The Holy Spirit & You, Part 1 | The Holy Spirit's Involvement in Our Lives

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Sign up at harvest.org. Why is it that you always resist the Holy Spirit? The Spirit draws people to the Lord. But Pastor Greg Laurie points out that our free will can stand in the way. Yeah, it's true that God's Spirit will come and call you and try to bring you to Jesus, but He will not take over your will. You can resist the Spirit, and then that can bring you to the worst thing of all, which is the conscious denouncing and rejection of God. The Lord created us with a will of our own.

In doing so, He knew some people would reject Him, but that was His plan from the beginning. And yet the Holy Spirit calls out to us, drawing us to the Lord. It's the wise person who heeds that call. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that's just one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. He has a multidimensional role in the lives of believers, and few of us know just how involved He is in our lives.

It's about time for the whole story. The Holy Spirit is going to do a unique work in your life. He's going to seal you. He's going to guide you.

He's going to advocate for you. He's going to empower you, and He's going to fill you again and again. Those are things that 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. It's as though God has put His mark on you. So here comes the devil. I'm going to wreak havoc in this life.

I'm going to destroy this life. I'm at, wait, wait, wait, property of the Lord Jesus Christ. He backs off.

He backs off. That's what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. What else does the Holy Spirit do?

He teaches us. 1 Corinthians 2 9 says, It is 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. 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. 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. I just need to take hold of it and ask the Holy Spirit to empower me and fill me again and again and again.

And you refill and some people you know you need to get more refills than others do. But we all need a refill of the Spirit. And at the end tonight we'll ask God to fill all of us with the Spirit. I said earlier that the Holy Spirit has a motion. He has a motion because the Bible tells us He can be resisted.

You can resist the Holy Spirit. Acts 7 51 Stephen is standing before the Sanhedrin. He's just a young guy and he is being brought there before them because of his faith and he could have just been very nice and diplomatic and gone home for dinner. But instead he sought us an opportunity to talk about Christ. And so he addressed these people who were very significant powerful people.

The Sanhedrin was sort of like the Supreme Court of the day. And so he addressed them and maybe he wasn't as diplomatic as he could have been. When he started his message by saying you stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. Not off to a great start but it was true.

And really what he's saying is you guys should know this and you don't know it. And then he says why is it that you always resist the Holy Spirit? So when you're a non-believer and God's Holy Spirit is trying to do His work to show you your need for Jesus and you say no to Him that's called resisting the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit can be resisted. Now Calvinists believe in irresistible grace. And irresistible grace means that no matter what if God's called you and preordained you you're going to become a believer even if you don't want to become a believer because it's irresistible grace. I beg to differ because if it was irresistible why did Stephen say why are you resisting the Holy Spirit? Yeah it's true that God's Spirit will come and call you and and try to bring you to Jesus but He will not take over your will. You can resist the Spirit and many do resist the Spirit.

And then if you continue in that course that can leave you to the next step which is insulting the Holy Spirit. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody what are you doing this weekend? I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home. What is Harvest at Home? It is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place so you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home.

Join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg has been talking about resisting the Spirit and the consequences and he says it's also possible to insult the Spirit of God. He continues. Did you know you can insult the Holy Spirit? Hebrews 10 29 says think how much more terrible the punishment will be on those who have trampled on the Son of God and treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy. These people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit. Wow. Man if there's one thing I do not want to do it's enrage the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is God and his purpose is to convince me of my need for Jesus and if I resist him and say no and no and no there can come a point where I'm now insulting him and it's interesting because it says they treat the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy.

Wow. It'd be like let's say you you want to marry a girl and you're going to propose marriage. I remember a young man said to me once I want to propose you know to this girl that I'm in love with and I want to do it at the end of your message and we happen to be in Israel and we're on the Mount of Beatitudes. He says I'm going to propose to her. I said is she going to say yes?

He said I believe she was. I said because you really don't want to do this in front of everyone. She says no. No she's going to say yes.

So I set him up. It happened to be her birthday so it was pretty easy to do. I said you know it's it's her birthday today and and she thought I was going to say let's all sing happy birthday and I said and and his name was Aaron. Her name is Michelle.

I said Aaron has something he wants to say to you and out comes Aaron. He proposes and thankfully she said yes. Okay so she would have said no that would have been a bad thing. Well let's say that you were going to propose to a girl.

The big moment has come. You've hired an orchestra but they're hiding you know and you come out and you drop down to one knee and you're there at a table in a restaurant. The orchestra is ready to fire up and and you drop down to the knee and you pull out your little ring and you hold it up and say I love you with all of my heart. Will you marry me? And then she looks at you and says no because I find you completely unattractive. Everything about you offends me and I would never if you were the last man on earth I wouldn't marry you. Then she says oh by the way can I still order dinner? Okay do you think you might be hurt by that?

Do you think you might be insulted by that? I mean you've just put it all on the line. So here comes the Holy Spirit and He says you need to believe in Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for you. Jesus shed His blood for you at Calvary and all you need to do is believe and you go you know. Can I get to this later?

Can we talk about this another time? See that dismissive attitude actually is an insult to God and that's what the Bible means when it says you're taking the blood of the covenant and acting as if it were common and unholy. You're taking the message of the death of Jesus and dismissing it like it means absolutely nothing. This is scary because first you start by resisting the Spirit. No I don't want that.

I don't want that. Then you take it to the next level and you're insulting the Spirit and then that can bring you to the worst thing of all which is the unforgivable sin that's blaspheming the Spirit. And I'm asked about this all the time. And sometimes Christians ask me do you think maybe I blasphemed the Holy Spirit? Before I was a Christian you know I cursed everything. I might have cursed the Spirit somewhere.

Well that's not what it means. In fact the very fact that you would be concerned about blaspheming the Spirit would indicate to me you have certainly not blasphemed the Spirit. The person who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit is a person that wouldn't ask about it. They wouldn't care about it.

Their heart would be so hard it would be the last thing they even have a concern about. It's a sin that only a non-believer can commit. But the word blasphemy means the conscious denouncing and rejection of God. It's defiant irreverence. The sin of intentionally and openly speaking evil against God.

So it's not just well I don't believe. It's like not only do I not believe but I hate everything that you believe and I will go out of my way to mock God and mock followers of Christ and even do damage to those who have put their faith in Jesus. Now you are headed to the point of no return.

Because Jesus said all manner of sin will be forgiven except he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit. This is the worst thing that can possibly happen. Here's what scares me. I think the easiest place to get a hard heart is in church.

Does that surprise you? You might say oh no Greg the easiest place to get a hard heart is you know hanging out in bars or you know hanging around godless people. Yeah you can get a hard heart hanging around those people.

But I think it's easier to get a hard heart in church and I'll tell you why. At least someone right now who's in a bar who's hanging around a bunch of low lights who's getting high or whatever it is they're doing. Maybe with that person right now at this very moment the light just went on and they said this is horrible and I need to change my life. In a way they might be a little closer to the kingdom of God than someone in this room. You're going you lost me. You're saying a person at a party who's high could be closer to the kingdom of God than someone in this room.

You heard me right. Because maybe that person in that sinful state realizing their need for God is saying I need to get right with God. I need to go to church.

I need to have my life changed. But the person sitting in church right now has their arms folded. Who has their arms folded? And here's what you're thinking. I've heard this. I've heard this. Oh I know this. I heard this when I was a little kid. Okay that's nice. Congratulations. But you see you can hear this truth and then not respond to it and that's how your heart will get hard.

The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. So the same message that can change one life can have another say oh I know that. I've heard that.

I know all about that. And they reject it. So be careful because you don't want your heart to ever get hard. You want to have a heart that's open and responsive to the work of the Spirit. Right now the Holy Spirit is speaking to some of you who are not Christians yet and he's saying you need to do this now. You need Jesus in your life now.

You know it and maybe that thing I described that scenario about sort of seeing the emptiness of your life happened to you recently. And here you are in this room or listening to this message and you're saying I need to do this. Good that's the Spirit. But see the Spirit will bring you so far.

Then you have to respond. The Holy Spirit will not force you to believe. The Holy Spirit will show you what you need to do. The Holy Spirit will show you why you should do it. But then you have to act on it. He'll help you as you do that. But you need to say I'm willing to take the next step. You say what's the next step? Admit you're a sinner and ask Christ to come into your life.

And what happens if you do that? Let's go back to a statement Jesus made and close with this. Jesus said if anyone loves me he'll keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.

That's his promise. He wants to come and take residence in your heart. He wants to be involved in your life. He wants to be your best friend but even more he wants to be your Father. He wants to be your Advocate. He wants to be your Savior. He wants to be your Lord. But he will not force his way into your life. The Holy Spirit is saying you need this and you know you need it.

Now you have to act on it. So in a moment we're going to pray and I'm going to extend an invitation for some of you that maybe have never asked Jesus to come into your life. You don't know if your sin is forgiven. Maybe you've been resisting the Spirit. Maybe you've been running from God. But it's time for you to come to the Lord and believe in the Lord. Maybe you've been in the church for most of your life but you've never made this personal commitment. You can't live off the faith of your parents or the faith of your friends or the faith of your husband or your wife.

You have to have your own relationship with God. Jesus died on the cross for you. He rose again from the dead and he'll come and live in your heart and life right here right now if you'll ask him to come in because he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in. So we're going to pray in a moment and I'm going to extend an invitation in this prayer for you to believe in Jesus. I pray that God's Holy Spirit shows you your need for the Lord and that you respond to the work of the Holy Spirit and come to Jesus Christ tonight.

Let's all bow our heads. Father now we pray that your Holy Spirit will work. That you will speak to hearts. Convict and convince them Lord. Show them their need for Jesus.

Only you can do that. I can't do it but you can and I pray for those that are seeing this need now that they will reach out to you and receive the forgiveness you offer. Lord don't let them leave here with a hard heart.

Don't let them say no and then have their heart get a little tougher. Lord help them to respond and believe in you tonight we ask. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important invitation today here on The New Beginning and if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment and he'll also close by inviting us to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit so don't go away. Well Pastor Greg we're talking about your film your brand new film called Fame talking about the dangers of pursuing fame and fortune. Let's say one of your grandkids came up to you one day and they said Papa when I grow up I'm going to be a social media influencer and everybody's going to watch my videos I'm going to be rich and you say well I don't think it's bad to want to be an influencer. I don't think it's a bad thing to want to be successful in life but I think we need to do it for the right reasons and use the platforms for the best purposes so there are social media influencers out there there are people that have large followings on social media platforms and they use it for the glory of God and I think that's fantastic because you know people need to hear the gospel and I I'm always looking for ways to build bridges to people and talk about things that are happening in the culture and in the world today and show them what the Bible says and how Christ is ultimately the answer so I don't know if that would be the best thing to pursue is your career having said that whatever you do do it for the glory of God so if you can say Hollywood be thy name over what you're about to pursue as your career path then I think you're good to go that would include being a social media influencer or whatever other field you go after and but you do talk about the dangers of fame because we see that demonstrated throughout the entertainment industry the stories of those who have really attained what they set out to accomplish and yet it destroyed them those stories are everywhere sure consider Amy Winehouse an incredible success very talented musician and yet here's what she said of fame and I quote fame is like terminal cancer I wouldn't wish it on anyone end quote so how's that for an answer from someone who's been there and done that and bought the t-shirt and maybe even was the t-shirt right so no it isn't the answer Solomon was one of the most successful men who ever lived he had global fame people traveled from across the planet to be with this man of God this man of wisdom but then Solomon walked away from his faith and backslid he wrote about it in the book of Ecclesiastes here's this conclusion it's all empty it's like chasing the wind it's like a bubble that bursts so here's this conclusion at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes fear God and keep his commandments well how about that so here's your choice you can learn these things the easy way or the hard way you don't have to live the life of Solomon or the life of Amy Winehouse or the life of any famous celebrity who flamed out burned out or even took their own life you can learn it from what God says in this word so I've written a book called Fame that's available right now it's a brand new book and I want to make it available to you for your gift of any size that you send to our ministry but I really play it out in this book I illustrate it with all kinds of sources and quotes and stories from people who've been there and experienced it for themselves but then we have a brand new film by the same title Fame so Dave tell them where they can see the film yeah you can watch the movie 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 Fame is free to watch and of course the book called Fame gives even more insight and examples of how God's plan differs from the world's plan the plan that promises happiness but often delivers sadness and despair we'll be glad to send a copy of the book your way again it's called Fame to thank you for partnering with us so Pastor Greg can continue to bring the gospel through radio 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 California 92514 or go online to harvest.org well Pastor Greg I know there are some in our audience who felt God speaking to them today through your message and they want to make a change in their relationship with the Lord could you help them with that yeah you know Dave the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved so I want to lead you in a prayer where you will be doing just that calling on the name of the Lord so listen if you want your sin forgiven if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and take away your guilt and your shame then just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me right now pray this after me if you would Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner I have broken your commandments I have fallen short of your standards but 2000 years ago you died on that cross for me then you rose again from the dead so Jesus come into my life and be my Savior and my Lord and my God and my friend I choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen amen and listen if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely well the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin and we want to welcome you into the family of God let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible and some other resources that'll help you build a solid foundation for your faith just give us a phone call at 1-800-821-3300 you can call anytime again dial 1-800-821-3300 you can also write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or go online to harvest.org and click on know God and then before we go a Pastor Greg closes this way well one of the things that the Holy Spirit wants to do in our life is fill us the Bible says be filled with the Holy Spirit speaking to yourselves and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord you know it's interesting in the original language that can be translated be being filled so the idea is do it over and over and over I mean do you have to refill your car with gas every you know week or so sure you do some of you drive SUVs every eight hours but the idea is you have to refill it otherwise it will stop running we need refills in the spirit so what did Jesus say you receive will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses so we want that power right we need that power there's no way we can there's no way we can do what God wants us to do without supernatural power and it's here for us the same power that was poured out on Pentecost is available to the believer today so we're gonna ask God's Holy Spirit to fill us I think sometimes we make this way too mystical you know you got to lower the lights you can lower the lights if you want you can turn the lights up if you want it's not like the Holy Spirit's afraid of light you know make it dark and then I'm gonna sneak in make it dark and then I'm gonna sneak in do my thing leave no no lights on lights off doesn't matter why it's an emotion you're gonna feel it yeah you might feel it you can have a huge emotional moment as the Holy Spirit fills you and then again you might feel nothing I just filled up my car up with gas last night I had no emotional experience except when I saw the bill I saw the bill no how much it cost but the reality is the car ran so yeah you might feel it you might not feel it's not about feeling it's not about being mystical it's just about saying I need this power give me this power I receive it because because Jesus says the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who what ask him just ask him and he'll give it so let's do that right now let's all pray father you promised us another helper an advocate a friend another friend alongside of us to empower us to seal us to bear witness in our hearts that we're your children to lead us to give us the power we need to be the witness you've called us to be to help us bring forth spiritual fruit Lord we need that power we want that power we pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit right now I pray that you will fill everyone in this room with the Holy Spirit why don't you just say Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit you say that to God right now you say it Lord fill me say it in any way you want to say it but just say Lord fill me now this is personal let's fill me fill me with this power give me all the gifts you want me to have all the power that is needed for what you call me to do fill us all Lord and we receive this and we receive this filling of the spirit and now Lord help us to walk in the power of the spirit because that's not by my nor by power but by your spirit says the Lord so thank you for the Holy Spirit we receive him now in Jesus name