Download The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal

Survey
yes no Was this document useful for you?
   Thank you for your participation!

* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project

Document related concepts

God the Father wikipedia , lookup

God in Christianity wikipedia , lookup

Binitarianism wikipedia , lookup

Nontrinitarianism wikipedia , lookup

Baptism with the Holy Spirit wikipedia , lookup

Holy Spirit in Christianity wikipedia , lookup

Eastern Orthodox teaching regarding the Filioque wikipedia , lookup

Re-Imagining wikipedia , lookup

Transcript
SERIES:
What You Want Them to Know
MESSAGE:
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible,
Personal, Powerful"
SPEAKER:
Skip Heitzig
SCRIPTURE: John 14-16
TRANSCRIPTION
Would you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14 this evening? We're going to consider some passages of
scripture together. We're continuing a series called "Rediscovering Your Foundations" and we're on a very
very important subject, the Holy Spirit. Oh by the way, we are joined at this time by radio stations around
America. Would you say Hi to our audience on CSN? (applause, cheering)
It was a typical Sunday in a community church, a typical Sunday School class was studying the apostle's creed.
And the idea was to have each child say one part that they had committed to memory and then the next child
would pick up on the next line and so on and so forth. Well the Sunday came for the class to do that and the
teacher said, "Okay, class go for it." And one little boy stood up and began, "I believe in one God, almighty the
maker of heaven and earth." And he sat down and a little girl stood up and said, "I believe in Jesus Christ His
only begotten Son, our Lord." And she sat down, there was a long silence and the kids looked at each other
uncomfortably and finally one little girl stood up and said, "I'm sorry sir but the boy who believes in the Holy
Ghost is absent today." And I wonder if that couldn't be said of a lot of people. Those who believe in the Holy
Spirit are absent today. In fact, there are many believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who could be described
much like the disciples in Ephesus when Paul visited them in Acts 19 and asked them, "Have you received the
Holy Spirit since you believed?" Their response was, "We haven't so much as heard whether there is a Holy
Spirit." I think there's lots of believers like that, though they have recited a creed, they have theoretically
believed, "Yeah right, I'm a Christian, trinity, Holy Spirit." For all practical purposes he's not real. A. W. Tozer
said, "The idea of the Holy Spirit to the average church member is so vague as to be non-existent." Some are
even afraid of the Holy Spirit and you can just see it in their body language whenever it is mentioned. When
you mention, "We're going to study the Holy Spirit, we're going to wait on the Holy Spirit. We're going to see
what the Holy Spirit wants." You can see that, "Uh-oh, we're in one of 'those' places, huh?" "Uh-oh, I'm not
going to be open to that stuff because I don't want to start jabbering away. I've heard what happens." Yet the
Bible mentions the Holy Spirit from cover to cover. It's everywhere. You can't get away from the subject of
the Holy Spirit of God. The Old Testament for example mentions the Holy Spirit ninety times under eighteen
different designations. The New Testament 260 times under 39 different names. So, you can't escape the Holy
Spirit, he's there from Genesis to Revelation. From Genesis 1:2 "The spirit of God hovered over the waters"
to Genesis 22 [Revelation 22?], "The spirit and the bride come." He is everywhere, which poses a problem.
Where do you begin when you study the Holy Spirit? Now on the other hand, on the other side of the chasm
of the spectrum, aren't those who go, "Uh-oh;" they go, "Oh, yeah." In fact you can see it whenever you
mention the Holy Spirit in their body language. They're licking their chops, they're rubbing their hand, they're
going, "Finally! We're going to speak about the Holy Ghost!" And I would call this group Holy Spirit Heavy.
Their theological background and bent has made a huge deal, a magnanimous emphasis on the person of the
Holy Spirit. And sometimes it's transferred into their attitude. You know, they alone have the anointing. They
alone are Spirit-filled. They alone preach the full gospel. And this groups is phenomenally oriented, that is if a
phenomenal event doesn't happen in a meeting, they feel cheated. Or they feel like, "The Holy Spirit wasn't
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 1
here." They want lots of noise, lots of buzz, lots of pep. If that doesn't happen they feel like, "The Holy Spirit is
not a part of this fellowship." Sort of like a steam engine that used to run the trains years ago, they let all the
steam go out the whistle rather than driving the train.
The next few weeks we want to look at the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. Who is he exactly? What
does he exactly do and how should we respond to him exactly? Now there's a lot of places we could start a
study like this. I thought about starting in Genesis 1, "The Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of Creation."
But I thought if I do that it won't take two or three or four weeks, that'll take forty fifty weeks. Or you could
start at Matthew 1:18, that's the first mention of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, "Mary was found with
child by the Holy Spirit." But I think and safest place to camp tonight is in John 14 because we're going to hear
about the Holy Spirit from the lips of our savior. It's the second person of t he Trinity introducing the third to
his disciples. So we're going to look at chapter 14 and we're going to begin at verse 15 but what we're doing
tonight is answering two questions basically. Who is he? Is he a person or just a power? Is he deity or is he
just a dignitary, some powerful entity? And those are important questions. Is he a real person who saves and
helps and strengthens and sanctifies and encourages believers. Is he a real person who leads unbelievers to
Jesus Christ? Or is he just a force or a power? And you might be thinking, "Well does it really matter?" It does
indeed. And the short answer to, "Does it matter?" would be this: If you see the Holy Spirit as merely a force
or a power, then you're going to be saying, "I want more of the Holy Spirit." If you see him however as a
person, especially a divine person, you're going to be saying, "I want the Holy Spirit to have more of me." And
you know what the difference is? Results, that's the difference. Now theoretically we believe that the Holy
Spirit is the third member of the holy trinity, he's a person, he's God. That's theoretical. But do we actually
think of him that way? Do we even think of him at all?
Now in answering the question, "Is he a person or a force?" Let's just look at these verses together. Jesus says
in verse 15, "If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another
helper that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it
neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave
you orphans, I will come to you."
Look down to verse 25, "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you but the helper, the
Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance
all things that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives doe I
give to you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid." That's what Jesus said and we're going to
notice a few things about that. But as we discuss this there are some problems and I just want to bring them
to your attention. Problem number one is a historical problem. There have been splinter groups throughout
the history of the church that have denied frankly, the personality of the Holy Spirit. All the way back it seems
from the very beginning. You know it took four centuries, four hundred years, for the church to articulate
what it believed about the Holy Spirit. You know why? Because it wasn't an issue, that's why. It was never an
issue. They were preaching the gospel, mentioning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and it was
nevery an issue. But as you know whenever you turn on a bright light, the bugs come in. And the light of the
gospel shone and all sorts of theological bugs started coming in the church denying that the Holy Spirit was
part of the Trinity, denying that he was a person.
In 318 AD, one of the Arias of Alexandria, Egypt stated, "Jesus Christ is the essence of God. He was created
by God and endowed by the Holy Spirit which was a force merely." During the time of the Reformation there
were the Socinians. In the 17th and 18th century there were the deists. All who said the Holy Spirit was either
an influence, an impersonal force or an attribute of God. And by the way the church always counteracted that.
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 2
As far back as 381 AD the Nicean Council, the Nicean creed articulated the very heart, we call it the Apostel's
Creed in which it says, "WE believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the lifegiver who proceeds from the Father
and the Son. He is worshipped and glorified. So there have been those groups who have denied the Holy Spirit
as a person. Arias, Socinians, Deists. And around 200 AD there was a different kind of idea. This was
Sybellianism and Sybelliats taught that there was one God who manifested himself in three different forms or
modes. They were indistinct one from another, sometimes he was called the Father, sometimes he was called
Jesus, sometimes he was called the Holy Spirit. One being called three different things, three different modes
or forms of one being.
Now that's old and it's still going on today. People are fuzzy about, well God, right? I was on a chairlift the
other day in Wolf Creek, Colorado. I was snowboarding and I had a couple people with me. And so there was
a girl next to us from Texas, so I kind of figured "She's got to be a Christian." There was a lot of church
groups from Texas. So I asked, "Are you from Texas?" "Yeah." "Are you with a church group?" "No." And
started sharing with her the gospel. And she said, "Well let me tell you what I believe. I believe that there is a
God but he's not a person, he's an it, that he's some sort of essence or force or cosmic entity. It's out there."
So I said, "You mean God's a blob?" She stopped and she goes, "Well no, sort of. I haven't thought through
this very well," she said. Even Christians are fuzzy about God, especially the Holy Spirit. Listen to John Lloyd
Ogilvie, the chaplain for the United States Senate, "Sadly many Christians settle for two-thirds of God. God
the Father is way up there somewhere, aloof and apart from their daily lives. Christ is out there somewhere
between them and the Father. The Holy Spirit is some kind of vague force or impersonal power they hear
about but they don't know intimately." Let me just ask you, what is your relationship to the Holy Spirit like? It
is a personal relationship with a personal being?
So that is the problem historically. There is also a problem biblically and this is what I mean. You've noticed as
you've read the Bible that sometimes the Bible describes the Holy Spirit as if he were an it, in impersonal
terms. For instance, the word Spirit in the Old Testament is ruach which means literally winds. Ruach codesh,
holy breath or holy wind. In the New Teatment, the word for Spirit is pneuma which is literally one's breath.
It's a neuter noun. It's a neuter noun so some have thought, "Well then the Holy Spirit really isn't aperson." I
mean air is powerful, we know what wind can do in a tornado or a hurricane or if you channel in a pneumatic
tool, how powerful air can be. But then that's what the Holy Spirit is, some powerful breath or manifestation
of God. We also see theHoly Spirit came in the form of a dove, he came like a mighty rushing wind at
Pentecost. He is described as appearing in a flame of fire at Pentecost, he is seen oil in the New Testament.
Now, why all these impersonal descriptions if he's a person? Because the Bible is describing not his personality
as much as his activity in those things. Let me give you an example. Jesus Says, "I am the bread of life." Does
that mean he's literally a loaf of bread? Jesus called himself, "the door of salvation." Should you then picture
Jesus as a wooden door on hinges? Jesus is called the good shepherd, does he literally then have a staff in his
hand, out there with sheep, a real good one though. God the Father is called a refuge or our rock. He is called
a consuming fire. Are you to picture God as a blast furnace of a pile of rocks? No, these are terms, we call
them anthropomorphic terms or God described in human language so that we humans get it. WE can
understand it, it describes, it's a word picture, it's a metaphor that helps us understand this magnificent being
that we glibly call God. For instance, Jesus did this, in John chapter 7 on the last day of the feast he stood up
and said, "Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living
water. And John said, "But this he spoke of t he Holy Spirit who had not yet been given." What a description,
isn't it? This invisible but personal and powerful force and satisfaction contained in you. Now is that true of
you? Again, just check yourself for a moment. Are you so filled with the Spirit, it's like a rushing refreshing
satisfying spring of water. If people bump into you would they fet splashed with the Spirit? One leader once
said that Christianity in America is thre thousand miles wide and a half-an-inch thick.
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 3
So that's the problem with this historically there's a problem biblically, but there's also a problem personally.
You see the minute you imagine that the Holy Spirit is a force, an impersonal power, a buzz, a hum (like they
have up in Taos) rather than a person, you're going to face a problem. And this in my opinion is part of the
fault of the charismatic movement who many have been taught to pray, "Fill me with thy power. Fill me with
your Spirit. I need more of the Holy Spirit." As if to imply God would put that power at my disposal. Can you
imagine how detrimental it would be if you at whim could just speak things into existence by the power?
R.A. Torey wrote a great book on the Holy Spirit in which he said, "The concept of the Holy Spirit as a divine
influence or power that we are somehow to get a hold of and use leads ot self exaltation and self sufficiency.
One who thinks of the Holy Spirit and who at the same time imagines that he has received the Holy Spirit will
almost inevitabley be full of spiritual pride and strut about as if he belonged to some superior order of
Christians. I'd like to give you a biblical example, a good contrast, you can just put this in your notes or tuck it
in your mind and look later on: A story in Acts chapter 8 versus a story in Acts chapter 13. In Acts chapter 8,
the disciples are preaching the gospel in Samaria, there's a guy named Simon who it says believed to some
degree. But he saw Peter and John working miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit and he offered them
money. And said, "Hey, let me write you a check or let me give you cash, or do you take credit cards?
Anything, but give me this power so that whoever I lay my hands on they can receive this Holy Spirit too.
Compare that to Acts chapter 13 where it says, "The Holy Spirit said, 'Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for
the ministry whereunto I have called them." See in the first example you have a guy trying to get a hold of and
use God. In the second instance, you have God trying to get a hold of use men. Huge difference. What's the
difference? Again, results. God will never be used. But God will if you allow him, use you.
So, those are the problems sith it. Look at the pronouns. We read through it but look back at chapter 14
verse 26, "But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He (mark that) will teach
you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you." Look at chapter 15, verse 7, "If
you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this
my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples." That's not what I wanted. Look at
verse 26, excuse me (It comes with age you know, they're calling them senior moments) "When the helper
comes, verse 26, chapter 15, "whom I send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the
Father, he will testify of me. And you will also bear witness because you have been with me from the
geginning." Look down at verse 12, "I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He (personal pronoun) the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth for He will
not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears, he speaks and he will tell you of things to come. He
will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." All told in this section of 14, 15 and 16
there's thirteen personal pronouns Jesus uses when he refers to the Holy Spirit. Now last time I checked,
personal pronounds are used for people, not forces, right? Imagine how weird it would sound if I say, "Boy the
wind is blowing today and the wind he is strong." "Boy I need air in my tires. And the air he helps my car."
There is not one single reliable version of the holy scriptures where the Holy Spirit is referred to as an it.
Every reliable scholarly work is the same thing: He, him, whom, personal pronounds.
Also, there's an issue of personality. Did you catch the names Jesus gives to the Holy Spirit? The helper or the
comforter, some translations say. The counselor, does that sound like a power to you? Chapter 14, verse 16,
"He will teach." Chapter 15, verse 16, "He will testify or speak." Chapter 16, verse 8, "He will convict (or
convince some translations say). Verse 13 of chapter 16, "He will guide, he will speak, he will tell. And verse
15, "He will take and declare." I looked up the word just for kicks in Noah's dictionary, Noah Webster. I
looked up the word person. And Noah Webster said or Webster's dictionary said, "We apply the word to
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 4
living beings only, possessed with a rational nature." In other words, to be a person, you need intelligence or a
mind, you need feelings or emotion and you need a will. And all those three aspects of personality, the Holy
Spirit exhibits. He exhibits intelligence, chapter 15 verse 26, "The Holy Spirit will teach you." Don't you have
to know something before you can teach something? Then that would be intelligence.
Then he has will. In I Corinthians 12 Paul says of spiritual gifts, "The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts individually
as he wills." Or how about this one, remember in Acts 16 Paul is trying to travel. And it says he tried to go to
Asia but the Holy Spirit what? "Forbade him" or did not allow him. The Holy Spirit forbade him from going. So
he went to Mychia, tried to go to Bithynia but again the Holy Spirit didn't permit him. So the Holy Spirit has a
will because you can't forbid or permit anything unless you have a will.
So he has a mind, he has a will, and he has emotion. Think about that, we rarely do. The Holy Spirit of God
has emotion. Ephesians 4, "Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Can you grieve an it? No, you can only grieve
a him or a her, a person. Wouldn't it sound weird if I said, "Boy, I grieved my plant today. I mean I really
angered my plant. He is so vexed. It is so grieved. You know, I was telling it it should change, turn over a new
leaf (laughter0 didn't like that. It's grieved. Romans talks about the love of the Spirit, only a person can love. A
plant can't love you, electricity can't love you, a force can't love you. So, since the Holy Spirit is a person,
listen carefully, any personal relationship at all that we have with God must include the Holy Spirit. You don't
have personal relationships with electricity or plants.
So that's the first question: power or person? Answer: Person. Second question: Dignitary or deity? Is the
Holy Spirit just some important being like an angelic being or is the Holy Spirit God? Now nothing will
heighten your respect for the Holy Spirit than to realize he is God Almighty. Look at chapter ;16 for just a
moment, back to verse 12, "I have still many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However
when he the Spirit of truth will come, he will guide you into all trtuh." For the Holy Spirit to be able to guide
you into all the truth, he has to be aware of all the truth. To be aware of all the truth means that he is
omniscient, he knows everything. He knows everything. That's a description of God. Then if you look and you
don't have to, you can write it down, Psalm 139. Psalm 139, he's omnipresent. David said, "Where can I flee
from your Spirit? Where can I go from your presence?" And he says, "I can go anywhere, you're there." So the
Holy Spirit is omniscsient, he's omnipresent. We know that he was there at creation, Genesis 1:2 "hovering
over the waters." Job in Job 33 said, "The Spirit of God has made me." So, the qualifications of his character
show that he is God.
Second, the validation by Christ himself. Go back to chapter 14, verse 16, it's a word you can't escape, you
can't miss this. "And I will pray the Father and he will give you a (helper? No, notice) another helper that he
may abide with you forever." It's a key word, another. In the Greek language there are two words for the
English word another. Unfortunately we have one, they have two. One word is alos, the other word is
heteros. Alos means another of exactly the same sort, heteros means another that's completely different.
Example, let's say I have a CD and you really like it. You go, "Boy I really like it." "Well that's neat." "No, I
REALLY like it." "Okay, you can have it because I'll go get another." I would use the word alos, I'll go out and
buy one just like it to replace it. But let's say you took it home and it was all beat up and scratched and
skipped. And you say, "Hey, thanks for the CD but it's really lousy." I'd say, "Well, don't worry, I'll go get
another." Will I get another just like it? No, I'll get one that's not scratched. Or, you might say, "I don't like
this music." "Don't worry about it, I'll get you a" heteros, a different group, one unlike the first. The word that
Jesus used for another counselor is the word alos, one exactly like I have been to you. Jesus was the helper,
the comforter, the counselor, the friend. He was the miracle worker, he was God in human flesh. But he was
going, he was leaving. And he said, "Ah, I'm going to send you a comforter, one just like me. One who is
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 5
divine, one who can help, one who can do and be all that I have done and been to you." An alos, another
comforter, another divine being.
Now the early church understood that. Peter was there listening. And we have not only the qualification by
character, we have not only the validation by Christ, we have the designation by Christians of the early
church. I want you to turn to Acts 5 and we'll bring this to a close. Acts chapter 5. You say, "I already know
this stuff." Tough, look at it again, somebody else needs to and you can share it with them maybe. "But a
certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession and he kept back part of the proceeds, his
wife also being aware of it. And brought a certain part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said,
'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?'" (If you have a pencil it would be good for
you to just circle those words, Holy Spirit) and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself. While it
remained, was it not your own? After it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived
this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." (You may want to circle God and connect the
Holy Spirit and God because that's what he's saying. It's appositional, that is this refers to that. The Holy Spirit
is God he is saying.) You say, "Well that was just Peter." No, that was just Paul too. And I'll give you a quick
example, I'm not going to have you turn to it, just remember it. You know Isaiah chapter 6, most of you,
where it says, "The Lord said, 'Whom shall I send and who will go for us?' And Isaiah said, 'Here I am, Lord,
send me.'" And so it says, "The Lord said (God said), 'go and say this message.'" Well when Paul quotes that in
Acts 28, it's the end of the book, he said, "The Holy Spirit was right when he said" and he quotes Isaiah 6, 'Go
and speak these words to the people.'" So what Isaiah said was God speaking, Paul the apostle says it was the
Holy Spirit speaking. What does that mean? The Holy Spirit is not only a person, not a power, but deity not a
dignitary. That's the conclusion of all this. The Holy Spirit along with the Father and the Son is God Almighty
in the Trinity. And we'll study that at another time in the next few weeks, just a whole study on the Trinity.
Now, does all this really honestly truly matter? Does it matter that he is a person and that he is a divine
person? Well, Jeremy Taylor put it this way, "it's impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his
helper is omnipotent." Isn't that good? "It's impossible for the one to despair whose helper is omnipotent. It
does matter a lot. You see, if you don't grasp who he is, you'll never appreciate what he does. If you don't
understand his person and personality, you'll never appreciate all the activities of the Holy Spirit. And just look
at those churches and movements who have denied the personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit. Look at
them. The Unitarian Church, Christian Science, the Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, liberal Protestantism. You want
to end up like that?
Also, think of it, if you are not aware that the third person of the Godhead, yes invisible but personal and
powerful is living inside of you, it's going to show. It'll show. You'll be like so many like Paul described to
Timothy, who have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof. And you know what will happen?
You'll lose interest in spiritual things, spiritual disciplines, prayer, worship. You'll lose your appetite for the
word of God. You'll lose your interest in church and the solutions that can be found within the body of Christ.
You'll lose your appetite for God-centered preaching. You'll demand fluff in its place. That's what will happen.
You'll replace biblical instruction with human counsel, psychotherapy; because they have all the answers, we
have nothing. That's what will happen. You'll start replacing a reliance upon God in prayer for a reliance upon
people's advice. That's what will happen. You'll become a little-Godder versus a big-Godder if you remember
that study.
A. C. Dixon wrote, "When you rely on organization, we get what organization can do. When we rely on
education we get what education can do. When we rely on eloquence we get what eloquence can do. But
when we rely on the Holy Spirit, we get what God can do." Wouldn't you agree that's a big difference. Isn't it
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 6
time to just rely on God the maker of heaven and earth, the Almighty. He is not impotent, he is all powerful.
And the Holy Spirit is ready to get a hold of you and use you. That's what Jesus was telling these guys on that
night, "Hey I'm leaving but good news, great news, great news, somebody's coming. He's going to teach you,
he'll reveal to you, he'll impart to you. He'll be everything that I am and was to you.
A lot of cities, their electrical sources come from the flow of water at a dam. And hundreds of thousands of
volts of electricity. The source funnels the power out toward different cities. And the cable usually has words
on it like "Danger. High voltage. Stay away." Those kind of things. You wouldn't want to touch a hundred
thousand volts of electricity. You wouldn't want to hook it directly to your house unless you want to watch it
burn up instantly. So engineers have developed transformers to take the voltage and step it down to useful
increments. And so if you step it down from hundreds of thousands of volts via transformers to 110, it works,
the house works, the lights work, everything works. It's great.
I have a computer that I like to travel with and I always to take the transformer to step it down to 19.6 volts.
It'll take anything from 220 to 110 and in-between fluctuating and feed it that 19.6 volts. Otherwise it'll burn
up. Last summer I had a razor that I took to Italy, the shaver just burned up, didn't have the right transformer.
The Holy Spirit is the transformer, taking the truth of god, the mighty power and truth, life-changing ability of
God, that mighty power and gives it to us in increments we can handle, in ways that'll change us, one step at a
time, one day at a time. One woman will hear something or feel something or experience something, one man
something else and there'll be those changes. Those changes. And sometimes it will be dramatic. And other
times it will be invisible at first but then grow. And if we're used to, "I didn't see a huge explosion tonight. But
God spoke inwardly to my hear." For you to not think that is the Holy Spirit is detrimental. Paul put it this
way in II Corinthians 3, "But we all are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit
of the Lord."
Heavenly Father, we have learned in the last several weeks so many things about you. And we want to Lord,
we don't want to be fuzzy about the issue of God. Nor of the Holy Spirit, O Lord I want to say it's funny but
it's tragic really that the one thing we shouldn't be ignorant of, the Holy Spirit, we are. Clear the fog. Help us
to know who the Spirit is, what he does and how we should respond. Lord, though we are human and we
cannot fully grasp that which is infinite, we do ask that the Holy Spirit, that he would act as that transformer,
taking the truth that Jesus said the disciples had so much to learn and give it to us in thosei ncrements that we
can handle, that are lifechanging, that we can be transformed from glory to glory into the same image by the
Spirit of the Lord. We want our relationship with you Lord to included the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. And though we're never going to walk away sand fully grasp that. Help us to get a better handle on the
person of the Spirit and the deity of your Holy Spirit so that we will never despair. We can face any situation
because we realize our helper, the one living inside of us is God himself, omnipotent. We have nothing to fear,
there's no situation too big for you. In Jesus' name. Amen.
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 7
The Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit—Invisible, Personal, Powerful" - John 14-16 | SkipHeitzig.com/4158
Page | 8