Ghost Stories Series# 1,He Went where? Seriously?

Ghost Stories Series# 1,He Went where? Seriously?
By: Bobby Sullivan

This series is called, Ghost Stories and the title alone brought back some pretty scary moments in church when I was younger.

The Holy Ghost? Was that even possible? I knew there was a friendly ghost called Casper, but he wasn’t in any of my Sunday School lessons.

Our preconceptions of the Godhead.

• God was the judging one: Like the wizard of OZ
• Jesus was the loving one holding a lamb
• The Holy Ghost was….no idea! The silent partner? Is he the emotions one? Crying.  The voodoo one? Use him to curse others. Forgotten One? Either way he is the mysterious one.

Some people get winged out thinking that a Ghost, Holy or not lives in you! You would not know if your head would start spinning or you would start spitting!

There are people who have doctrinal beliefs or cultural beliefs but not biblical beliefs when it comes to the Holy Spirit. A partial gospel is a powerless gospel. It would be like launching a rocket with no fuel. Looks good on the outside but powerless on the inside.

How many of you want ALL that God has for you? If not, why?

REVELATION: JESUS IS NOT IN YOUR HEART! THE HOLY SPIRIT IS 

During this series I want to unravel and unwrap the mysteries of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. I believe there is more to his function than our unction!

EXERCISE: Pretend your one of the 12 disciples.

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. Matthew 14:26, NIV

When the realized it was him they were comforted. The strange thing to me is they didn’t recognize him.

YOU ARE ASSURED WHEN JESUS IS WITH YOU BUT AFRAID WHEN HE IS AWAY FROM YOU

You are cool when he is with you but now he is dead! And so is your faith. Because the same soldiers that were after him are now after all those who followed him. So now you run to the caves, closets and crevices because now a new crisis has been created!

As a disciple, you feel abandoned, But Sunday night JESUS appears to you again and you had a resurrection of confidence. You feel more alive and part of a movement that 3 days ago you thought was a monument than ever before.  Inside you want to shout MY CONFIDENCE CAME BACK!

But then you remember something he said in the upper room.

John 16:7 “ It is for your good that I’m going away”

“wait! Why is it good for me that your leaving?”

John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My fathers house has many rooms; if that were not so, I would not have told you that. I’m going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go there an prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you there with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I’m going.”

John 14:5  Thomas said, Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

John 14:12 “¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ 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^[a] in you.”

Then your thinking, “Why do I need another anything? Your all I need! It starts to sink in that, “maybe he really is checking out for good! Now what?”

John 14:26 ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

QUESTION: How can you leave us with peace if you are the peace and your going away?

Then he says, ⁷ But 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.

Then your thinking, “Do I have a choice?”

Then all of a sudden you get a drop the mike moment!

SO JESUS LEFT HERE SO THE HOLY SPIRIT COULD COME HERE!

I love this Joel prophesied it, Jesus said it and God the father delivered it

ACTS 2:15-16 “These people are not drunk as you suppose, its only 9:00 in the morning. No, this is what as prophesied by the prophet Joel”

Remember the prophesy? THIS IS THAT and IT’S A MATTER of FACT!

Watch this! Jesus is speaking to Nicodemas in John Chapter 3:8 . “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cant tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the “SPIRIT” Interesting because the Hebrew word for Spirit, is wind or breath, exhale, a forceful blowing of air. In the GREEK its Numah which means, “a breath of fresh air”

Then you get more confused, “WHAT could be better than Jesus at my side?” Isn’t he the Messiah? I mean, How many Messiahs are there anyway? Does he have a brother? Now your telling me the Holy Spirit is like wind that I cant see but I can feel him and see the effects of him. IM confused!!!

The Spirit of the Lord is invisible and unpredictable! What do you mean? His ways are higher than ours! “Yea I get that” but “I want him next to me and I want to see him!”

Which leads me to ask, WHO can be better than Jesus at my side?

Jesus actually thought that the Holy Spirit can be better than him alone being there, because the Holy Spirit could be everywhere, helping more people.

The Holy Spirit is not a it or even a bird. The Holy Spirit is a real person of the Godhead who relates to us in person. He also resides in us when we accept Jesus has our personal Savior and Lord.

They watch Jesus leave and begin to think, “We are along again” So they go and gather then wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. All of a sudden in Acts 2:4 “ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit”

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon but here he came within them.

2 Tim 1:14 “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

• The WIND will DIRECT YOU: Isaiah 30:31 “Whether you turn to the left or to the right, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘this is the way, walk ye in it”

He is the voice of direction. He is the wind in our sails that will launch us and propel us.

John 16:13 “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

• The WIND will PROTECT YOU: It is a seal In biblical times, a seal was a guarantee. Ephesians 1:13-14  “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” According to this passage, the seal of the Holy Spirit takes place at the point of salvation. It is a promise or guarantee of the Christian’s future, eternal inheritance with Jesus Christ.

  The Greek word translated as “seal” is shragizo that means “to set a seal upon, mark with a seal.” A seal could be used to guarantee a document or letter (Esther 3:12), indicate ownership (Song of Songs 8:6), or protect against tampering (Matthew 27:66; Revelation 5:1). The Holy Spirit is our seal in every sense of this word.

  A), the seal of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life helps to guarantee he or she is a child of God. Romans 8:16 shares, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

  )  the seal of the Holy Spirit serves as a mark that we truly belong to Christ. Romans 8:9-10 teaches, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” First Corinthians 6:19-20 also notes, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

C.)  The seal of the Holy Spirit helps protect against tampering or attack

Romans 8:13declares, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” In a very real sense, God’s Spirit protects us and guarantees our eternity with the Lord.

3.) The Wind PROPELS YOU:

The light came on and they realized that the Holy Spirit in them was better than Jesus beside them. 

Then you get gifts within the gift called the fruits of the Spirit.

Galations 5:22-23
Now you are a living, breathing temple where the Holy Spirit of the living God resides! Knowing that this the same Spirit that raised  Jesus from the dead!

Steven Furtick said, “We can’t be arrogant by what we know but humbled by who we know.” We can’t walk around proud as an elitist to the Christian world as if you arrived! The big difference is you opened a gift that others refuse to .

4.The WIND IS FOR EVERYONE!:  Galations 3:14 “ He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38-39 “Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all who the Lord our God will call.”

HE IS CALLING! ARE YOU ANSWERING?

Questions:

• Can you remember a time when you felt confident  because someone was with you?
• What’s the hardest thing you have ever tried to do alone?
• What would you do if you absolutely certain the Holy Spirit lived in you?