The Holy Spirit #1 - Who is the Holy Spirit? (Part 1)
Description
Brady Randall opens a new series on the Holy Spirit with John 14:16-18, showing the Spirit is a person, not a power, sent to help, convict, and shape believers into the likeness of Jesus. Discover what it means to truly experience God's presence in everyday life, not just know about it.
Summary and Application
Brady Randall kicked off a new series on the Holy Spirit this weekend with a simple observation: everyone is a theologian. Whether or not you've ever cracked open a systematic theology textbook, you have an opinion about who God is — and if you're a follower of Jesus, that includes an opinion, whether you've thought about it or not, about the Holy Spirit. Brady's goal for this series isn't just information. It's experience — that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead would be known, not just known about.
He started by naming three ways we get the Holy Spirit wrong: we can overemphasize Him (elevating His gifts or our feelings above Jesus), underemphasize Him (treating His first-century power as ancient history), or underutilize Him (trying to live the Christian life in our own strength, like standing in a dark room next to a light switch we refuse to flip). From there, he built the message around two questions.
Meet the Advocate
The first question: who is the Holy Spirit? Brady's answer starts with personhood. In John 14:16-18, Jesus tells His disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth... you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." The Greek word behind "advocate" is parakletos — one who comes alongside. And Jesus specifically uses a word for "another" that means "another like Myself." The Spirit isn't a force to be harnessed; He's a person, with the same kind of personality as the Father and the Son.
That distinction matters practically. If the Spirit were just power, the natural question would be, "How do I get more of that?" But if He's a person, the question flips: "How does the Spirit get more of me?" Brady pointed to Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:18, who tried to buy the Spirit's power from the apostles — a cautionary picture of treating God as a resource instead of a relationship.
The Holy Spirit Is God
The second answer to "who is the Spirit" is more direct: He's God Himself. Jesus places Him alongside the Father and the Son in the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19. And in Acts 5, when Ananias lies about a financial gift, Peter doesn't say he lied to an influence or a force — he says, "You have not lied just to human beings but to God" — because lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. If the Spirit is God, He's not confined to one place or one era. He's the same Spirit at work since before creation, available to intercede for you right now.
A Spotlight, Not the Show
Which leads to the second question: what does the Spirit actually do? Brady summarized it as a spotlight ministry — sometimes described as making the Spirit the shy member of the Trinity. In John 16:12-15, Jesus says the Spirit "will not speak on his own" but will "glorify me." A spotlight doesn't draw attention to itself; it illuminates something else. Every function of the Spirit that follows serves that same purpose — pointing to Jesus.
What Evidence Should We Expect?
From there, Brady moved quickly through the Spirit's ongoing work: He brings about new birth (John 3:5-8), convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11), inspired and illuminates Scripture (2 Peter 1:21), intercedes for us "through wordless groans" when we don't know what to pray (Romans 8:26-27), and helps believers put sin to death (Romans 8:13). The overarching goal, Brady said, is conformity to Christ — Paul's language in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 of being "transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory."
Come Thirsty
For anyone tempted to say "I've tried that and it doesn't work," Brady offered his own story: joining a gym in high school, buying whey protein he hated, and spending more time shooting hoops than lifting weights — then blaming the gym membership for his lack of results. The Spirit's power is available; the question is whether we're accessing it. As Paul put it in Philippians 2:12-13, we "work out" our salvation precisely because it's God who is "at work within" us. Brady closed with Jesus' invitation in John 7:37-39: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." The conditions aren't complicated — come expectantly, come thirsty — but they are real.
Questions for Reflection
Where in your life have you been trying to "work it out" in your own strength — treating the Holy Spirit more like ancient history or an impersonal force than a person who wants more of you?
What would it look like this week to actually ask the Spirit for what Brady modeled in his shortest prayer — "Help me, Holy Spirit, bring to mind what is true" — in one specific relationship or decision you're facing?
This post was developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on the sermon "Who Is the Holy Spirit (Part 1)" by Brady Randall (John 14, September 5–6, 2026). While every effort has been made to faithfully represent the content and intent of the original message, readers are encouraged to engage the full sermon audio or transcript for the complete teaching.
-
No referenced material.
-
Introduction
Well, good morning. Before we jump into God's Word this morning, I want to invite you to pray — pray for yourself, that the Holy Spirit of God would fill you and make you open to what He has for you today. Would you pray for me, that God would fill me with the exact words that you and I need to hear this morning? And would you pray for your neighbor, that God would work in and through them to draw them to Jesus?
So, would you join me in prayer?
Father God, as we're gathered at all of our campuses here at Orchard Hill, I pray that You would speak. I pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would come in power, open up our eyes so that we might see our need for Jesus, the beauty of Jesus, the sufficiency of Jesus. God, guide our thinking. Help us not just to know more about You, but to know and experience You. I ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let me ask you this question: What if there was always a God who has existed as Spirit? What if He hovered over the waters before creation? What if that same Spirit had the power to raise a dead person back to life? What if that same Spirit desires to live inside of you — to empower you, to convict you, to guide you, to lead you in the way of life toward Jesus Christ? If that were a reality, would you desire that? Would you long for that? Would you pray that that would be true for you?
Well, today, this weekend, we're kicking off a new series on the Holy Spirit. If you've been around Orchard Hill for several years, you know this is part of our systematic theology track — and that's a big word that just means "basic doctrines of the church." Normally at Orchard Hill we teach expositionally, which means we walk through a particular book of the Bible chapter by chapter. But we wanted to take the start of the fall to study the Holy Spirit.
Before you say, "Theology — that sounds really boring," let me tell you: every single one of us, and every person you know, is a theologian. Theology simply means "thoughts about God" — God-talk. And everybody has an opinion about who God is, or whether there is a God. So, our hope and prayer over these weeks is not just that you would know more about the Holy Spirit, but that you would literally experience the Holy Spirit of God — that the same Spirit of Jesus Christ would live in you and empower you.
So, this morning, before we jump into the teaching, I want to share what I think are three dangers when it comes to the Holy Spirit: we can overemphasize the Spirit, we can underemphasize the Holy Spirit, or we can underutilize the Holy Spirit.
When I say we can overemphasize the Holy Spirit, I mean some churches, some denominations, some individuals overemphasize the role, the ministry, and the person of the Holy Spirit. You might say, "Well, how can you overemphasize the Holy Spirit if He's God?" — which we're going to see in just a moment. But what we'll see is that the Holy Spirit's primary ministry is to shine a spotlight on Jesus Christ. So, any movement or any person that places more emphasis on the Holy Spirit — or even His gifts — over and above Jesus Christ is an overemphasis. Sometimes when people overemphasize the Holy Spirit, they overemphasize emotionalism or feelings over the Holy Spirit Himself. And when the Holy Spirit is working in someone's life, surely there is some feeling and conviction — but there's more than that. Another thing that happens when we overemphasize the Holy Spirit is that He gets manipulated — we attribute things or movements to the Holy Spirit that He had nothing to do with.
For example: let's say I'm studying the Holy Spirit, I know I'm going to be speaking this weekend, and I tell you the Holy Spirit spoke to me this week and told me to tell you that He wants you to sow a financial seed of at least $1,000 — you can do check, Zelle, PayPal — and I want you to Zelle me $1,000, because with this money I'm going to fund my private jet and fly around the world telling people about Jesus, and the Holy Spirit told me to tell you that. You can see how that's manipulative. Sometimes people attribute to the Holy Spirit something He never said or did. Several decades ago, there was what was called the "Holy Laughter" movement, where supposedly the Holy Spirit would come across people and they would fall on the ground in uncontrollable laughter. Now, I'm not definitively saying that wasn't the Holy Spirit — but one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, and when people say "that's the Holy Spirit" about something like that, I'd say, "No thanks."
So, we can overemphasize the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We can also underemphasize Him. I grew up in a denomination where I don't remember hearing teaching about who the Holy Spirit is and what He wants to do today. Sometimes, in reaction to overemphasis, we swing the other way and underemphasize the Holy Spirit — saying things like, "The Holy Spirit worked in power in the first century, but that's not for today." If we underemphasize the role of the Holy Spirit, even in our own lives, we might miss out on all that God wants to do in and through us.
Similarly, we can underutilize the Holy Spirit. If you're a follower of Jesus, you might try to live out the Christian life in your own strength, power, and resources. It's like walking into a dark room, asking, "Where are the lights?" while the switch is right in front of you — but refusing to turn it on. I think practically that happens to many of us: we attempt to live life, and particularly the Christian life, without the power and sufficiency of the Holy Spirit.
So, my hope and prayer today, and through this series, is not that you would know more about the Holy Spirit, but that you would know the Spirit of God — that He would open our eyes to see the beauty and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. I want to ask two simple questions, and we're going to become "experts" in the next few minutes: Who is the Holy Spirit, and what does He do? I'm going to share a number of Scripture texts — again, we don't normally do that, but if you take notes, you may want to jot some of these down so you can continue your study of the Holy Spirit.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The first thing I want to say is that the Holy Spirit is a person — a helper that Jesus sent. When I say, "a person," I mean someone with a personality. Here's what we read in John 14:16–18. Jesus is speaking to His disciples, and He says: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
So, when we say the Holy Spirit is a person, we mean He has personality in the same way God the Father is a person and Jesus the Son is a person. The Holy Spirit is a person, not just an impersonal power. Jesus uses the term paraclete, or “parakletos” — a Greek word that means "to come alongside." Jesus is telling His disciples, "As awesome as it's been to spend these three years together, and as much as you've seen how I've taught and the miracles I've done" — He's preparing them. He's saying, "I'm going away, and when I go away I'm going to send you another advocate." When He uses the word "another," there are two different Greek words for "another" — He uses the one that means "another like myself." So, He's going away, and He's going to send an advocate — a counselor, someone who will be with them, someone who will come alongside them and remind them of all He's done and taught.
The reason it matters to think of the Holy Spirit as a person and not just a power is that if the Holy Spirit is an impersonal power or force, we'll ask questions like, "How can I get more of that power?" rather than, "How can the Holy Spirit get more of me?" In the early church, there was a man named Simon the magician who saw the power of the Holy Spirit at work and said, "I want some of that." In Acts 8:18 we read: "When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, 'Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'" The Holy Spirit is not something to be manipulated — He's God Himself.
So, the Holy Spirit is a person, an advocate, a helper given by Jesus. But the second thing we see is that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. We see this in several places. One is right after Jesus was resurrected — He's getting ready to ascend into heaven, He gives the disciples the Great Commission, and He says in Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In other words: baptize them in the name of the Father, who is God; in the name of Jesus, who claims to be God; and also, in the name of the Holy Spirit, who is God.
We see this even more directly in Acts 5, in the story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira — early professed believers who sold some property, kept back part of the money for themselves, and lied about it. Starting in verse 3, Peter says: "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God." Do you hear it? "You lied to the Holy Spirit" — and in lying to the Holy Spirit, he lied to God.
This is huge, and there are big implications. If the Holy Spirit is God, that means in the same way God is everywhere, so is the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who was at work in the first century, who has been at work since before creation, is the same Spirit who resides in you — if you've come to trust in Jesus Christ — and in me. He can be everywhere. That also means you can pray to the Holy Spirit. One of my most frequent, shortest prayers — especially when I'm talking with someone — is, "Help me, Holy Spirit. I don't know what to say. I don't know what they need in this moment, but help me, Holy Spirit — bring to mind Your truth." If the Holy Spirit is God, that means He also intercedes for you and with you.
So, the Holy Spirit is a person sent by Jesus, an advocate who comes alongside you, and He's also God Himself.
What does the Holy Spirit do?
A Spotlight Ministry
We're just going to get a sampling today — I hope you'll come back over the next several weeks, because we'll get into the gifts of the Spirit, being filled with and walking in step with the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit. But very basically, I think the entirety of the Holy Spirit's ministry can be summed up like this: the Holy Spirit's main ministry and function is to make Jesus known and to glorify Him. It's a spotlight ministry. A spotlight doesn't shine on itself — it shines on something beside it. If you've ever seen a big, ornate, beautiful building lit up with a spotlight, the idea isn't that you look at the light, but that you look at what the light is shining on. That's the function and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
We see this in John 16:12–15, where Jesus tells His disciples: "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you." The Holy Spirit has been called the shy member of the Trinity. The word "Trinity" describes God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit — the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. But here we see that Jesus says when He sends the Spirit, the Spirit will bring to mind all that Jesus taught — specifically to the disciples, who would go on to write what we now have as the New Testament.
That's the role of the Holy Spirit — to shine a light on Jesus Christ. And that's one of the reasons an overemphasis on the Holy Spirit is antithetical to His very ministry: His ministry is to make Jesus known, to remind us of what Jesus Himself did and taught.
A Conversion Ministry
Another ministry of the Holy Spirit is that He brings about conversion, or new birth — bringing someone who didn't previously know Jesus to open eyes and a softened heart so they can see and receive Him. Jesus tells us about this in John 3, in His conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Him at night wanting to know how someone actually enters heaven. Starting in verse 5, Jesus says: "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
That's significant, because it means that if it's totally a work of God to bring someone to faith in Jesus, then it's not because you and I were so clever, so wise, so special. It's not because of the home you grew up in, or that you happened to grow up in the church, or that you happened to meet the right person who told you about Jesus. It's totally the work of God. Think about it: what did you bring to the table when you first entered this world physically? Nothing. In the same way, when it comes to our spiritual lives — just as the wind blows where it blows, so it is with the Spirit of God.
Some of us object: "How can I believe in a God I can't see? How can I believe in wind, like Jesus is talking about?" Well, in the same way we can't see wind, we can see its effects. We believe in Wi-Fi even though we can't see it, because our devices are powered by it. I think every one of us believes in love — because of a love we have for a spouse, a friend, a parent, a child — even though we can't see it; it's even hard to prove. But in the same way Jesus says the wind blows where it blows, so it is with the Spirit of God. God may use every circumstance — the family you were born into, a relationship — to bring about a conversation about Jesus. Ultimately that means God gets all the credit. The Bible says even repentance and faith, the response God requires, are gifts of God. So God gets all the credit for anyone who's ever come to know Him — not you, not me. That's not to say we don't have a role to play; we'll talk about that over the next several weeks. But those are huge implications.
Can I encourage you — some of you have been praying for people close to you to come to know Jesus. You've been on your knees for them, rehearsing the right conversation, the way you might show them Jesus. If it's all God's work, it's all God's work. God may use you, prepare you, even use you as the means by which He brings someone to faith — but ultimately it's the total, sovereign work of God.
A Conviction Ministry
Another ministry of the Holy Spirit is that He convicts the world, and believers, about sin. We see this in John 16 and in 1 Thessalonians 1. Jesus says: "Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." (John 16:7–11) This is not just theory — I'm praying right now that as we're hearing the Word of God taught, the Holy Spirit's conviction ministry will be doing what only He can do.
When Jesus uses the phrase "the world," He means those in opposition to Him — those who don't yet know Him. The Holy Spirit convicts the world about sin, because the main sin before someone comes to faith in Jesus is unbelief. The Holy Spirit takes away our blinders and opens our eyes to the fullness and sufficiency of Jesus. He convicts about righteousness, too. Before we come to faith, most of us have a pretty high view of ourselves — we think that if there is a God who's going to judge us, we'll probably be on the good side of things, because compared to other people (my crazy uncle, for instance) I'm way above that; I may not be Mother Teresa, but I'm certainly better than half the people I work with, better than my neighbors — so if God's going to judge me, I think I'll be okay. But one evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in your life is that God reminds you there's a righteous standard, and you and I haven't come close to meeting it — because God's righteous standard isn't "better than your crazy uncle" or "better than most." It's rooted in who He is: holy, set apart, righteous, pure, and perfect. God will not ultimately be in the presence of any sin, little, big, or otherwise. There's only One who has met that standard — His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, the only human to fully live the righteous, obedient, perfect life God required. Not only did He live that righteous life, He was willing to take the penalty for not living one — separation from God, the wrath of God poured out against sin. One of the evidences that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life is when He brings you to that realization.
He also convicts the world about judgment. When the Holy Spirit is at work in your life and mine, He reminds us there's a day coming — maybe soon — when we'll stand before God face to face and give an account. The question for all of us is: what will you say on that day? The only response that will get us into God's presence is: "I know and trusted Jesus. I could not make my way to Jesus, but He made His way to me by sending the perfect sacrifice, who died on the cross, rose to new life, and now sent the Advocate to be with me forever." So, the Holy Spirit has a convicting ministry, and that ministry is ongoing, even in the life of a believer — showing us what doesn't look like Jesus. He's almost like a GPS when we're off track. God disciplines those He loves, in the same way a good parent disciplines children who are out of line. That's part of what the Spirit does. First Thessalonians 1:5 says our gospel "came not simply with words, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction."
A Scripture Illumination Ministry
Another ministry of the Holy Spirit is the inspiration and illumination of Scripture. Second Peter 1:21 says: "For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." That's significant — it means that when you read this book, or hear it taught, this isn't just one religious book among many. It claims to be the very Word of God, inspired by the Spirit of God. And one of the Spirit's roles was not only to use men to write the Scriptures, but also to help you and me understand them today. This is very humbling as a pastor, because I — or any pastor — could get up here and try to craft a great message, tell a great story, make it relevant, preach with as much passion as I can. But if the Holy Spirit isn't at work in your heart, showing you your need for Jesus and His sufficiency, then what I'm doing up here is really in vain. So if you're sitting here thinking, "I don't get that, that seems boring, that seems irrelevant," you can pray: "Holy Spirit, help me understand the words You first inspired." That's what the Holy Spirit is in the business of doing.
An Intercession Ministry
Another ministry of the Holy Spirit is that He intercedes for us. Back in Romans — we were just in that series — Romans 8:26–27 says: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God." That's huge. Some of us are walking through very difficult things — difficult family or relational situations, health diagnoses — and we don't even know where to turn. All we have in that moment is a wordless groan to God. What the Holy Spirit does is take those wordless groans and translate them to the Father. If you've come to trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is interceding for you even as we speak — you're not on your own, you're not an orphan.
A Freedom Ministry
Another ministry of the Holy Spirit is that He helps a believer put sin to death. Paul says in Romans 8:13: "If you live according to the flesh" — your own human effort and sinful desires — "you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Some of us have been in a long battle — addicted to shopping, food, drugs, alcohol, pornography — and we keep seemingly failing, and we're tempted to say it doesn't work. What the Holy Spirit does is work with you. The power of the Spirit helps us put to death the misdeeds of the body, the works of the flesh. Over the next several weeks we're going to dive into what exactly that looks like — but the good news is you don't have to struggle alone. God doesn't expect His followers to try to do the Christian life alone. In fact, it's impossible; we cannot do life — let alone the Christian life — apart from the Spirit's strength.
The Holy Spirit helps us put to death the misdeeds of the body, and He also gives us a new affection for Christ. One reason sin is so powerful is that it's pleasurable — or we wouldn't go back to it over and over. What the Spirit does is give us a superior, greater desire for Jesus than for our sin. Sometimes we have it backwards when it comes to battling sin — we say, "I've got to stop that, I've got to do this, I've got to get an accountability group." All of that can be good, but the opposite dynamic is actually true: when you walk in step with the Spirit and the things of God, by its very nature there's not even room for the misdeeds of the body. That's good news for you and me.
A Sanctification Ministry
Finally, the Spirit's overarching ministry is to take God's children and conform them, over their lifetime, into the image of Christ, until they meet Him face to face. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 17 and 18: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." That's the ministry and role of the Holy Spirit — He takes a spotlight and shines it on Jesus, using life, circumstances, and people — using everything available — to conform us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.
Some of us hear all that and think, "Brady, I've tried that. It doesn't work. I've tried to live out the Christian faith and haven't seen or experienced the ministry of the Holy Spirit like you're describing." Maybe you're skeptical whether it works at all. Let me encourage you with this: when I was in high school, probably ninth or tenth grade, some of my friends wanted to get "buff," so they were going to the gym, and I thought, "That sounds good — I want to get buff too." (I don't know if you can tell whether it worked.) I got a gym membership, planned to go with my buff friends, heard I needed to drink whey protein, so I got some. The first day I went by myself, not with my buddies. I tried the whey protein and thought it was disgusting, so I stopped drinking it. And when I was at the gym, I was more interested in shooting hoops and going to the pool than lifting weights. After a while I said, "That didn't work — that gym membership didn't work." But it wasn't that it didn't work; it was that I didn't utilize what was accessible to me. I think it's the same in the Christian life — rather than saying "it didn't work, God didn't work, the Holy Spirit wasn't at work," sometimes we simply haven't accessed what's available. We're not meant to be passive participants in the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Philippians 2:12–13, to believers: "I want you to work out your salvation" — not work for, but work out your salvation — "for it is God who is at work within you." Do you hear that tension? You work it out, because it's God who's at work within you.
Over these weeks, I pray you'll experience the power of the Holy Spirit, who desires to mold you more and more into the image of Jesus — that you would desire the beauty and sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
As we conclude today, I want to give you an opportunity to respond. For some of you, that response is receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time — the Holy Spirit has been at work as we've shared God's Word, and you know that on your own you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God has reminded you today that He's done for you what you could never do, by sending Jesus Christ, who died in your place, rose from the dead, and now has sent the Paraclete, the Advocate, to be with you forever. You can receive the Holy Spirit today, and in that moment become a child of God forever — the Holy Spirit is a deposit, reminding us of whom we belong to, of whose we are.
For others, the response to the Holy Spirit today is that you want the Holy Spirit to have more of you — you want Him to come in power, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. "God, I need You to put to death the misdeeds of the body. God, I invite You into my life to convict me, to remove things that don't look like Jesus." You can respond today. Here's how Jesus put it in John 7:37–39: "On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." Jesus willingly went to the cross, endured its pain and shame, and now desires to send the Holy Spirit. Rivers of living water flowing from within you — but notice the conditions: come expectantly, come thirsty, and walk in the power, presence, and purpose of the Holy Spirit, whose purpose is forever to shine a light on Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Father God, I pray that today You have been at work — that we're not just talking about the Holy Spirit as a doctrine, as a theory, but that the Spirit of God, even right now, would open up blind eyes and show us our need for Jesus and the sufficiency of what Jesus did on the cross. I pray today that there might be people who repent, turn from their sin, and receive the Holy Spirit as a child of God. And Father, for those of us on this journey who want to give up, who wonder, "Does the Holy Spirit really work?" — I pray, Lord, that today, this week, over this series, and for the rest of our lives, You would have Your way in us, that we would receive more, be more and more filled with the Holy Spirit, so we could see the sufficiency and beauty of Jesus Christ, that in all things You would get the glory You are so worthy of. We ask and pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great rest of your Labor Day weekend.
================================
This transcript was cleaned up and formatted with the assistance of AI. While efforts have been made to preserve the original wording and meaning of the message, minor edits (removal of filler words, grammar corrections) were applied and small inaccuracies may exist.
