[The below text has been machine translated and may contain errors. Please listen to audio for original and integral translation]
Let’s open this in prayer. Lord, we just thank you for showing up today. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that comes and leads and guides us.
And Lord, I ask that you would lead and guide this message and the rest of this service. Lord, it belongs to you. It’s to give you honor and praise.
In Jesus’ name, amen. Okay, so this message, usually whenever I, it’s my turn to speak, it tends to be what I’m already reading in the Bible, what God’s already teaching or showing me. I think I’ve only ever had one or two times where it was something else.
But this message is about the Holy Spirit leading me on a path to remind me who he is and show me some new things, too, that I didn’t know. And so I’m gonna start by telling on myself a little bit first. So several months ago, I was beginning to realize that I was getting, I don’t know if I want to say fearful, but I’ll say at least quiet in my faith when I was out in public.
To the point where like I wasn’t even like wearing my Christian t-shirts unless I was going to an approving place. Or my cross necklaces or whatever. And I’m like, God, why am I getting like this? Where is this coming from? And so I’ve kind of been in prayer and like that’s not good, that’s not, I’m not maybe as out there as some people, but I’m also not that quiet and reserved and like this isn’t me.
So during the same time, Regis was, is when she was in the hospital and she had fractured her hip and I stopped to visit her. And I wanted to bring mine. I have, remember those, you know those little Jesus figurines that she had had? And she, for those who don’t know, she had a whole box full of these little Jesus figurines.
And she would hand them out to whomever and she would put them in different places in the church. She would hide them and the kids would come in the door and they would just search for these little Jesus figurines. And then they would gather them up and they’d give them back to her so she could hide them again the next week.
Well, while she was in the hospital, she had what was left of her little Jesus figurines. And she was telling me about how, as people would come in the room, she would ask them, would you like a baby Jesus? And it didn’t matter who it was, if it was a nurse, if it was a doctor, food worker, someone in housekeeping, whoever would transport her for her x-rays or tests. And I thought, I don’t know if I could do that.
I’m like, wow Annette, where are you? And I’m like, how simple is this? You’re handing out a little baby Jesus. That’s about as non-confrontational as you get. No, she did say she had this one lady who was like, no, I don’t want one.
So we don’t know what was going on there, but that was okay. You know, she just prayed for, I mean, not prayed there for her, but yeah. So at the same time, I’d been reading through the book of Revelation.
So yeah, this whole time I’m still praying, I’m reading, but I was just, something wasn’t right. So I’m reading through the book of Revelation, and so about a week or so after visiting with Regis, I was on Revelation chapter 21, and I got to verse 8, which reads, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
So the word cowardly really jumped out at me, and you know, we can look at that list, murderers, magic arts, sexually immoral, cowardly, doesn’t that seem, you know, that doesn’t seem as bad. We tend to categorize sin, but here cowardly was the first word, and it jumped out at me, and I thought, well, you know, maybe it doesn’t really mean cowardly, because you know, when you translate language from one language to another, sometimes it loses meaning, or sometimes that language doesn’t even have a word like that. I don’t even remember what version I was reading, because I read it on my phone, and I pulled different versions, but I went back to the Old King James, and the word wasn’t cowardly, it was fearful.
So I looked that up in the concordance, almost hoping that it would mean something else, and it comes from the Greek, Delos, Delos, also from Dios, meaning timid, faithless, fearful. So to my dismay, it didn’t mean anything different, and in fact, it was even worse, because there was a more gentle term which was timid. Now, when I say that, I’m not talking, I’m not talking about personality traits.
You know, some people are just more reserved, their voices are quiet, like all the time, like you can’t even imagine them like shouting at their kids. They’re just always very reserved kind of person, and then there are people who are more loud, boisterous, they’re Tammy. I’m somewhere in the middle.
I’m not quite there, but you know, I’m not, you know, real shy either. I’m somewhere in the middle. So I don’t think that when it said the meaning was timid, faithless, fearful, that it’s personality types, but I think it has to do more with our attitudes and even our obedience to the Lord.
So now we’re going to fast-forward another couple of weeks, and I realize Pastor Steve’s message series, what did he just end? Share it. Share it. And so he’s probably two weeks in or so, and I’m taking notes, and all of a sudden it hits me.
Oh, this is what I’ve been dealing with from this path, from one thing to the next to the next. And I was like, okay, I was getting the hint. I was getting the hint.
In fact, it was about then, in a two-week time period, I had opportunities to pray for three people, and I remember the first time being on a phone with a lady, and I’m like, I don’t know this person. I’m just making an appointment, and she’s talking, and she’s talking, and then she starts to tell me how she’s had kidney transplants, and just all this stuff. I’m like, in my head, I’m thinking, oh God, you’re gonna make me pray for her, aren’t you? And I even said to her, well, I’ll pray for you, and then she kept talking, and I’m like, okay, why don’t we just pray right now? And you know, she was really thankful for that, thought it was great, and so God gave me a real easy one, the first.
Gave me lots of time to figure it out and be obedient. The second time, I blew it. I did blow that one, and afterwards, I remember going in my house, because it was actually at my home, someone had stopped on the road, and they had made this comment about they needed some money, and someone was supposed to be coming to buy something from them, and he said, this person’s not a Christian, but he says, boy, I hope they show up.
He said, I really need this money, and he looks up at the sky, and he says, please God, and then there was this big awkward pause, and so afterward, and we chatted a little bit longer, they went on their way. I go in my house, I just could not let that go, and I prayed, but it didn’t feel right. I prayed a good prayer, but I knew I had grieved the Holy Spirit.
I knew I was disobedient. I knew I blew it, and then the other one was a family member, and even then, why is it awkward for us to do that? So anyhow, I continued to read and pray, and try to figure things out, and through the reading, I began to see that God expects us to become holy, and I’m thinking, okay God, how am I gonna be holy? I can’t even wear a Christian t-shirt, you know, well sometimes, but not, you know, and besides, like, you’re holy. You’re the Holy One.
We’re not holy. You’re holy, and as soon as I said that, the verse popped in my head, be ye holy as I am holy. So see, I know these things.
A lot of this is just refresher course, reminders, and that you forgot. So, realizing that holiness is actually a product of grace, and who does the Bible say God gives grace to? The humble. God gives grace to the humble.
So holiness, you know, you say holiness, and it kind of has like a bad connotation in our society, because people say, well, they think they’re holier than thou, you know, there’s a certain way, and so that term is not, it’s good for God. For us, it’s like, I don’t know, that’s, but there is a difference between becoming more Christ-like and becoming self-righteous. Emphasis on the word self.
In a book I’m reading, it’s called Holiness Truth in the Presence of God, I have a quote from it. It says, many Christians look for shortcuts to the power of God. To try shortcuts is to become, at best, frustrated, at worst, a false teacher or prophet.
Listen very carefully, there is tremendous power in God, but not without holiness. Holiness precedes power. And I just thought, wow, I think we seem to be missing power in the American church today.
And so could it be that we are lacking power because we are no longer seeking to grow in Christlikeness, or no longer seeking or even realizing the necessity of living a life of holiness? Now, as soon as I’m writing this and I’m like, I thought about a story about Jesus, and so I understand there’s other reasons for lack of power. Because the Bible tells us that Jesus could do, perform no miracles in his own hometown, because of their lack of faith. So there are other reasons for that, because no one holds more power than Jesus.
So if he wasn’t able to perform miracles because of someone’s lack of faith, I do understand there are other reasons. But I just, like I said, I think in the American church we’ve missed out on, we’ve become lazy, lax, lazy, and growing in our Christlikeness and holiness. Like I said, that word was even like hot, you know.
So, and I’ll understand whenever I say about being powerful, that’s not our goal. It’s not like, oh, the power, lay our hands on people, hit the floor, that’s not great. But that’s not our goal.
Our goal is to become holy and grow in Christlikeness, but a mature Christian should be both holy and powerful. But holiness, remember, so there’s a theme, holiness precedes power, and holiness is a product of grace, and God gives grace to the humble. So humility, holiness, Christlikeness all come before power.
And I found James 4.6, it says, but he gives us more and more grace. Oh, this is the amplified version, so it’s long. But he gives us more and more grace through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation.
Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but continually gives the gift of grace to the humble who turn away from self-righteousness. And so when I read that, I’m like, wow, that kind of sums up the ten minutes I just talked about all in one, all in one verse. And so, which was good for me to receive that confirmation.
So at this point then, like I said, step by step, then I’m beginning to read more about the Holy Spirit. Next week, if you weren’t aware, it’s Pentecost Sunday. So I’m hoping maybe this little bit of information that I have, that I’m sharing with you, kind of help prepare us for whatever Pastor Steve has next week.
So first, I was reminded that the Holy Spirit is a person, the same as God and Jesus. Now, I’m not saying that the Holy Trinity is human, or that they’re like us, but more that they possess human characteristics, a human personality. And also, the Trinity isn’t like us.
We become like God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Just, I guess because we tend to think of the Holy Spirit, I’ve even heard people call the Holy Spirit it. Like, the Holy Spirit isn’t an entity floating around, little dust bunnies floating around at Holy Spirit.
And if we create the right atmosphere, He will show up. And although there’s something to be said for creating an atmosphere for the Spirit to manifest His presence, He’s not an entity that we can conjure up. Instead, He’s a person who is worshiped.
And to kind of, I guess, give some balance to that about the personality, there’s some scriptures that illustrate the personality. One is He has a mind, found in Romans 8. He has a will, 1st Corinthians. He has emotions such as love and joy, that’s in Romans and Galatians.
He comforts, Acts. He speaks, Book of Hebrews. He teaches, 1st Corinthians.
He can be made to feel sorrow, Ephesians. He can be insulted, Hebrews. He can be resisted, Acts.
He can be lied to, also Acts. So, in the Holy Spirit, sometimes we think, too, like we know He always existed, but we tend to think, oh, He came after Jesus died, and then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit has always been part of the Trinity.
In fact, the Holy Spirit is mentioned, I guess I never paid attention to this, He is mentioned as early as Genesis, chapter 1, verse 2. It’s like, what? It’s, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Why did we not recognize that that’s Holy Spirit? I don’t know. Also, the Holy Spirit had a relationship with Jesus while Jesus walked on this earth.
So we think, okay, well Jesus was here, Holy Spirit, He was, I don’t know what we think He was doing up in heaven, floating, I don’t know. But He had a relationship with Jesus when Jesus walked on the earth. The Bible tells us that Jesus was conceived by the Spirit.
Holy Spirit came upon Mary, she conceived. Jesus was taught by the Spirit. He was empowered by the Spirit at the Jordan River for the baptism.
He didn’t do one miracle until he was baptized with the Spirit. After he was baptized, then, right after, that’s when he did that miracle with, turned the water to wine. So Jesus on this earth had a relationship with the Holy Spirit the whole time.
So when Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist saw the Spirit come down like a dove and remained on Jesus. So sometimes we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as like a dove or little flickering candles on somebody’s head or something, but the scripture also tells us that Jesus came as a lamb and when he returns he’ll come as a lion. Now, does that mean when Jesus walked the earth he was a four-footed lamb? Or when he comes back he’s going to morph into a lion? Okay, so when we when we think of the Holy Spirit, why do we think, why do we picture a dove? The Bible said he came down like a dove, like Jesus came as a lamb for the slaughter.
So the Holy Spirit is no more a dove than Jesus is a four-footed animal. So, and there’s a lot more, I’m gonna start to wrap it up, but there’s a lot more about the Holy Spirit than this little bit. There is more that I learned that just, I don’t know, wasn’t fitting in right, so I guess it wasn’t for today.
In fact, we didn’t even touch anything about speaking in tongues, the Holy Spirit in tongues, and sometimes we think that that’s like all he does. Like he gives us power, but we can’t get the power till we have the tongue. You know, sometimes we’re very mixed up about things.
So there’s a lot more, like that’s a whole couple of sermons probably in itself. But I’m gonna wrap up with a list of some of the different names. So we did personality types, but here’s a bunch of the different names of how much the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Scripture, and somehow we tend to just think of God and Jesus, and we sort of miss the Holy Spirit in there somehow.
And all of these are names for the Holy Spirit. He is called Holy Spirit. He’s called Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of God, Eternal Spirit, Helper, Comforter, Holy One, the Lord, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Knowledge, Spirit of Might, Spirit of Understanding, Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, the Spirit of your Father, Spirit of Glory, Spirit of Grace, Spirit of Judgment, Spirit of Burning, Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love, Spirit of Power, Spirit of Love, Spirit of a Sound Mind, Spirit of Prophecy, Spirit of Revelation, Spirit of Holiness, Spirit of the Holy God.
Now did you notice those last two? The Spirit of Holiness, Spirit of the Holy God. That kind of takes us back to the beginning of the message where we were talking about holiness and living a holy life. And if Christ walked this earth and he couldn’t walk this earth without the Holy Spirit, why are we trying to live our life on this earth without the Holy Spirit and his power and his help? And if we don’t have the Holy Spirit, then we have religion.
So let’s pray. Lord, I thank you for presenting this message. Lord, I ask that each one would take home the nugget of truth that you’ve given each of us.
Chew on it and come back next week ready for Pentecost Sunday, ready to worship and ready to see you in a new way. Thank you for providing this information, for opening my eyes, for opening my heart and spirit to change and get back on track. And God, I ask that you would do the same for this church.
Lord, get us where you want us, that we would flow in your river, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.