The Holy Spirit & You, Part 1 | The Role of the Holy Spirit

We're glad you're joining us for a new beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Havoc in this life. I'm going to destroy this life. Wait, wait, wait.

There's an ID tag. Property of the Lord Jesus Christ. He backs off.

He backs off. That's what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. We know our adversary is a powerful force, far more powerful than we are on our own. But we also know that our God is omnipotent, all powerful. And when the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, takes up our cause, we're in good hands. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the role the Spirit plays in the life of the believer.

Foundational insight from a practical series called Timeless, Unchanging Truths in a Changing Culture. And it's open with these very familiar words of Jesus in verses one to three. To people who are grieving, to people who are afraid, to people who are stressed out and are agitated, to people, well, just like us, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And we live in such troubled times right now. So these words of Christ are so relevant.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. But now Jesus continues on. Verse 16 of John 14.

And I pray the Father that he will give you another helper, underline those two words, another helper, that he may abide with you forever. This 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 shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.

A little while longer and the world will see him no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also. But that day you will know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. And he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him or reveal myself to him. Judas, not as scary yet, said to him, Lord, how is it that you manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said, if any man loves me, he'll keep my word.

Then my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He that does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I've 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've said to you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now, there's a lot of misunderstanding concerning the role in working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of both believers and unbelievers. Remember I said the Holy Spirit is not an it, it's a him. For a being to be considered a person, he or she must possess certain characteristics. First among those is intelligence, then there's will, then there is emotion. So to be a person, or to be a personality, you must have intelligence, you must have will, and you must have emotion. God is a person, he has a personality, so the Holy Spirit has a personality and the Holy Spirit has intelligence.

He has intelligence. In the deep things of God, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God.

Objects don't know things, but the Holy Spirit knows things. Also the Holy Spirit has a will, he has a will. Because we read in First Corinthians 12, speaking of the gifts of the Spirit that God's Holy Spirit distributes, it says he gives to each one these gifts, as he wills. It's a Holy Spirit who decides what kind of spiritual gifts each believer will receive. In Acts 15, 28, the apostles were talking about different issues and they said it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. So the Holy Spirit had a will and the Holy Spirit expressed his will. Listen to this, the Holy Spirit has emotion. I mentioned he can be grieved, quenched, resisted, even lied to.

A little bit more on that in a moment. But the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer seeks to convict them of their sin or a better translation would be convince them. There's nothing I can do to convince you that you're a sinner in need of a Savior.

No clever analogy, no illustration is gonna do it. Only the Holy Spirit can do that and I trust in the work of the Spirit when I present God's word that he will touch a person's heart and show them their need for Christ. That's why we need to pray for people as we share the gospel. And once a person believes and is convinced of their need for Christ and asks Christ to come into their life, it's a Holy Spirit that gives them the inner assurance that they're a believer. Romans 8, 18 says his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. How many of you are children of God?

Raise your hand up. Dare to say the reason you know you're a children of God is you have that inner witness. It's not just that the Bible says you are, you believe the Bible and what it says, but there's something deep inside of you that says, yes, I am a child of God. And I know I am a child of God.

You know where that came from? From the Holy Spirit. His spirit is bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. And not only can I sense that I'm a child of God, but I know it when I meet another child of God.

Maybe we've only known each other for five minutes, but boy there's an immediate connection. Because they're a fellow believer and the same Holy Spirit that lives in me lives in them as well. Those are things that the Holy Spirit does. Here's something else the Holy Spirit does. When you become a Christian, he seals you. He seals you.

Ephesians 1 13 says, after you trusted and heard the word of truth and received the gospel, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who has a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance and the redemption of those who are God's possession. Now what does that even mean? Well back in the old days, the days in which this is written, when goods were shipped from one place to another, they'd be stamped with a wax seal. This is before amazon.com. Little drones flying around, dropping off packages, which they say they will do soon.

I just hope they don't weaponize them, right? So if you're delinquent in your payment, you have trouble with the little drone. I don't know. But in the old days they would send documents from one place to another and they would take these documents and they would seal them. And they would have this signet of the person who sent the document. So let's say a document was sent by a king. It's like a scroll. A parchment with a wax seal and the king's signet ring was stamped in the wax.

So if you saw that document, you dare not open it because that is a private correspondence from the king to someone else. So when the Bible says you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, it's as though God has put his mark on you. Let's use a different illustration.

It's like an ID tag, right? When I travel I wait for my suitcase and the problem is other people have suitcases that look like mine. Because most people have black suitcases. But I have a pink one with a smurf on it.

And no, that's not true. But no, I have a silver suitcase. So it comes down. But I always check my ID tag. Because the other day I picked up my bag. I am walking out and some lady starts chasing me and says, you took my bag. I said, no this is mine. And I checked the ID tag and sure enough it was her bag. Looked just like mine. That's why you check an ID tag.

So if someone wants to steal that bag they will think twice. So here comes the devil. I'm going to wreck havoc in this life.

I'm going to destroy this life. I'm at, whoa, whoa, wait. There's an ID tag.

Let me check the ID tag. Property of the Lord Jesus Christ. He backs off.

He backs off. That's what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. But it's interesting because it also goes on to say he's a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance until the redemption of God's possession.

He's a deposit. So when you go to buy something you may put a deposit down. Maybe you see a car you want to buy. And you'll say, I want to buy this car. But I want you to hold it for me for a week.

Guys say, well I really can't do that. Well how about if I put a deposit down in good faith. Okay and then so you put your deposit down. So that means that you're putting a certain amount of money down on that car or whatever it is you're buying. Maybe it's a home.

You say, well I want to buy this home and I'm going to put a deposit down on it. So they'll hold it. Now that won't go on forever but they'll hold it for a period of time for you. So here's what God is saying. I want you to know I mean business. And when I say one day you'll join me in heaven I mean it. And just so you know I mean business I'm giving my Holy Spirit to you as a down payment.

Because that's what the word means. As a down payment to reassure you that I'm going to keep all of the promises I've made to you. I think that's pretty amazing. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. I don't know if you know about this but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world.

Listen to this. We even have Harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the Word of God. So join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is presenting a message called the Holy Spirit in You Part One.

Let's continue. What else does the Holy Spirit do? He teaches us. Look at verse 26. Jesus says 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 said to you. The Holy Spirit can open up passages to us an incredible way.

And that comes as we study and read the Bible. You want the Holy Spirit to illuminate Scripture. You must read Scripture or listen to Scripture. But get Scripture in you. You can't just hold the Bible up to your head and pray that it just jumps in there somehow. You know you've got to read it and process it. But then the Holy Spirit can bring it to life. A passage can just jump off the page.

Have you ever had that happen? And it's so relevant or someone sends you a verse and it's just so appropriate for what you're facing. And sometimes you're in church and you're listening to a message and it's so it's like it was written for you. And you're thinking he's the greatest preacher I've ever heard. I'm not referring to me of course but whoever might be preaching. But it's not that he is the greatest preacher you've ever heard. It's that the Holy Spirit is taking the Word of God and he's bringing it home to your heart because that's part of the work he does in the life of the believer.

It's not some great preacher. It's a great God whose Holy Spirit is illuminating the Word. And that's one of the things that the Holy Spirit does.

He sheds more light on the original light. First Corinthians 2 9 says, it's written, eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit. Because no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. So that's the Holy Spirit doing that for you.

Listen to this. The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers and our obedience to God. He helps us in our prayers and our obedience to God. Look at verse 15. Jesus says if you love me obey my commandments and I'll ask the Father and he'll give you another advocate who will never leave you.

This is the key that unlocks the treasures of heaven. In the Old Testament the law of God was given. And effectively the law of God said don't do those things. Thou shall not have any graven images before me. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shall not lie. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not covet. A lot of nots.

A lot of nos. And so as an Old Testament believer you would try to not do those things that were wrong before God and keep his commandments. But in the New Testament it's different. Because now those commandments are written in our heart. And we do them out of love. We do them because we want to.

Not because we have to. And if you're a Christian that's living in a law-like relationship with God and you see the Christian life as a bunch of restrictions you're missing what it's all about. Because if you really love God with all of your heart soul and mind you will not want to do those things that displease him. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying right here. He's saying if you love me obey my commandments. You know I love my wife so I will be faithful to my wife.

I love my wife so I will not lie to my wife. So it's not fear of what will happen if I do the wrong thing but rather it's a love causing me to want to do the right thing. You say yeah but what if I'm torn between two lovers?

Well then you're an idiot for starters. And the fact is you don't love either. You just love yourself. So if you really love someone you'll want to please them. And if you really love Jesus you'll keep his commandments.

Let me flip it over. If I don't keep his commandments do I really love Jesus? You know a lot of people say oh I love the Lord. Oh I just love the Lord. Let's get drunk.

Wait hold on what? The Bible says don't be drunk with wine. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah whatever.

Let's get drunk. You know you're just obeying God. I really love Jesus but I'm going to slander that person over there.

Just tell a flat out lie about him because I don't like him. I really love Jesus but I'm going to look at porn now. I really love Jesus but it's fill in blank here. Do you really love Jesus? You say you love him but if you go out and deliberately do things his word says you should not do do you love him?

It would be questionable wouldn't it at best. You know what else the Holy Spirit does? He empowers you for service.

He gives you power. Look at verse 17. The spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor does it know him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. You see for a believer at this time and they were still effectively living in the old covenant until Christ died and rose. Still the old covenant. And so the Holy Spirit wasn't in them yet. So here's what Jesus is saying. He's going to come in you.

Well when did that happen? That happened in the upper room. Remember we read in John 20 after Jesus died and rose again Christ appeared to them in the room and he said receive the Holy Spirit and he breathed on them and the Holy Spirit came and lived inside of them. So now when you become a Christian the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. But there's even another dimension of power you can experience because over in Acts 1 8 it says you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses unto me and Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. So the spirit comes in you when you become a Christian. But then the spirit can come upon you with the dimension of power giving you a boldness or a courage to be a witness for Christ or to share your faith. And that happened on the day of Pentecost when all those believers who had the Holy Spirit in them were waiting for power from on high and God's Spirit came on them. Remember that story and listen to this. After that happened Peter said this promise of the Holy Spirit is to you and it's to your children and it's to your children's children and to all that are afar off even as many as will call on the name of the Lord our God.

So here's what Peter is saying. This promise of what happened on Pentecost is available to believers today. We don't need another Pentecost any more than we need another Calvary. What happened at the first Calvary is sufficient.

What happened at the first Pentecost is sufficient. I just need to take hold of it and that's the Holy Spirit to empower me and fill me again and again and again. And you refill. Some people you know you need to get more refills than others do but we all need a refill of the Spirit. Pastor Greg Laurie with important thoughts about the way the Holy Spirit helps us in our daily walk with the Lord. And there's more to come as this message continues here on A New Beginning. But listen, if you're unsure about your relationship with the Lord, you don't know if you have the Holy Spirit inside you.

You don't know if your sins have been forgiven. Well, Pastor Greg has something important to share with you in just a few moments, so please stay tuned. Well, Pastor Greg, I know there's a brand new movie we're excited about that deals with the subject of fame. And the other day I saw one of those brief reels on social media, the little short video clips, and this was featuring Julia Roberts, the famous film star. And she said early in her acting career after one of her first movies, and she was just starting to get famous, she was in a public restroom and she heard a voice from outside the stall. It said, girl in stall number one, if you were in that movie such and such, give me your autograph. Oh my gosh.

And a hand reached up under the divider holding a piece of paper and a pen. Wow. And she thought, hmm, things have changed in my life. Yeah, and probably not for the better.

No. You hear what happens to these celebrities and, you know, people can be incredibly obnoxious and rude and demand so much from them. And I think that, you know, that you dream and you hope one day that maybe you'll be successful and people will know your name and then you get to the top and you're so empty. I mean, look at how many of these celebrities have become drug addicts and alcoholics and they're checking in and out of rehab. And tragically, look how many of them have taken their lives when they were at the peak of their career.

Example, Whitney Houston, River Phoenix, Scott Weiland, Cory Monteith, Elvis Presley, Taylor Hawkins from The Foo Fighter, John Belushi, Chris Farley, the list goes on. And it's just these people have what many dream of and they see the emptiness of it. I think deep down inside, we are searching for significance. We are searching for meaning and we think fame is the answer, but fame is not the answer. In fact, many ways, fame is like gasoline on an out of control fire. So let me just save you a lot of misery. Don't chase after fame. It's empty.

Chase after Christ. That's what you're looking for. But I talked to some people that I would describe as experts on this topic. Alice Cooper, Daryl Strawberry and others. You know, Daryl Strawberry had incredible success as a baseball player playing for some of the best teams out there. He won the World Series rings. He even let me put one on once.

Gigantic ring. But he watched me very carefully in case I wanted to run off with it. But Daryl, one of the nicest guys. And he has an amazing story because here he is hitting home runs, people packing stadiums to watch him in action, little kids and young boys wanting his autograph and their bats and their balls. And Daryl was having this empty life as he was getting heavily into drugs.

And well, let's just hear from Daryl himself. Here's a little excerpt from our film called Fame, where I talked to baseball great Daryl Strawberry. Being famous is hard. It's not easy.

And I think people believe it's the greatest thing to be famous. But when you reach that point, you're going to usually stay in the house because everybody's going to be looking for you. Everybody's going to be pulling at you. And you don't you never know who's pulling at you for the right reasons. In that lifestyle, you get kind of embedded in it. And it's really hard to get out because it gets ugly.

Like my lifestyle got real ugly. So today, Daryl is not only a Christian, he's a preacher. And he travels around inspiring people. I had him in our church a few years ago, and I interviewed him. And after this service, he said to me, Greg, if anybody wants to meet me afterwards, I'd be happy to meet them. And I went over there after the service was over.

He was the last man in the room. He signed every baseball, every bat, took time with every one of those kids, because he knows he has influence. He wanted to use that influence for God. So you can take a platform where you're known and use it to touch people with the gospel.

And certainly Daryl Strawberry is a great example of someone who does that well. Well, I know in addition to the movie Fame, we have a book by the same title that actually takes the subject of fame and goes into more detail about its dangers and how we can steer our kids away from those dangers. Is that right?

That's right. And it's filled with a lot of quotes, a lot of illustrations, a lot of examples from people who did it, who found it, and saw the emptiness of it. And then I have some biblical principles on what we really should be looking for in life. So we will send this book to you for your gift of any size to help us continue on here at A New Beginning to reach more people with gospel. And we'll also encourage you to go see our brand new film, Fame.

Dave, tell them where they can see that. Yeah, you can watch the movie Fame right now at our new Harvest media platform at harvest.org, and also other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play. And don't forget the companion book, also called Fame.

It's an engaging look at how to find significance in God's plan for our lives rather than the culture's rush to make people insta-famous and often filled with long-term regret. We'll be glad to send a copy of the book called Fame to thank you for partnering with us so Pastor Greg can continue to bring the gospel through this radio program, through books and film, and through so many other forms of outreach. Get in touch with your donation today by calling 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime 24-7, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg, you spoke today about a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. Yes. But some may need to come to the Lord for the first time.

Yeah. If somebody listening right now wants to do that, could you help them? Yeah, I can do that, Dave.

I'd be happy to. In the book of Isaiah, we read these words. Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous man their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord and he will have mercy on them and to our God for he will freely pardon. Listen, that's God's word to you. And let me address this to the person who has never asked Jesus Christ to come into their life.

Why don't you do it now? That verse says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. God has touched your heart today, perhaps, and you've thought, I need this relationship with the Lord. One of these days I'm going to make that commitment to Christ. No, don't wait for one of these days. This is the day.

This is your moment. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Listen, God is near to you and he is ready to come into your life. And there's another part of this verse when it says, Let us return to the Lord. I want to also extend an invitation to you that have fallen away from your faith. You've fallen away from the Lord and you need to make a recommitment. So if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to go to heaven when you die, or if you've fallen away from the Lord and you want to return to him, pray this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I also know that you are a savior and I need your help. I need your forgiveness. Come into my life and forgive me of all of my sins.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my savior, be my Lord, be my God, and be my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen. Hey, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, if you just prayed that prayer and meant it, Christ has heard you and he has forgiven you. So God bless you. Yeah, and we want to help you as you begin to walk with the Lord. Pastor Greg would like to send you his New Believer's Bible.

It's full of practical helps to get you on your way in your journey of faith. And we'll send it free of charge when you call us at 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us any time at 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well, next time, important information about the dangers of resisting the Spirit and insulting God's Spirit. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make him known to others, or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.