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May 05, 2019

The Fellowship of the Spirit

The Fellowship of the Spirit

Speaker: James Gallaher

Series: The Holy Spirit

Category: Sunday Morning

To live a Spirit-empowered life, we not only welcome the Holy Spirit, but we must also seek to know Him. 

God’s Will for Our Lives

How can we know God’s will for our lives? Robert Morris talks about two categories of God’s will: general and specific. The general will of God is found in the Bible. We can always go to God’s Word for instruction, as in finding God’s will for marriage. There is also a specific will of God, as in who we should marry, that comes as we submit our understanding to the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us.

Hebrews 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 

The Old Testament saints had only one person or prophet that God was speaking to. That prophet spoke that word to the people. God was then silent for 400 years. Then Jesus came and broke the silence - Grace came and paid the way for me to have a relationship with God. Jesus came to make a way for God and man to be back in relation with each other. 

This relation looks like this: Acts 2:17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour forth my Spirit on all mankind; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.’ To prophesy means to speak forth – to repeat what God is saying. Too many Christians are looking to other people’s relationship with the Lord to get a word for their life. God desires to speak to us individually and to use us to speak forth the word that He has put in our life. God desires for us to listen to Him so He can speak to us – the specific will for our lives.

The church of Acts is looked at as unique, but God gives scripture as an example, as a model for man to embrace, believing that the Holy Spirit will work the same as in the church of Acts. It was such a vital part of their life that it looks uncommon for today. The Holy Spirit was the catalyst for the spread of the gospel and for the beginning of the church. In Acts 2, Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down after the 40-day period of Jesus walking on Earth after His resurrection. He was giving testimony of what was to come. If the Holy Spirit had not come, you’d have people that followed the Word but had no power in their lives. But the Holy Spirit came!!! 

How do we get back to an experience that resembles how it was in Acts? Desire to have this power today. Welcome and pursue a relationship with the Holy Spirit with all of our heart.

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is a person that desires a relationship with us. The Holy Spirit:

  • can be grieved - Ephesians 4:30
  • can be lied to - Acts 5
  • speaks to us - John 16:13
  • is a teacher - John14:26
  • can be resisted - Acts 7:51
  • brings understanding - Eph 3:5
  • is the third person of the Godhead - 2 Cor 13:14
  • is here with us - I Cor 6:19
  • makes known to us - John 14:26

What does this relationship with the Holy Spirit look like for us?

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Our triune God - all three significant in our lives – each with a unique attribute. Paul identifies all three members of the Godhead in this verse:

Jesus Christ – His sacrifice / God – His love / Holy Spirit – His Fellowship

What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Koinonia in the Greek language means fellowship, partnership, and an intimate relationship that is outside of the marriage covenant. It invokes the idea of communication.

Fellowship: Acts 20:22-23 And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. No matter where Luke went, the Holy Spirit reminds him of afflictions coming, but with such faith and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, there is no fear. Acts 8:26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip had such a fellowship with the Holy Spirit that he could distinguish between the voice of an angel and the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Word says that we will know His voice. The desire of the Holy Spirit is that we could hear Him when He speaks to us.

Partnership: The Holy Spirit comes alongside us, our helper; the one that gives the power for us to accomplish what He has called us to do. John 16:7 But 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. The Holy Spirit manifests Himself in people who spend time with Him. Submit ourselves as His willing vessels. Allow the Holy Spirit to make you like Him. 

Intimacy: 2 Cor 13:14 NASB The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 2 Cor 13:14 The Message The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you. James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? Do you think that God is going to share the intimate secrets of His heart with us if we are pursuing a relationship with other things? James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? The Holy Spirit brings conviction to highlight something standing in the way of relationship with God. Conviction is meant to set us free. Give it to Him! He will set free!

To live a Spirit-empowered life, we not only welcome the Holy Spirit, but we must also seek to know Him. The Holy Spirit is not mystical but practical. He wants to help us every day, to be beside us, to talk to us, to comfort us, to be our empowering best friend. Let it begin with a request. Luke 11:13 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? 

What weird individual have you encountered that gave you a misrepresentation of the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? What pursuits or affections in our lives grieve the Holy Spirit?

How do we live a Spirit-empowered life?