The Holy Spirit

Understanding & Expectancy

This Session is About:

• Getting our lives ready for what God wants to do in us by His Spirit

• Realizing the Holy Spirit has an agenda for each one of us

• His plan to do something

Will you begin this session with:

• a wide open heart?

• a willingness to learn & explore?

• a readiness to discover what you don’t know?

What We Will Cover

I. Our Understanding of the Holy Spirit• who He is, how He works

II. Expectancy Without Agenda

• ways that we can encounter Him

Teaching Notes:

It’s impossible to cover everything about the Holy Spirit in one session!

See additional notes in folder on The Role & Ministry of the Spirit in the Life of the Believer.

“Either we believe that God the Holy Spirit is alive and well today - or our Trinity is merely God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible”

-R.T. Kendall, Holy Fire, p. 44

“The Holy Spirit is God’s agent on earth, yet he is the least understood, least preached about, and least discussed member of the Trinity. And that is sad. Because without him, our spiritual lives will always become a dry, mechanical struggle.”

- Jim Cymbala, Spirit Rising, p.17

My Personal Story - New Life

Radical Conversion

- The Spirit powerfully arriving inside; immediate change

A. Who Is The Holy Spirit?

• He is God (Gen. 1:2, Eph. 4:30, Acts 5:3-4)

- not a force, not an angel, not a created spirit

• He is co-equal with Father & Son in Trinity

• He can be worshipped, loved, obeyed

• He is a person with person-qualities

• He is involved: Creation, Redemption, Restoration

• He is sent from the Father & Son (Jesus ascended to heaven and sent the Spirit to continue)

• He reveals Jesus and testifies about Him (His primary ministry)

• The Bible draws a lot of attention to Him and His ministry

B. The Spirit’s First Work in Us

• Creates new life - Salvation

• New Birth - Regeneration

• Comes to indwell the Believer

New Life / Regeneration*John 3:5-8 - born from above

*Romans 8:15,16 - adopts us

*Ephesians 1:13,14 - deposit of Holy Spirit

*Titus 3:5 – saved = re-birth through Holy Spirit

All True Christians Have the Spirit• Spirit indwells you at salvation

• Believers have all of the Spirit

- not a portion of Him

- the Spirit does not come to us in degrees

At New Life / Regeneration:

• You can bear fruit of the Spirit

• You have a new nature, and are a new creation / new identity (2 Cor. 5:17)

• You are sealed by the Spirit (Eph. 1:13,14)

You Can Have The Spirit!

Affirmation Moment:

Say to yourself, out loud, that because you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you do have the Spirit living in you. Rest in this truth.

However… You can be born of the Holy Spirit and still not be filled with the Holy Spirit.

That is part of His second work in us.

C. The Spirit’s Second Work In Us

• The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism Of The Spirit

Seen in the Scriptures as a pattern in which God gives His people who already have new life & regeneration another encounter with His Spirit that launches them into a life of ongoing fullness and capacity.

Baptism Of The Spirit

Baptism means - dip, plunge, immerse, submerge, completely drenched

Baptism - idea of “initiation”, or first encounter, or marking a change from one era to another

Baptism Of The Spirit

John 20: 21,22 - Disciples’ first reception of Holy Spirit (Regeneration)

-Luke 24:39 - expect more

-Acts 1:4,5 - expect more

-Acts 1:8 - expect more

Luke 24:49

”I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 1:4,5

“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”

Acts 1:8

”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Baptism Of The Spirit

The event and occasion happened.

Acts 2:1-4 – the Baptism of the Spirit on the Disciples

Joel 2: 28,29 - fulfilled that day

Acts 2:38,39 - offered to all

Acts 2:1-4

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Baptism Of The Spirit

*Think of “Baptism” as the first experience of an on-going life of being filled with the Spirit.

*Baptism & Filled – They are inter-changeable terms, but helpful to use both.

(Acts 1:5,2:4)

Baptism of the Spirit

It’s about:

• being clothed with power

• being given a greater capacity

• being anointed by God from above

• a real, not imagined, experience

“The disciples were baptized with the Spirit. They were soaked and drenched by the Spirit of God. This is not a ho-hum experience. This is something significant, dramatic, and life changing.

This is a wind that blows and changes the landscape of their lives and ultimately the lives of countless hoards through their Spirit-saturated influence.”

-Rob Reimer, River Dwellers, pg. 24

Baptism Of The Spirit

Seen also in Paul’s teachings

-Ephesians 3:14-19

Greek (aorist tense) - a defined, completed event, not progressive or ongoing. Something that happened and was completely done.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Result of the Spirit’s strengthening?

• Christ fully occupies your whole inner life; settles into all the rooms

• You receive power to grasp God’s love

• You are filled to the measure with the fullness of God

My Own Story

Age 20, Vancouver Island…

Perspective

There are two distinct works of the Holy Spirit seen in the New Testament:

1. Regeneration

2. Baptism/Filling, which leads to ongoing Fillings

Baptism Of The Spirit:Six Scriptural Signs (see packet)

1. Power 4. Boldness

2. Prophecy 5. Identify

3. Praise, love, & joy 6. Tongues (for

some)

Baptism Of The Spirit

What‘s your story?

Have you encountered the Holy Spirit in this way? Many believers have not.

It is God’s provision and plan.

Re-Cap - Holy Spirit:

Regeneration - Spirit “in you “

(for you)

Baptism/Filling – Spirit “on you”

(for others)

Tongues

Three of the six Acts moments of the Holy Spirit coming upon people mention that they spoke in tongues:

Acts 2:4, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6

We see then, that while Tongues is one legitimate evidence of the Holy Spirit for some people, biblically it cannot be said to be an experience that all believers must have as evidence they have been Baptized/Filled.

However, we do believe Tongues is a good, and useful gift of the Holy Spirit for the church in all ages.

My Own Story

But There’s More!

God calls us to further, ongoing encounters and fillings by the Spirit.

We are to have life-long encounters with the Spirit, who is given without measure/limit. (John 3:34)

Scriptures onOngoing Fillings of the Spirit

• Acts 4:31 – same people filled

• Peter’s numerous fillings Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31, etc.

• Paul’s numerous fillings Acts 9:17-19, 13:9, etc.

The Ongoing FillingOf The Spirit

Ephesians 5:18 (to those filled)

• A command to “keep on being filled”, ongoing

• Passive tense, i.e., you don’t fill yourself

“continue to be filled”

What Are Ongoing Fillings For?

Increase in a Believer’s:

• power

• boldness

• anointing for serving

• possibility of new gifts

• perpetual personal renewal

Often, God Fills Us…

• when we’re hungry, seeking, desiring, and wanting more of Him

• when His work for us requires a greater anointing

My Own Story

Coming back from a conference…

Baptism / Filling Of The Spirit

Biblically, laying on of hands is quite often associated with this.

You will have opportunity to receive this if you want.

How Can I Be Baptized With The Holy Spirit?

1. Expect/believe you can be (Acts 1:8)

2. Desire/want to have the Spirit (John 7:37-39)

3. Ask (Luke 11:11-13)

4. Wait (Acts 1:4)

5. Yield/surrender whole life (Rom. 12:1,2; Rom. 8:5)

6. Obey (Acts 5:32)

II. Expectancy…

What is your expectation level?

It’s not enough to know about the Holy Spirit.

The revelation of who the Spirit is has been given to you so you may also encounter the Spirit as people did in the Scriptures.

II. Expectancy Without AgendaIt’s about:

• being surrendered; not “trying” to get the Spirit

• being open to more

• letting go of control

• trusting the Father’s ways

Expectancy Without Agenda

• Avoid putting limits on God

• Avoid putting demands on God

• Realize He wants to go deeper

• Holy Spirit is like a River (Ezek. 47)

-you cannot get wet on the banks

Expectancy Without Agenda

It’s time for some of us to get over our “fears” of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t let bad experiences or stories hold you back

Check your “resistance levels”. How open are you to more of God filling your life?

Expectancy Without Agenda

“You can have as much of God as you want, and as much as your willing to pay a price for.”

-Rob Reimer

Response Time

Requires your authenticity. Don’t fake anything.

Don’t miss a moment that might be life changing.

You’re here because you’re hungry!

Responses:

• Reflection

• Repentance

• Commitment

• Seeking for more

• Celebrate - let loose

• Dance

• Fall under the Spirit’s power