Sunday Morning 1st Service | The Friend You've Been Missing #1| Pastor Rob Thomas

So, what is the clearest evidence that the Holy Spirit is residing in somebody's life? Is it weird, strange behavior? Is it even necessarily some weird drum some odd big dramatic experience? No. Not necessarily. The clearest evidence is the fruit of the spirit in your life. And that's what Galatians five twenty two tells us. The fruit of the spirit, which if you're a follower of Jesus is within you, the fruit that he's within you that comes forth from your life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. [01:33:07] (40 seconds)  #FruitOfTheSpirit

Guys, let me tell you first and foremost, god is not weird. Man is weird. God's not weird. We're the ones who make things awkward of the time. So I wanna reassure you right from the beginning of this that we are not gonna chase weirdness. We're not gonna chase emotionalism. We are going to simply look at what is clearly said in scripture. Is that alright? Yes. We're gonna look at what god says as we open the bible, and we're gonna let him speak clearly and practically into our lives. [01:00:01] (36 seconds)  #ScriptureNotWeirdness

K? He is not Casper the Friendly Ghost floating around in your house. Your house is not haunted with the Holy Ghost. K? He is not the force like in Star Wars. He is not some impersonal energy or power that's floating around the universe. The Bible tells us clearly that the Holy Spirit is a person, and just like the other two parts of the Godhead, he has a mind, he has a will, and he has emotions. [01:08:46] (28 seconds)  #HolySpiritIsPerson

Jesus would hit the end of the day and he'd be zonked and he would have to go to sleep. He could only minister to to a person or two at a time. He could only touch one person at a time. He could only speak to one crowd at a time. Because why? He was wearing human flesh. Right? So he did all he could do as a human being, but now he said, now I'm gonna send you another helper, and he's never gonna leave you. He's available 247. [01:30:49] (27 seconds)  #SpiritAlwaysWithYou

Do we see this as a separate experience? Again, I wanna say this like I said at the last one, baptism of the Holy Spirit does not save you. K? It's not a prerequisite. Jesus even told the disciples. He said, you'll be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now. They had experienced the baptism in the father. They they they'd received Jesus as their lord and savior, their messiah, and and I'm sure they had been baptized in water. But not yet the baptism in the Holy Spirit. [01:21:43] (31 seconds)  #BaptismOfSpiritDistinct

And for others of us, it may have been those quiet moments when you're laying asleep at night. It might have been during a walk but you came to this moment that for some of you, it it drove you to run up to an altar. Some of you, it drove you to your knees. Some of you, it drove you to say a quiet prayer. Whatever it was, the reality is that tug on your heart, that was the Holy Spirit drawing you. That is his function. That is his role. He had been at work at you for a long time, and you finally said yes. [01:25:31] (32 seconds)  #GentleSpiritInvitation

How many of you would know this is the main thing? How many you know it's important to make the main thing the main thing? Right. Okay. So that would call that the baptism of the father. Number two would be the baptism in the son. Baptism in the name of the lord Jesus. This is what we call water baptism. This is the outward act of obedience where believers are now immersed in water. Again, just simply means immersion. The water baptism, it identifies us with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. [01:17:02] (31 seconds)  #WaterBaptismIdentifies

So the best place we're talking about the holy spirit primarily, but we we've gotta get a grasp on this. But the best play best way to understand the holy spirit is to go all the way back to the beginning, all the way back to the story of creation. Because right there in the opening verses of the bible, we see something remarkable. We see all three persons of the godhead, they are not only present, but they are at work in creation right from the very beginning, right from Genesis chapter one, right from beginning. [01:03:05] (29 seconds)  #GenesisRevealsSpirit

And then in this too, we see the Holy Spirit. Now it said, the Holy Spirit of God, it was hovering over the face of the waters. So guys, the spirit was was right there and was actively involved from verse two. We see this. He the Holy Spirit, he is he is you'll see all through scripture and we'll talk about it. He is the mediator. He is the go between. Even at creation, he is moving. He's he's bringing order out of chaos, and he's connecting the father's will to what is being created. [01:04:55] (33 seconds)  #SpiritMediator

When we think of ghosts in our culture today, we think of something weird and different. I I I think I I don't think I've seen it, but the in there a show on TV called ghost hunters? And people are searching for ghosts. They're using instruments like the Ghostbusters and going around and and and checking places and, oh, I'm getting chills. I think maybe there's a ghost present, you know? Guys, this is not a description of the Holy Spirit. [01:08:26] (20 seconds)  #NotAGhost

Alright, guys. I'm wrapping up. So here's the deal. Here's what I want you to understand. The Holy Spirit wants a real daily relationship with you. Guys, he's not just for Sunday mornings. He wants to be involved in your everyday life. Guys, he wants to help you make wise decisions. How many of you could use a wise counselor to help you make good decisions? He wants to comfort you when you're hurting or anxious. How many of you have needed the holy spirit in some moments in your life when you were hurting and anxious? [01:36:11] (37 seconds)  #SpiritBaptismExplained

He wants to guide you when you don't know what to do. Tell me that's not a big help right there. He wants to teach you as you read the Bible. You may have before you're a believer, you may have read the Bible and be like, had to struggle with the Bible so bad. It's just that it's just all seem to be like gibberish and nonsense to me. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings revelation as we read God's word. He wants to fill you with joy and peace even in difficult seasons. How many of y'all say that's a pretty good benefit as well? [01:36:47] (28 seconds)  #SpiritAsSeal

On the cross, in that moment, he becomes a disciple and then he's dead. Jesus said, you'll be with me in paradise. Water baptism was not a prerequisite for him to make it. So, should you be water baptized? Is it important? Yes. Should it be priority? If you die before it can happen, are you gonna be separated from the father and be in hell? No. I don't believe that. Okay. So, third third thing we want need to talk about right here real quick is baptism in the holy spirit. [01:19:08] (33 seconds)  #SpiritDwellsInBelievers

And so the Holy Spirit is that helper for us, and he never leaves us. He lives in us, he lives with us, and he lives in us. Listen, from the moment of our salvation. So, if you have experienced salvation, which is what I've been calling kind of the first baptism into the father, into the into his kingdom, into his family, then the bible tells us the holy spirit lives in you. You don't have to beg him to come. He's already present. So does this mean I'm automatically baptized in the Holy Spirit? It doesn't. He's in you. [01:31:19] (42 seconds)  #TriuneImageOfGod

Number one, there is one god in three persons, the trinity. Now, guys, I know this is sometimes hard to wrap your mind around, and I I I don't think that we were necessarily meant to completely understand this and wrap our heads around it. But let me tell you this, we were created in the image of God, and we are a triune being as well. Right? We have a spirit, we have a soul, and we have a body. Each plays a specific role in our lives. [01:02:30] (30 seconds)  #SpiritPursuesToFather

How have you would say, that's a person. He is fully god and he has a specific role in the godhead and he has a specific role in your life and in the life of every person in humanity. So, if we go to Matthew 28, many of you know this, in Matthew twenty eight nineteen, Jesus, it says, he said to them I'm I'm sorry, go therefore I'm getting confused back there. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. [01:09:14] (29 seconds)  #EmpowermentBySpirit

And maybe why you're sitting in this service today. It might be why you're watching online today. He's been pursuing you. Why? Because the father loves you desperately. Jesus died for you and the Holy Spirit wants to bring you home. this is one of the most comforting, faith filled, spirit filled truths of the Holy Spirit. He is actively at work in the lives of the people around us every single day. He's drawing them to the father through Jesus, and he wants to draw us even closer, which brings us to our last point number three. [01:28:35] (36 seconds)  #BaptizedWithSpiritPromise

Okay. So we need to talk about this for a minute because because we've been talking about how the the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something different than the baptism of the father or the baptism in Jesus. And right here it says that he dwells with you and will be with you. So notice firstly that Jesus calls him another helper. Right? Just as Jesus was a helper and a friend to his disciples while he was on the Earth, you know, that was great and all but how you know, [01:30:19] (30 seconds)  #ThreeImmersions

I want to spend a few minutes on this, and if you've been a part of the church for more than a couple of years, you've heard me talk about this before. Many people, if not most believers today, they read this verse and they assume that in the last part, when Jesus commands them to go baptize in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, they assume that they're talking about water baptism here. And guys, here's the thing. [01:10:03] (28 seconds)  #Acts19Encounter

So, another powerful example of this is found in Acts chapter 19. In Acts chapter 19, Paul's walking the road and it says he comes upon a couple of disciples. Everybody say disciples. Now, these weren't part of the 12 or I guess 11 then. This wasn't part of Jesus', you know, original disciples. These are now followers of Jesus. They have heard the gospel. They've believed. They've put their hope and trust in Jesus, and Paul encounters them on the road. [01:13:02] (31 seconds)  #FatherTheGrandArchitect