Holy Spirit Refresh, Ep 13
Holy Spirit Refresh
Welcome Back! I am Dawn Simmons, host of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies and this week we are going to be discussing the Holy Spirit. We've had a number of weeks of some heavier topics so I want to bring some light into our time together. A refreshing for us, so we can refocus on whatever we have in our lives and step forward with the Holy Spirit ready to reclaim our lives for the Kingdom. This will by no means be an all-encompassing discussion on the Holy Spirit. What I want to do instead is talk about the Holy Spirit's origin and role in our lives. There are a lot of misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. There is doubt, which we know who perpetuates that, but let's be clear and open about the Holy Spirit in our lives and how our lives can be radically changed when we include the Holy Spirit and ask for guidance.
So let's start off with the origin of the Holy Spirit. This is important to be clear about because in my experience, new believers, in particular, have more knowledge in the New Testament than they do in the Old Testament. I want to clarify the Holy Spirit's presence over time and the intent of the Lord in providing the Holy Spirit as a "gift" to us.
In Genesis 1:1, we are introduced to God as he begins the process of creating the heavens and the earth. In the second verse of the Bible, we are introduced to the Holy Spirit. Let's read how Moses was inspired to write our introduction to God: "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." The Holy Spirit has been in existence since before the world was formed. He has been through everything in world history, right alongside God every moment.
The Holy Spirit did assist God's people throughout the Old Testament. In Nehemiah 9:20, “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst."
We also read Isaiah's description, Isaiah 63:11-14, "Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,"
So we can see here in these two examples, the Holy Spirit was heavily involved in with God's people, helping them, providing for their needs, providing comfort, focus, clarity.
Let's talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit because this is an area of confusion for some who don't know the Holy Spirit yet. You often hear there are two baptisms. Some will say that is nonsense, there is only one baptism. Both are true statements, and both baptisms are used today, but there is only one correct way. Let's look first at baptism before Jesus started his ministry. The first baptism that occurred in the Bible was by John the Baptist and is called a baptism of repentance. John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin and John's ministry started before Jesus' ministry. He taught repentance and a water baptism as a preparation because the Kingdom of God was coming. John was preparing the way for Jesus, the Messiah. John 1:23. John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[d] Elizabeth, while pregnant with John the Baptist, was the only person the Bible specifically says was given the Holy Spirit prior to birth, prior to Jesus, prior to a salvation in Jesus. This is found in Luke 1:39, when Mary visits Elizabeth. "At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." So John carried with him through his life the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now a little tidbit of background information. This history is found nowhere else in the Bible, only in Luke. To refresh your memory, Luke was a doctor who was a traveling companion to Paul. He wrote with a lot of detail. Toward the end of Mary's life, tradition holds that she lived near Ephesus and John visited her, befriended her and was able to obtain a lot of background information we would not have in our Bible otherwise. Okay back to my point, John also testified about his relationship with the Holy Spirit in John 1:32: "Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]
Jesus was conceived in Mary through the Holy Spirit, Matthew 1:18. "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit."
So to be clear, the Holy Spirit is an integral part of God's plan for our salvation.
Back to the discussion on the baptism on repentance. So this baptism is done today, generally speaking when we are baptized in Christ, we are doing so as a sign of repentance. Unfortunately for some, that is all they know of their baptism. The Holy Spirit isn't taught in all Christian churches as a "gift" for today. So it is true that it is a baptism used today, but it is not the complete truth for believers today and not Biblical.
The second baptism is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The act of baptism in Jesus is intended to cover both the act of repentance and the act of receiving of the "Gift" of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul describes it for us this way, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit " This is the Biblical baptism where we will receive the Holy Spirit as our "gift".
Jesus tells us before he ascended that we will receive a helper, a Spirit of truth. John tells is beautifully three times in scripture how Jesus explained the coming of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
John 15:26: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
John 16:13-14: But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you
For us, the Holy Spirit is received through baptism. It was different at the ascension and which is how Pentecost occurred because the Holy Spirit came at that time and as He came upon the believers in those momentsw additional spiritual gifts were also given and received. These spiritual gifts were then used immediately for the benefit of the non-believers and the spread of the gospel.
You may hear some who say when we are baptized we receive the Holy Spirit and, as a result, all of these changes should happen to us immediately, or we should react in a certain way, as if a small Pentecost were occurring within the person at that moment. I am going to disagree with that idea on all levels and here is why.
We have just we have repented and have been forgiven of our sins. We have the gift of salvation, we have the "gift' of the Holy Spirit given to us, this is one of the best moments of our lives. However, this is also when we are at our youngest and least mature as a believer, so many are not ready, would not understand, and may even resist any additional spiritual "Pentecostal type" giftings during this moment. You would never hand over the keys to a Lamborghini to someone who just got their drivers license. Would you fly transatlantic with someone who just got his pilot's license? NO! Likewise, the Holy Spirit isn’t going to just start handing out spiritual gifts to people who don't take the time and have the relationship to be able to use them appropriately. To be clear, I am talking about the spiritual gifts here as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12. (wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues) I have seen countless people baptized in my life and have never seen anyone come up out of the water and start operating in the spiritual gifts. We should receive the "gift" of the Holy Spirit at baptism and thank the Lord for that priceless "gift". Spiritual gifts are given freely, and the spiritual gifts are intended to be used for the Glory of God. The idea of receiving the Holy Spirit at baptism and receipt of spiritual gifts should not be combined. One leads to the other when we are ready and not before.
Let's dig a little deeper into this discussion on the spiritual gifts and the role of the Holy Spirit in using those gifts. Understanding this is important because it is one of the issues that is very divisive among believers and the division is due to ignorance. One cannot say they believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, believe in the salvation of Jesus and then also state that the Holy Spirit is not active in our lives today, and the spiritual gifts Jesus provides through the Holy Spirit are not true and intended to be active today. Anyone who says supernatural activity, whether it is the Holy Spirit or the demonic activity, does not exist today is calling God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit a liar. Read any page in the Book of Revelation and you cannot deny the spiritual realm is active today because how can you explain the coming of Christ. I cringe when I hear pastors in particular, and I tend to hear this more on the radio ministries than anywhere else, criticize believers who are active in the spiritual gifts. They mock them even. I heard a nationally known pastor last week mocking groups of believers for what he considers to be sensationalism and claims of tingling feelings that have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. That hurt my heart to hear, and I hope that one day this pastor repents of saying those words. A few minutes later he boasted, and yes, it was actually boasting, of how he knows when the Holy Spirit is talking to him because "one time" he felt like he wasn't supposed to go into a building. He stated that he didn't know why, but he just felt like there was something demonic about the building. That pastor is doing such a disservice to the tens of thousands that hear his message. If he took the time to truly develop his relationship with the Holy Spirit, he would have those moments where he felt the joyful tingling of the Holy Spirit. He also would have known exactly, exactly why he shouldn't go into the building because the Holy Spirit is willing to reveal to us, through spiritual discernment, the root of a demonic if we take the time and give the respect to the Holy Spirit in those circumstances to work with us and keep us from harm.
A number of years ago we were transitioning and looking for a new church. I function in the spiritual gifts and it can be difficult to find a church when you know the Holy Spirit but the teachings of the church deny what you know to be truth. So I will generally interview the pastor to see if it is going to be a place where I can develop and grow and help others to develop and grow. So we went to Pizza Man Dan's for lunch, a locally owned place here in my hometown, with the pastor and after the easy chit chat, I began to ask where he stood on the spiritual gifts. I clarified my position and gave him a little snapshot of my gifts. He didn't really have an answer, but he told me this story. Another member of the congregation, a man, told him that he was traveling out in a rural area going to visit family, so headed somewhere specific. He was getting low on gas and was getting concerned because he was in such a rural area that there were no gas stations, stores, houses, there was nothing. He did not have enough gas to make it to where he was headed. Finally, after several miles he sees a gas station is on the side of the road and he is able to fill up. After the visit they are headed back home through the rural area and as they approach the location where he was able to get gas before, he looks and there is no gas station there. Nowhere on that entire road was a gas station. He knows where he stopped, and it was just a flat empty space in that location. After telling me the story, the pastor admits that he believes the man, and believes the Lord provided out of nowhere this provision, this supernatural provision. He told me he believed that I had the giftings I was telling him but because he has never experienced it for himself, he doesn’t know what to do with it. There was an acknowledgement that the Lord works this way, but he was unwilling to take a step forward and lean into the Holy Spirit and experience everything the Holy Spirit will provide for us. I could not reconcile that unwillingness of my pastor in my heart and mind and was not able to stay at that church for a long period of time. I can't be led by someone not willing to be led by the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, the Lord led me to Journey the Church led by pastor Jeff who does yield to the Holy Spirit.
So why do I tell you those stories? People we generally accept to lead us, do not always have the relationship with the Holy Spirit that we assume they do or should have. Don't let someone who doesn't fully develop their relationship with the Holy Spirit inhibit you from developing yours and receiving your gifts or acknowledging the Holy Spirit fully.
Now as much as there is a stigma placed on the use of spiritual gifts by many "Christians". There is also a stigma placed on believers who are not operating in the gifts. As if they lack faith. When we operate in the gifts, we are operating through the Holy Spirit, so the thinking is that if you are not operating in gifts, then you must not be operating with the Holy Spirit or are doing something wrong. That logic or lack of logic is not correct either.
The gifts are not passed out to us willy nilly. They are freely available to us, but we certainly have to want them. We certainly have to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and we certainly have to understand the giftings, their purpose and our responsibility with them. They are entirely for Kingdom purposes. The Holy Spirit is not going to give you something you are not prepared for, do not understand and are not going to be trustworthy once you have it. That would not be a gift, that would be a problem. The Holy Spirit does not give us problems. Luke 11:13 tells us, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Let me give you an example. One of the women I work with has been developing her spiritual gifts for a few years now. She didn't start out with that objective but the more we met, the more she learned, the more she wanted. She didn't even fully understand what the gifts were but as she cultivated her time with the Lord, He revealed more to her and so she would dig deeper. Once she began to ask for more, I could tell she wasn't sure she was ready. So she would ask, but there was a hesitancy there. The Holy Spirit isn’t going to give you something unless you truly want it. The gift she was asking for was the gift of tongues. She wanted it, but she was apprehensive. She didn't fully understand how it would work in her life. She knew I spoke in tongues, but she maybe only heard it one or two times because it wasn't pertinent to our meetings. As she asked to become more involved in some of the deliverance work I do, she was able to see more gifts in action and then she began to understand spiritual gifts in a new way. She began to ask for tongues again. She asked earnestly and within a few weeks, she received the gift. A little trickle at first, and then it is slowly building. Now this may not be a gift you want and that's ok, but the process is what I want to bring to your attention. It took time for her to mature, and the gift wasn't given until she was mature and sought after it. No one gift is more valuable than another. If you are of the thinking that praying in tongues or praying in the spirit is another term for it, is not real or true, I caution you from drawing that conclusion. One can only come to that conclusion in ignorance. Understand it, educate yourself first. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to you. The gift of tongues should always be done in an organized way if in public and the use of an interpreter if it is done corporately, but as a private prayer between you and the Lord it can be uplifting. We will do an episode of giftings, but I want to address any prejudices here as this is a frequently criticized gift simply because it is misunderstood.
So we have addressed the origin of the Holy Spirit. The role the Holy Spirit has played throughout Christian history. How we can receive the Holy Spirit and that He provides us with our giftings and ??? comforter, etc.
What else do we need to make sure we know about the Holy Spirit? Matthew 12:31, tells us some pretty critical information. “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven." When we attribute evil to the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God or some working of them, that is blasphemy. In this instance in Matthew, the Pharisees were attributing Jesus' miracle to satan. For us today, this same circumstance cannot happen because Jesus is not here with us in person, but what can happen today is we can enter a danger zone put ourselves in an unpardonable sin situation. An unpardonable sin is when we reject the Holy Spirit who will convict us of our sin so we can repent and then be forgiven. If we, primarily as an unbeliever, note it could happen to a believer who walks away and turns their back on the Lord, if we continually reject the Holy Spirit and are unrepentant, and therefore unforgiven, and continue to live in sin, we are committing the unpardonable sin. This is not a situation you just fall into, this is some intentional effort because the Holy Spirit will prompt us and the Lord tells us he will never leave us or forsake us, so if this happens it's our own consequence. Remember, there will be people in heaven you did not expect to see and people you expected to see not in heaven.
Develop your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Spend intentional time with Him daily, not divided time, intentional focused time. As this relationship develops you will see an increase in your life. You will notice words, people, areas where you can make an impact. It will be easier to see the enemy coming at you for an attack and your defense will be in place and you can go on the offense. You will see truths revealed that were set in place to harm you but the Holy Spirit intervened. You will see miracles happen that have no explanation but the Lord heard your prayer and the Holy Spirit responded. Seek to truly understand the Holy Spirit and include him in your decisions and you will see evidence of him in your outcomes. The Holy Spirit never tires. The Holy Spirit never needs a minute before he responds to us. The Holy Spirit always brings comfort when we need it, how we need it over what we need. Put Him on your calendar this week. Most of us know we have the Holy Spirit but whatever level you are, seek to raise that level in your relationship with the Holy Spirit. I can guarantee you Paul never felt like he had enough of the Holy Spirit and not many people who walked this earth outside of Jesus understood the Holy Spirit the way Paul did. He was with Him constantly. I think it is why Paul chose to walk and went ahead of others in his party as he traveled in his missionary journeys. He had to have that alone time to accomplish what he did. Not everything Paul did was successful; without the Holy Spirit he may have been too battle fatigued to carry on some days. We have rough days too, but don't let it affect your relationship with the Holy Spirit, don't let it interfere. The Holy Spirit never lets all the things He is doing all over the world interfere with being there for you so don't let anything in your life interfere with being there with Him.
I hope that was helpful and uplifting and motivated you for a refresh of the Holy Spirit in your life. That was my goal.
Ok so as always let's recap the Top Show Points:
· So let's start off with the origin of the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 1:1, we are introduced to God as he begins the process of creating the heavens and the earth. In the second verse of the Bible, we are introduced to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been in existence since before the world was formed. He has been through everything in world history, right alongside God every moment.
· The Holy Spirit was heavily involved in with God's people, helping them, providing for their needs, providing comfort, focus, clarity.
· You often hear there are two baptisms.
o The first baptism that occurred in the Bible was by John the Baptist and is called a baptism of repentance. John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin and John's ministry started before Jesus' ministry. He taught repentance and a water baptism as a preparation because the Kingdom of God was coming. John was preparing the way for Jesus, the Messiah.
o The second baptism is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The act of baptism in Jesus is intended to cover both the act of repentance and the act of receiving of the "Gift" of the Holy Spirit.
· Jesus tells us before he ascended that we will receive a helper, a Spirit of truth. John tells is beautifully three times in scripture how Jesus explained the coming of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16, John 15:26, John 16:13-14
· They are freely available to us, but we certainly have to want them. We certainly have to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and we certainly have to understand the giftings, their purpose and our responsibility with them. They are entirely for Kingdom purposes. The Holy Spirit is not going to give you something you are not prepared for, do not understand and are not going to be trustworthy once you have it. That would not be a gift, that would be a problem. The Holy Spirit does not give us problems
· An unpardonable sin is when we reject the Holy Spirit who will convict us of our sin so we can repent and then be forgiven. If we, primarily as an unbeliever, note it could happen to a believer who walks away and turns their back on the Lord, if we continually reject the Holy Spirit and are unrepentant, and therefore unforgiven, and continue to live in sin, we are committing the unpardonable sin
· Develop your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Spend intentional time with Him daily, not divided time, intentional focused time. As this relationship develops you will see an increase in your life. You will notice words, people, areas where you can make an impact. It will be easier to see the enemy coming at you for an attack and your defense will be in place and you can go on the offense.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
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