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Apr 28, 2019

The Promised Holy Spirit

The Promised Holy Spirit

Speaker: Dennis Gallaher

Category: Sunday Morning

The power source for change in our marriages, our families, our friendships is the transformational God – the empowering Holy Spirit.

Phillipians 2:13 For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. God is at work in us – the Holy Spirit inside of us – for His good pleasure. He gives us the desire and the power to work for His good pleasure.

Do you come to church events, Sunday services, Bible studies, or even your personal time with the Lord and go away unchanged? What is this key to seeing your life changed? The power source for change in our marriages, our families, our friendships is the transformational God – the empowering Holy Spirit.

It’s the key to our non-negotiables of Freedom Fellowship Church. A transformational God, who changes us from who we are to who we are not, is the empowering Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is not an “it” – He is the third person of a triune God. There are three persons in the triune God: The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. The Father sends the son, who then sends the Holy Spirit, who then sends us back to the Father.

The Holy Spirit is the power source for us to do the will of the Father and the commissioning of the Son. The Holy Spirit comes and gives us the power to do (to be a witness) through His power. The Holy Spirit is the link between the church and Heaven, between the Father and me. He hears from Jesus and empowers the church to speak the same things that Jesus spoke.

Two of Jesus’ messages are: 1) that He came to represent the Father in everything the Father does and says; 2) that He won’t leave us alone. John 14 I’m going back to the Father and send you the Holy Spirit to be with us always and to give you power on earth.

  • The Holy Spirit baptizes us in Jesus. John 20 Jesus comes to the disciples and He breathed on them.
  • I Cor 12:13 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.

The first baptism is into “one body” - the body of Christ - the body of Christ being Jesus. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into Jesus, the body of Christ, the church. When we accept Christ and repent of our sins, the Holy Spirit comes and baptizes us, takes us and moves us from this world into the body of Christ – one body.

The second baptism is the disciple’s baptism in water. Matt 28:19 It's submission.

The third baptism is Jesus’ baptism in (with or by) the Holy Spirit. Baptism means to fill to overflowing, to immerse, to infuse. Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit that baptizes me. We are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit. We received the Holy Spirit when we were saved and Jesus has another baptism to give to us.

The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are in all 4 of the gospels and so is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So this is very important. 

Matt 3:11 John the Baptist is unworthy to baptize Jesus. Jesus will baptize you with Holy Spirit and with fire. Mark 1:8 Luke 3:16 John 1:33 will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came and left. John the Baptist sees the Holy Spirit come and remain on Jesus.

Three words that describe our salvation experience are:

  • Salvation - baptism into the body of Christ. The doorway is repentance through the Holy Spirit.
  • Water - the disciple’s baptism of water. A step of obedience.
  • Spirit – The gift of Jesus to the believers that empowers us to produce fruit that remains. Acts 1:4-5 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said “you heard of from Me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

What the Father had promised - this is the key to transformation – becoming something I am not. Submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit is the key to biblical change, the key to unlimited joy, the key to consistent faith, the key to being a powerful witness and having abundant life. It's coming to events, hearing the Word and leaving changed! This promise is for now, for us. It is the infilling, the saturation, the transformation of the Holy Spirit, and it overflows from us.

Acts 2:37-39 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is The Holy Spirit. This is a package of gifts not a to do list of how to get saved. Repent is to be saved – to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10 They repented, the Holy Spirit fell, and they were baptized. 

Acts 19 A disciple believes in Jesus and follows Him as hard as they can yet they had not received the Holy Spirit.

I John 5:7-8 For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

There is nothing to fear.

  • The Spirit - baptism into Jesus, baptism into the body of Christ; being saved.
  • The water - the disciple’s baptism, water baptism.
  • The blood – Jesus, the one who baptizes us in the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 

Or

  • Saved – becoming a new person.
  • Baptized with water.
  • Baptized with the Holy Spirit – using the power to walk in new life.

Prayer: I receive your Holy Spirit and ask You, Jesus, to baptize me in the Holy Spirit. 

Who is the Holy Spirit?

What is the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Describe the salvation experience in three words. 

How can we allow the Holy Spirit to change our lives?