lw10-00

OCTOBER, 2000

The Person Of The Holy Spirit
By Pastor Pete Norris

John 14:16 -- “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”

Just before Jesus was to ascend to heaven, He promised that the Spirit was coming to us. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate identities, belonging to and existing in one source of power. They are always in unison, pursuing perfectly the same purpose and plan. God could not function without the presence of the Son and Holy Spirit. The Son could not perform without the Father and Holy Spirit. God is omnipotent (everywhere) because the Holy Spirit is everywhere. God nor Jesus are on the earth, but the Comforter was sent back to us and walks alongside of us in the form of a person. That person is the Holy Spirit.

The word “Comforter” from John 14:16 above, is translated from the Greek work “paraclete” and means “one who walks alongside of.” The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and He will not go anywhere that He is not invited. Until we becomes intimate with the Holy Spirit and we know Him as a “person”, we cannot fully comprehend His purpose in the earth. The Holy Spirit is always with us and wants to be our helper. If we do not know what pleases Him, we will grieve and hurt Him. The Holy Spirit has a personality and characteristics, just as our human heart does. If we tell Him He is not welcome, He will leave. People do not walk in intimacy and power with Him because they think He is far from them. We must become aware of His presence and operation in our lives

John 16:7, 13, 15 -- “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

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.

All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

The Holy Spirit could not come and abide with and in mankind until Jesus left the earth. The Holy Spirit always glorifies and reveals the things of our Father and the Son. We will not receive revelation of the things of God unless we receive them through the Holy Spirit. People try to read the Bible and understand it through their own intellect when God has sent the Holy Spirit to teach, guide and help us understand God’s word. The church is missing the intimacy of the person of Holy Spirit. It is not the tongues and gifts that will deliver us, but intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not an “it”, He is a person. God the Father is in heaven, with the Son Jesus on His right hand. The Holy Spirit has been sent by the son to operate on the earth. God commands, Jesus performs it, but the power is in the Holy Spirit. If there is no power, then things will not happen. We have nothing without the “hook-up” of our lives and the power of the Holy Spirit. We are praying to God, but we must listen to the Holy Spirit to know and understand the things of our Father God.

The Holy Spirit does not come because we play music or lift our hands, but He comes because we invite Him. If we know about Him as a person, we do not have to worry about reaching God

John 13:33 -- “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.”

Jesus was going to send the Comforter as a replacement for Himself. In fact, Jesus said it was “expedient” that He leave so we would have the Holy Spirit available in our lives. The Holy Spirit would have the same attributes of God and do the things that Jesus did. Jesus did not perform any miracles or preach a message until after the Comforter descended upon Him.

Are we going to know the presence and person of the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? He is more real than what the church knows about. He has a personality.

When someone dies, the physical body remains, but there is no life in the body. If something is alive, it has a will, intellect, emotions, and feelings. The Holy Spirit has all of these things . He has complete knowledge and understanding of God the Father, and God the Son. We can grieve and hurt Him, so He has feelings. When we understand the person of the Holy Spirit, He is more real than life itself. When we get revelation of the personality of Holy Spirit, we have a revelation of the depth of the fullness of God. The perfection of the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the perfection of God. We cannot know the Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit.

When we know the Holy Spirit as a person, we can no longer be brought down or shaken by circumstances in our lives, because we know that we cannot be forsaken. We cannot know Jesus without knowing the Holy Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in us but we cannot reach the Father or Son without the Holy Spirit. We cannot be drawn to God except by Holy Spirit. We have the opportunity to truly know the Holy Spirit after we are saved.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to bring into being or to manifest the commands of the Father and the performance or works of the Son. When we were saved, the Holy Spirit drew us. We accepted Jesus as Savior by His blood and were immediately placed in contact with our Father, through and by the Holy Spirit. When we pray in tongues (I Corinthians 14:2), we also reach the Father through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit loves us and desires to be with us.

Ephesians 2:18 -- “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

The Holy Spirit gives us access into the presence of God. It is in the name of Jesus that we exist, but the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us. God and Jesus do not speak to us, but it is the Holy Spirit doing the talking here on the earth. If God would speak to us, we could not withstand such power! We could not receive the deity of the fullness of His presence. It may seem like an audible voice when the Holy Spirit speaks.

II Corinthians 13:14 -- “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”

Communion is fellowship. Do we ask the Holy Spirit for fellowship or are we always asking for “things” from Him? The Holy Spirit desires intimacy with us. People are so busy that they do not have intimacy, fellowship and a relationship with the precious Holy Spirit of God. When we put off fellowship and forsake the Holy Spirit, He is grieved and hurt. He is waiting patiently for us to talk to Him, to spend time and fellowship with Him. When we ask God to show us things, it is the desire of the Holy Spirit to do just that. It seems too simple for us to believe! Fellowship is love, friendship and communion. If we are married, we spend time with our spouses because we love them. When is the last time we sat down and talked with the Holy Spirit?

The call God has placed on our lives does not ever go away, but it will destroy us without the presence and leading of the Holy Spirit. The things we accomplished will mean nothing without the intimacy of the Holy Spirit. We must be intimate with Him. The church has been moved by the signs and wonders instead of being moved by the Holy Spirit. Signs and wonders will follow those who believe and are obedient to the Spirit. We can only be complete and survive through the Holy Spirit.

Peter was led and controlled by the Holy Spirit and his shadow healed people as he passed by. The church needs to have such intimacy with

Holy Spirit that He does not go away. If we are not intimate with Him daily, we will not see many results during our church services.

When is the last time we heard the Holy Spirit speak to us? Some of us are not willing to pay the price to hear Him. It is not so much about our own personal calling, but knowing Him personally. We think tongues are a sign that God has shown up. The gifts of God are irrevocable. That is the danger of separating ourselves from His presence and being anointed. There are people living in perverted situations who still have the anointing and are operating in the gifts, because the gifts are irrevocable. The church today has a problem knowing if it is God or the devil. When God gives a gift, He does not take it back. It will destroy us without His direction and presence. When we pray for power, it will cost us more of our time.

I Corinthians 2:12-13 -- “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.”

The Holy Spirit is a teacher. If we want to be taught, we should go to Him. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God. There are three spirits operating on the earth: (1) human, (2) evil (devil), and the Holy Spirit. The human spirit can go either way (for the devil or for God). If we want to know the things of God, we should get to know the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:54-56 -- “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

The Holy Ghost gives strength and power to endure. In the text above, God was sitting on the throne. Jesus was standing and waiting for Stephen. The Holy Spirit gave Stephen the strength to stand, just as He will help us to stand. Moses had the power of the Holy Spirit to lead the children out of Egypt. It was the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of Joshua that helped him to accomplish what God wanted him to do. The Holy Spirit was the power behind the wind that blew the Red Sea apart. He was the power that made the walls of Jericho fall. He was the power behind the stone that David slung to slay the giant.

Acts 10:19 -- “While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.”

Peter would have missed this if he had not been intimate with Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:29 -- “Then the Spirit said unto Phillip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”

If Phillip had not listened to the Holy Spirit, then the Ethiopian would have died unsaved.

Luke 12:10 -- “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”

Acts 5:3 -- “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”

When we lie to the Holy Spirit, we die. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. It shall not be forgiven those who do not reverence the Holy Spirit.

John 15:26 -- “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”

Psalm 51:11 -- “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.”

When the intimacy and presence of the Holy Spirit in the form of the person is not there, the presence of God has left. The only form of the presence of God in our lives is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to teach, do the commands of the Father, and to manifest the presence of the Son. We have to go by the Spirit, through the Son, and to the Father. The Father goes through the Son, by the Holy Spirit to man.

We must know the Holy Spirit as a person. If not, we are as far as we will ever go in our spiritual walk with God. We will never have any stability in our walk with God until we have intimacy, communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.