Holy Spirit: Person
Chris Seidman
Part of Holy Spirit—Person, Power, and Presence
October 24, 2021

Holy Spirit: Person, Power, and Presence

Person
October 24, 2021
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch Church

Regarding The Holy Spirit As A Person

  • He has a will.

Acts 20:28 (NIV)
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.


1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 (NIV)
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (vs. 11) All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

  • He has desires.

Galatians 5:16-17 (NIV)
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

  • He loves.

Romans 15:30 (NIV)
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

  • He has an intellect.

John 14:25 (NIV)
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”


John 15:26 (NIV)
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me.”


John 16:13 (NIV)
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”


Romans 8:27 (NIV)
… the mind of the Spirit … .

  • He prays.

Romans 8:26 (NIV)
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans … . And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

  • He speaks.

John 16:13 (NIV)
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.


Galatians 4:6 (NIV)
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”


1 Timothy 4:1 (NIV)
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.


Revelation 22:17 (NIV)
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”


Hebrews 3:7-11 (NIV)
So, as the Holy Spirit says … . (And then for the rest of the passage the writer paraphrases Psalm 95:7-11)


Hebrews 10:15-16 (NIV)
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this … . (And then the writer quotes Jeremiah 31:33)


2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.


2 Peter 1:21 (NIV)
… spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Regarding Our Personal Relationship With The Holy Spirit

  • He can be grieved.

Isaiah 63:10 (NIV)
Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30-31 (NIV)
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

  • He can be insulted.

Hebrews 10:29 (NIV)
… has trampled the Son of God underfoot … has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them … has insulted the Spirit of grace?

  • He can be resisted.

Acts 7:51 (NIV)
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”


Zachariah 7:8-13 (NIV)
And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets … . ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty.’

  • He can be quenched.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV)
Do not quench the Spirit.


2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.


Milton Agnew
“Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” commands Paul. Now, only a dear friend can be grieved. Not a stranger: he might be annoyed. Not a chance acquaintance: he might be perplexed. Not a business partner: he might be offended. Only a loved one can be grieved.


R. A. Torrey
“If we think of the Holy Spirit – as many do – as merely a power or influence, our constant thought will be, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” But if we think of Him in the biblical way as a Divine Person, our thought will rather be, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?”

Communion

What’s one takeaway for you this week when it comes to your relationship with the Holy Spirit?