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Introduction: Melody is my best earthly friend. I have never had a friend as dear as she is. We live together, eat together, talk together, sing together, shop together, pray together, work together, rejoice together, and sometimes cry together. Earthly friends are great to have, but even more we each need a divine Friend.
Is the Holy Spirit your Friend? What interaction have you had with him this week? Have you treated him as a friend?
Transition: This evening I want us to look at three descriptions of our Friend the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit is a Personal Friend (1Co 6:19-20)
a. He is a real person.
1) He is not an influence but a person as real as you.
2) He is God and he is a personal friend just like Jesus was to his disciples. Jesus said in (John 14:16) “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” The Holy Spirit is another Comforter of the same kind as Jesus was.
3) He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Talk to him as you do other friends. It is rude to ignore a friend.
b. He is living inside you now.
1) He indwells you or lives inside you. (John 14:17) “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He will never leave you.
2) Your body is the Holy Spirit’s temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
a) Examine what this verse really says phrase by phrase. God lives in you!
b) For this reason you must glorify God. To “glorify” means “to uplift, honour, or praise.” How did you glorify God in your body and spirit this week?
■ In your body: diet, cleanliness, dress, hair styles, body decoration, conduct, roles.
■ In your spirit (attitude, thoughts, desires, feelings): godly, joyful, pure, peaceful, trusting God, allowing the Holy Spirit full control.
The Holy Spirit is your personal Friend. Treat him as such!
2. The Holy Spirit is a Powerful Friend (Act 1:8)
a. He is able to lead your life if you will let him.
1) God commands you to allow the Holy Spirit to control you as we learned in Ephesians 5:18.
2) If you submit to him, depend on him, and let his Word dwell in you, he will work his will through you. He wants to use you for his service. You are the channel through which God’s power flows. That is awesome!
3) He can lead you to people with whom you can share the gospel. He did this for Philip the evangelist. (Acts 8:29) “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
4) He can lead you to know God’s will for your life. He did this for Paul’s missionary band. (Acts 16:7) “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.”
b. He is able to make you fruitful.
1) Your powerful friend the Holy Spirit is able to change your life and produce his fruit in you. (Galatians 5:22-23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
2) He is also able to powerfully work through you as you witness for Christ. (Acts 1:8) “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
3) He alone can convict an unbeliever of his need of Christ. (John 16:8-11) “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”
4) As your powerful Friend, the Holy Spirit wants to do things through you that you cannot do yourself for his glory. For example:
a) He wants to give you victory over sin. (Galatians 5:16) “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
b) He wants to give you courage to witness. (2 Timothy 1:7) “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
5) We ought to regularly ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to people who will listen to the Gospel. Then we must follow his leading.
3. The Holy Spirit is a Partner Fiend (2Co 13:14, Php 2:1)
Both of these verses speak of communion or fellowship (same Greek word) with the Holy Spirit. The word means “to share, interact, work together, or be partners.”
a. The Holy Spirit wants to share truth with you.
1) He is the Author of the entire Bible. No one can explain Scripture better than he. (1 Corinthians 2:12-14) “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
2) Talk with him as you read the Bible. Ask him to guide you into truth. (John 16:13) “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
3) He will remind you of truth you have already learned. (John 14:26) “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
4) He testifies that you truly know the Lord. (Romans 8:16) “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”
b. He wants to share talk with you.
1) Remember that fellowship is partnership. Both partners are involved. Talk to each other.
2) Talk to the Holy Spirit about lost souls. He is the Lord of the harvest. (Matthew 9:38) “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Examples of the Holy Spirit being the Lord of the harvest are many.
a) He sent Philip to the Ethiopian in Acts 8:39.
b) He sent Peter to Cornelius in Acts 10:19.
c) He sent Barnabas and Saul as missionaries in Acts 13:2,4.
3) Talk to the Holy Spirit as you pray. Ask him to help you pray. (Romans 8:26) “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Conclusion: What is the Holy Spirit to you? Has he been just an influence or just the remote third Person of the Trinity to you? If he has not been your personal, powerful, and partner Friend, will you begin treating him as such a Friend tonight? What kind of temple have you prepared for him? Does it need some housecleaning and remodelling? Do you need to allow him to control you and make you fruitful? Is he sharing truth with you and are you asking him to lead you to those he has prepared to hear a witness?
The Holy Spirit is one of the most neglected friends in the whole world. It is time we treat him as the awesome Friend that he is.
Song: I’ve Found a Friend 469 (Written about Christ, 1,4 apply also to the Holy Spirit) |
