More of You, God!: Presence
Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher
God desires his people to grow in the understanding of his Holy Spirit - who he is, what he does and to what he points.
Focus: We will better understand the person of the Holy Spirit when we look to Jesus and his Word.
The Presence of God
The Person of God
The Priorities of God
The Presence of God
God gives us not only information about himself, but his presence in the person of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-31
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
There is one God in three persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is just as much God as God, the Father and Jesus, the Son.
The Holy Spirit was represented as God in both the Old and New Testaments.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was the person by whom the prophets spoke, performed their miracles and made predictions of both world events and the coming Messiah.
That same Holy Spirit is with us today as New Testament believers.
Why did God send his Holy Spirit?
God sent his Holy Spirit that his presence might be with us until Christ’s return.
Cultivating our relationship with the Holy Spirit is the manner in which we have direct access to the Father, through Jesus his Son.
The presence of God in the Holy Spirit empowers us to obey the commands of God.
We show our love for God by obedience to God’s commands.
The more intimately you walk with the Holy Spirit, the more you will demonstrate and so prove your love for God (Romans 8:5).
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito.”
-C.S. Lewis
In what ways are you growing in your recognition of the presence of the Holy Spirit?
The Person of God
God’s Word allows us to understand who the Holy Spirit is and what he does.
John 16:4-11
4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The Holy Spirit is God in the earth to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement.
You do not have to convince people regarding the truth of God’s Word - when you preach it, the Holy Spirit testifies to it.
Jesus perfectly exemplified obedience to God’s commands.
Now that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit is with believers to constantly lead them into right decisions that both please and glorify the Lord.
The Holy Spirit reminds people with conviction that they will have to give an account for their lives in the judgment to come.
We can try to ignore, but we will not escape the judgment of God.
In what ways are you growing in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s conviction?
The Priorities of God
The Holy Spirit continually points us to God’s priorities found in his Word as we seek to live a life that glorifies Jesus Christ.
John 16:12-15
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit continually takes from what is Christ’s and makes it known to the world.
In doing so, the Holy Spirit heals and makes us whole.
The Holy Spirit primarily makes what is Jesus’ and makes it known to the world through Scripture (the Bible), the Word of God, which was breathed out by the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:15).
The Holy Spirit secondarily leads us with moment by moment promptings of how to use our time, our talent and our resources in manners which glorify Jesus.
As we grow in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, he not only keeps us from sins of commission, but also sins of omission.
James 4:17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
In what ways are you growing in being led by the Holy Spirit?
We are continually led to the cross by the Holy Spirit, to experience first the regeneration and then the ongoing renewal of the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith.
Come to the cross today to experience the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ, who paid for our sins by his sacrifice, and was resurrected by the power of God so that he might pour out the Holy Spirit by whom we live a life that glorifies God!
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021