The Holy Spirit: Who Is He?
Our new series on the Holy Spirit is intended to answer the question: What does it mean to seek and submit to the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit?
Here at Freshwater we believe that, in the life of the believer, the work of the Holy Spirit should be seen, known and pursued. But while we believe this is how we should live the Christian life, we also understand that there can be difficulties in knowing, understanding, relating to and eventually trusting the Holy Spirit.
During this series, we will try to break down some of those barriers. Norm Pond kicked the series off last Sunday by examining who the Holy Spirit is.
At Freshwater, we affirm that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, co-equal and of the same essence with God the Father and God the Son and yet distinct (Psalm 139:7-8, John 14:7, Isaiah 40:13, John 14:16, 16:13, 1 Cor 2:10-11).
He is the presence of God, given to and indwelled in all believers (1 Cor. 3:16, Romans 8:9).
That is the beginning of knowledge of the Holy Spirit. And it is through the growth in knowledge that we can also grow in our trust, relationship, submission and love of the Holy Spirit in our lives as believers.
And yet, seeing, knowing and pursuing the Spirit can be extremely challenging for many of us. How do we see something that is with us and indwells us but does not take on a physical body?
Norm used our understanding of and experience with electricity to illustrate a possible way forward by sharing the following quote from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute:
What is electricity? Can you see it? Can you touch it? Well, if you can’t, how do you know it’s there? You can’t see electricity but you can see the work it does. You can see a lamp light, you can see electric trains run, you can feel electricity if you touch a bare wire and get a shock. One can feel the effect of electricity if burned by an electric hot iron.
Electricity is one of the most important forms of energy. We cannot see, hear, or smell electricity, but we know about it by what it does.
Our ability to trust that electricity exists and is something that we can use daily, even though we can’t see it, changes how we live every day in this world. Trusting in the Holy Spirit and how He can impact your life won’t just change your daily life; it will have an impact for eternity.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll talk about what the Holy Spirit does, what our role should be with the Holy Spirit and, finally, what it looks like to seek and submit to the His ministry.