not evidentiary prove to me that that’s the Holy Spirit.

For example, in Hinduism and in Mormonism, it is very common for people to speak in tongues or ecstatic utterances. That’s one of the primary ways that Mormons are seeking to evangelize Christians, is by saying, “Well, see we speak in tongues and we’ve got the Holy Spirit, too.” I don’t that just because you speak in tongues it is necessarily the Holy Spirit. There are other Spirits that are working. And so, within that, too, I believe that in the New Testament there were people who spoke in tongues. The two words used in the Greek text for tongues are glossolalia and dialectos; glossolalia being languages, dialectos being subset dialects within a language. So you see this in Acts 2, where you know, people are speaking in tongues in the early church, and it says, “That everyone heard them in their native language.” So, what that means is there are different people who speak different languages that are gathered together, and tongues seems to me to be the ability to speak those languages, and so I think it’s a missionary gift.

If you go into a place where you don’t speak the language, God may enable you to speak that tongue – to speak that language for a missionary purpose. And so, some people, I believe in the New Testament, as in our own day, do receive the gift of tongues, and they do have that given to them. But, what you’ll find is the preponderance of the time in the Book of Acts that it says, “That the Holy Spirit came upon someone.” The majority of the time it does not say, “And they spoke in tongues.” The majority of the time it says, “And they spoke the word of God with great boldness.” So, I would say the primary evidence of the Spirit in someone’s life, even in the Book of Acts, is that they are bold for the cause of Christ. And again, to me it’s sad, because some people, then, feel like, “Well, if I don’t have a particular gift, then I don’t have the Holy Spirit and God doesn’t love me, and I have asked him for bread and he has given me a stone.” And, “Why doesn’t God love me? Why won’t God let me do that? They always tell me that if I really love God I’ll be able to do that, and I keep trying and I just can’t.” The issue was no, no, no, God’s already given you a gift. You can’t steal another one; it wouldn’t be a gift.

It’s like me saying, “Well, I really wanted a television for my birthday, and they gave me a radio. So, I broke into the good guys in the middle of the night and I was a bad guy and I ripped off a television.” That’s not a gift. You’re supposed to be content with what God has given you and you’re place in the body of Christ. That purpose that he has called you toward. There are many – let me ask you this. According to what we just looked at and what else the Scripture says, how would you – what things would you look for to see if someone had the Holy Spirit? What would you – what would be evidenced?

Response: Love.

Love. Galatians 5:22 and onward. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, and then out of that comes joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self control.” Romans 8, “That God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Spirit that he’s given us.” You’d look for love. Love for God and love for neighbor. What else would you look for? Faith. Jesus uses this languages, he says, “Believe in me and you will receive the Holy Spirit’s faith. Love me, I’ll send you the Holy Spirit. Obey me.” You should look for those – or do they love Jesus? Do they trust him? Do they obey him? That’s probably the Holy Spirit’s in there somewhere. What else?

A desire for God. A deep desire to continually learn more about God and be led and guided into the truth, particularly, I would say to study Scripture. I can tell someone has become a Christian when all of a sudden; they really want to know the Bible and they have a million questions, and there’s a lot of things that they’re really curious about and they want to figure it all out. They’re wanting to know more about God. They’re hungry for a taste of God. What else would you look for?

Yeah, the conviction should lead to repentance. Repentance should lead to joy. Because now like Paul says in Philippians 3, “I can forget all that junk that’s behind me and I can move on with my life now, so I should be joyful.” So, you should look for joy. What else?

Part of that is wisdom. That as circumstances come, we don’t just freak out. We know, you know, God is here, the Holy Spirit is here. He will lead me, and guide me, and instruct me, and inform me, encourage me, counsel me, comfort me. I’m not in over my head. God has not allowed me to be in beyond what I am capable of bearing. There’s a way through this. That’s why the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is referred to as the Spirit of Wisdom, okay. And I want you guys to see that the Spirit comes from Jesus. That’s why it’s important that we understand Jesus. If you have Jesus, you have everything. Jesus gives you the Spirit and he’s your intercessor, high priest, mediator, and advocate who reconciles you to the Father. So, if you have the Son, you have the Father, and you have Spirit, everything is fine as long as you have the Son. And I want you guys to realize what a great gift this is. God is with us. God is in us. God is through us. God is for us to convict us, and instruct us, and lead us, and guide us, and comfort us, and counsel us, and nurture us, and gift us, and use us, and change us. Jesus words are true; he’s done exactly as he promised he would. And I love his language, forever – forever that God is with us.

Where we’re gonna go tonight is a time of response. We always respond. We believe that God initiates and we respond. Tonight we’re going to respond with taking an offering. If you’re a non-Christian or visitor, don’t give – good to have you. If you’re a Christian, you can respond by being convicted of your sin and recognizing your need for Jesus. His death, burial, resurrection for your sin, and then, him giving you his righteousness, so that the Spirit of God can dwell in you and begin to change you in all of those way that you have never been able to change yourself, because you don’t have that kind of authority and power.

We will respond through singing, because according to John 4, that’s one of the ministries of the Spirit, is causing us to be worshipers, the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks. We’ll respond through prayer, because that’s one of the ministries of the Spirit, is teaching us to pray. We’ve responded tonight by listening and learning, and now we will be sent as Jesus said we would, and we will pray that the Spirit of God will blow in and through us in the ministries with the gifting, as he has intended for us. And so, Holy Spirit, we come tonight, very grateful, thanking you that Jesus words are true. That you have come to your children, that you live in us and through us, that you convict us of our sin, that you teach us to pray, that you give us faith, that you enable us to love, that you cause us to be new creations in Christ. That you send us out into the times and places that we find ourselves, and that there you give us particular gifts that are specifically needed, so that the ministry will continue.

Holy Spirit, I thank you for teaching us Scripture, for bringing things to remembrance exactly when we need them, for leading and guiding us into truth and not leaving us in error and sin and astray. Thank you, Holy Spirit that you enable us to worship, to glorify, the Lord Jesus, to see him always more clearly as our God. Jesus, thank you for dying for our sins and trading our sin for your righteousness. Thank you for sending the Spirit to be with us always, so that we would not be left as orphans. We pray, Lord Jesus, that as you blew on your disciples, you would indeed blow on us and through us, that we would continually be filled with your Spirit and guided on your ways. We love you so much, and Father, we thank you for all that you have done to send the Son, and send the Spirit, and send us, and one day take us home.