Creflo Dollar - Five Attributes Of The Holy Spirit - Part 1
If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Saint John, Saint John chapter 16, verse 13. We're gonna read it in the King James and then the New Living Translation. I'm gonna talk to yo, as I promised last week, we're gonna look at the five attributes of the Holy Spirit, and that will produce, you know, his will for our lives. You know, when you begin to trust in the Holy Spirit, rely and grow in that relationship, then the Spirit of God will start working in you, giving you the desires to do what pleases God. He'll give you the desire and the power to do what pleases God.
Now, that's amazing to me because, you know, we're looking at you trying to modify your behavior through your own strength, versus the Holy Spirit modification because he is now your living partner. He is the administrator of this new covenant, and a lot of things that are found in the new covenant, the Holy Spirit accepts responsibility for. You know, the Bible talks about how we look into the Word of God, and we're changed from glory unto glory until we end up just like him, where the Bible says that happens by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the responsibility for your transformation. But you know, you've got to understand that. You've got to understand that enough to begin to believe that when you look at your life and you wonder what's missing, "What's missing in my life?" it may be the confidence that you need to have in your unseen partner, the Holy Spirit.
You know, we've heard in the world all about confidence that you have in yourself. For those of us who are Christians, our great success in the new covenant will come because of the confidence that we have in our unseen partner, the Holy Spirit. And so, the Holy Spirit, and I don't doubt why it was done, but the Holy Spirit has been so misrepresented. We have said the Holy Spirit's just responsible for jumping and jiggling and doing cartwheels and never really have come to the place of understanding the attributes of the Holy Spirit. And so we're gonna do that today. Then I think it'll really bless you so you can understand what the Holy Spirit wants to make available, and what you need to do is just release your faith for it.
What you need to do is say, "You know what? I take possession of that right now. Holy Spirit, do that. You know, I believe that. Holy Spirit, do that". And you're gonna find that you're gonna get a Holy Ghost infusion today that's gonna take your life to another level. Let's look at our text in Saint John chapter 16, verse 14. The King James says, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come", so the Holy Spirit's referred to as the Spirit of truth, "that he will guide you into all truth", so think about that. The Holy Spirit knows how to tug on your heart. He knows how to speak to you. "He will guide you into all the truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you", watch this: "The Holy Ghost will show you things to come". "The Holy Ghost will show you things to come".
You don't have to be this awesome man or woman of God. All you gotta do is have confidence in your unseen partner, and he will show you things to come. He'll show you about that marriage you're getting ready to get into. He'll show you about that business you're getting ready to start. He'll show you about that house that you're getting ready to buy if you, like I said last week, will give him the permission and the authority to be who he has been sent to be in your life. Now look at this same Scripture in the New Living Translation, John 16:13, in the New Living Translation. He says, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard". Hah, "He'll tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future".
Now, listen, this is a powerful game changer for believers. He will tell you about the future. And I'm talking about your future. Remember, this is a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will tell you about your future. I mean, how do you let that go? How do you not want to engage in an understanding with the Holy Spirit once you hear that he is going to tell you about your future? You won't need somebody to come in the church and say, "Thus saith the Lord". If you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, he will begin to tell you about the future, praise the Lord, and you'll be prepared for it. The Holy Ghost will prepare you for it. When others are surprised, you will be prepared, amen.
So let's look at the first attribute of the Holy Spirit. Attribute number one: a teacher. The Holy Spirit has this attribute. He is a teacher. Now, what does this mean? Well, a teacher, of course, is one who imparts knowledge and one who imparts information. The Holy Spirit will impart knowledge, knowledge that you didn't learn in school, knowledge that you didn't get from Sunday school quarterlies. He will impart knowledge and information. That's powerful. Think about living a Christian life under the submission and the authority of the Holy Spirit. He imparts power. He imparts knowledge. He imparts information.
Look at this in Saint John 14:26 in the NLT; Saint John 14:26. He says, "But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative, that is, the Holy Spirit", so the Father sends the Holy Spirit. "He will", do what? "Teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I've told you". "The Holy Spirit is going to teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you". You know, you have to believe that. There are lots of things, I'm telling you, that the Holy Spirit has taught me and is teaching me. And if you're not really up on this and mature on this, you're sitting there, "Well, how is somebody gonna teach me something, and I can't see him, and I can't touch him"?
See, this is where getting in the Word is important, you know? This is where spending time with God over the Word is important, and all of a sudden, spending time in that Word tunes your ears to the Spirit of God, glory to God, spending' time in that, more time you spend in the Word, more time you spend praying in the Spirit, more time you spend fellowshipping with him, it tunes your ears to hear from him. And we're not talking about these. These ears are for the physical voice, but there's an ear in the center of your heart. There's a ear of the Spirit, where you will hear, the best way I could describe this, it's kind of like, deep in your conscience, you hear this voice, and it begins to give you information, and it begins to guide you and teach you and remind you of the things that have been said in his Word.
Now, the Holy Spirit promises to instruct, promises to illuminate and to navigate us as to the pathways that he wants us to follow. There's a plan for our lives. There's a pathway for our life, and the Holy Spirit's job is to instruct and to illuminate and to navigate us into that pathway for our life. He shows the things of Jesus. He shows us what to say, what to do, or what to think. He will show us that. The Holy Spirit, you know, we already read where he's a guide. Everybody's been born with a purpose and a plan for their life, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to, on purpose, guide you, illuminate the path, begin to instruct you to that place where you're supposed to be.
And I tell you, a lot of people are trying to get to the destiny for their life without the Holy Spirit, and so they're depending on a whole lot of other things, and most of the time, you end up in the wrong place 'cause you're comparing yourself with somebody else, and you're assuming this, and you're assuming that, and then, in some cases, you're saying, "Well, this is what I wanna do," because what you saw somebody else do, and you're completely not opening yourself up to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I think your prayer needs to change to this: "Lord, show me what I need to do. Lord, illuminate the path that I need to go down. Lord, if there are desires that I have for my life and they're not your desires, please take them away and give me your desires," because nobody knows like the Holy Spirit what you're supposed to be doing, the path you're supposed to be going down and how to illuminate you to the things of your life.
Now, I heard somebody say this one time, and I wanna take some time to put it in proper perspective. I remember being in the church, and I would hear this quite often: "I don't need no man to teach me nothing. Don't no man need to teach me". Because, quite often, you'll see in the Scripture where it says, you know, you don't need a man to teach you, 'cause the Holy Ghost to teach you. But what does that mean? Does it really mean that God doesn't use people to teach you that the Holy Spirit can instruct and lead and guide through other people? See, if it's true that, you know, you don't need anybody else or any man to teach you, then why do we see this in Ephesians 4:11 and 12?
Go there, real quick, 4:11 and 12, where he says, "I have given onto you", and he talks about the fivefold ministry gifts. And notice the purpose there: "And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors, and some, teachers". These are all people. But what was the purpose? "For the perfecting of the saints so that the saints can do the work of the ministry, and the work of the ministry is edifying, or building up, the body of Christ".
So notice what God did. God says, "I'm gonna use fivefold ministry gifts. I'm gonna use the fivefold ministry gift: the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the teacher, and the pastor, and they're going to be used to perfect the saints so that the saints can do the work of the ministry, which is building up the body of Christ".
So it certainly doesn't mean that God will not use people to teach you or to instruct you, but we need to find out what it means 'cause there's just so many people that are so quick to say that, and then they go in a cave somewhere and come out bragging that "The Holy Spirit taught me that," and, you know, I don't doubt that the Holy Spirit can say some things to you, but does that mean to just ignore people, ignore the fivefold ministry gift, get all deep, and say, "Well, the Spirit of God is teaching me that"? You come out the cave all wrong and all deceived, trying to mess up somebody else's life. So what does it mean? First of all, let me show you where it's said in 1 John chapter 2 and 27; 1 John chapter 2 and 27.
Now, notice what it says here, and you've got to put it in context. Context is king. You define one Scripture based on the context that it appears in, and so, if I'm reading this one Scripture, you can't just come to conclusions without considering the context of that Scripture, a'ight? He says, "But the anointing which you have received of him abideth", where? "In you, and you need not that any man teach you", so that's where it came from, "that you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him".
And so somebody takes this Scripture, doesn't consider the context, does not allow the context to give definition to the Scripture and go around preaching, especially when they get mad at the preachers and mad at the church and say, "I don't need no man teach me. The Bible says that I don't need a man to teach me". But what does that mean? Let's back all the way up to verse 18, in the NLT, and I'll read it out to you. Let's look at the context. Let's look at verse 18, all the way down to verse 27, to see what the context of the Scripture is and what he is saying. Now, verse 18, says this: "Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist", and he's referring to the person, "the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared".
So there are already a lot of people who have that antichrist attitude, or spirit. They've already appeared. "From this we know that the last hour has come". From what do we know? When you start seeing a bunch of people who are against Christ, a bunch of folks who are antichrist, he says this lets you know that the time is near. He says, "These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise, they would've stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us". I don't get upset when I find out people left our church, 'cause, when people leave our church, I just say, "Well, they might not have belonged with us. God, please help them to find a church where they belong, praise God". He says, "But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth".
So the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, has been given so you can know the truth. You could be sitting in a place and hear somebody preach, and you, who have the Holy Spirit, will know the truth. I remember, one time, I was in the church, and I said this one thing that seemed to be so opposing to the Word, but because they had the Spirit of God, they knew that was true before I even said it because the Spirit of God was saying, so you can know the truth. He says, the next verse, "So I am writing to you not because you don't know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies".
See, the Holy Ghost will help you to know the difference between truth and lie. Single woman, if you're trying to get married, you need to have the Holy Ghost so you can know the difference between truth and lies. All right, now watch this. Next verse, "And who is a liar"? So he's gonna get ready to tell, he says, "So how are we defining a 'liar' in this context"? He says, "Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ". That's a lie. "Anyone that says 'Jesus is not the Christ,' that's a liar. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist". So he just told you there, "If you deny the Father and the Son, you're antichrist. If you deny that Jesus is the Christ, you're a liar, and you're antichrist". Look at the next verse: "Anyone who denies the Son doesn't have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also," a'ight?
So this is the truth that he wants us to know, that Jesus is the Christ, and you don't deny the Father and the Son. That's the truth, in context. He says, "So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning". Faithful to what? Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. The Father, the Son. He says, "If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father," all right? What am I gonna hold on to? Jesus is the Christ. If you get that, then you're gonna remain faithful to the Father and the Son. "And in this fellowship we enjoy eternal life that he promised". A'ight, watch this. So you have eternal life because you received that. "I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray".
So he says there are some false teachers that want to lead you astray, a'ight? This is the context. "But you have received the Holy Spirit", so when the false teachers show up to try to lead you astray, the Holy Spirit, who knows the difference between a lie and a truth, is there to let you know that that's a lie, and that's the truth. "But you have received the Holy Spirit and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone", "anyone" refers to false teachers. "You don't need a fake teacher, a deceived teacher, to teach you what is true". You don't need a fake teacher who don't believe to come and try to teach you what is true that was confirmed by the Holy Spirit. "For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is the true. It is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ".
So he didn't mean that you don't need a man to teach you. He meant you don't need somebody wicked trying to twist the Scriptures to teach you what the Holy Spirit has already confirmed about the truth that you'll learn. Let me sum it up just really quick. In other words, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is all you need to avoid this heresy and interpret correctly what was taught you from the beginning about the Messiah. The purpose of this anointing is not to add new information to what they had heard from the beginning but to give them such a clear and true sense of Christ and who he is in that teaching that they cannot be drawn away and swayed by the deceiver.
See, when you're taught something and the Holy Spirit confirms it, it's hard for somebody to come and deceive you. It won't happen, praise God. So you don't need any teacher. You have what you need, and what you have is the knowledge revealed already in the beginning, stated in verse 24. In other words, you don't need a false teacher twisting the truth you already have. That's what he's talking about there. You don't need a false teacher twisting the truth you already have. Now, come on, just hearing that lets me know, "Man, I need the Holy Ghost". Just hearing that lets me know, "Dude, I need to hear the Holy Ghost". I mean, think about it. When you're sitting in a place and you're hearing the Word preached, how do you know if what you're hearing is true?
Well, first of all, does it line up with the Word? All right, now here's what I've discovered. Somebody can pick a Scripture out of context and say, "I got it out of the Word," and it might not be true based on how they're teaching it. They may not be teaching according to God. So you need the Holy Spirit to continue to work with you to say, "That's true," "That's a lie," "That sound deep, but that ain't the truth". You need the Holy Spirit. I depend on the Holy Spirit. When I'm studying and I look at something, I'm like, "Holy Ghost, help me. Help me to see the truth in this. Show me the truth in this matter". The Holy Spirit wants to be your teacher, how? By, even when you're studying, even when you're listening to the messages, even right now, when you're listening to a message, if you're listening to what I'm saying right now, and you've never heard of what I'm saying right now, and you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will say, "Check, that's true".
If I was saying something that was not in context, "Check that's false". Or you're stuck with your tradition, and your tradition has made the Word of God of no effect at all. Man, we got a lot to learn, but the Holy Spirit is there to help you. You cannot settle any issue of truth without the Holy Spirit, who wants to teach you and confirm the truth. And so you don't need a teacher to twist what's already truth and that you already know that. Amen, I hope you got that. I wanna move on. Here's the second attribute of the Holy Spirit, and this is awesome. The second attribute of the Holy Spirit, he is a corrector. The Holy Spirit is a corrector. What do I mean by that? He corrects us when we need improvement, he corrects us when we need refinement, and he will rebuke us. He will, I love it. The Holy Spirit corrects us when we need improvement.
So when the Holy Spirit corrects you, it's because you need some improvement. You need some refinement. You need some rebuking. He keeps us in love. Most of the corrections that come from Holy Spirit will be corrections about how we treating one another. He will correct you to keep you in love and out of self-centeredness. Oh my goodness. He corrects you to keep you in love and out of self-centeredness. This is, like, gigantic in the life of a Christian, but sometimes I don't think we recognize that because... I don't know. We just think the Holy Spirit is like a genie in a lamp, and we're just supposed to rub on it to fulfill our selfish desires.
And I've told you for the last few weeks, you've gotta decide, "Am I in this, as a Christian, to please myself, to bring pleasure to me, or am I in this, as a Christian, to please God"? That's the basis of, really, where you're gonna end up. And the Holy Spirit will correct us, and he will keep us in love and keep us out of selfishness. I depend on that. I depend on that. I'm not relying on my own self-effort for that. I depend on the Holy Spirit. "Keep me in love. Keep me out of self-centeredness. Let me know when I'm being selfish. Help me to hear you". God will do that. I'm telling you, man, he's real. He's real, and the Holy Spirit will do this.
Now let me show you this. This is so important. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6 and verse 10, let's read that, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6 and verse 10. Now, here's the word the Bible uses: "chastening". "The chastening of the Lord". It's not God beating you down, punishing you, and abusing you. God is not an abuser. The word "chasten" just simply means "to direct through correction". It's the directing of the Lord and the correcting of the Lord, and they go together. He says, "For whom the Lord loveth", now notice, God is chastening who he loves. So you don't wanna be without chastisement, because God will chastise who he loves. He says, "For the Lord loveth... for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth".
That sounds like abuse. That sounds like God's beating people. That's not what happening at all. Look at verse 10. Verse 10, says, "For the verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit", God's chastisement and correction is for our profit, "It is for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness". God says, "I'm gonna correct you so you can be a partaker of holiness". Now, please, let's not get all spiritually deep on holiness. What is holiness? I'm just gonna use one word to describe it. Holiness is wholeness. Holiness is wholeness. And the Bible says here that God will correct us for the profit of us being whole. See, wherever you're broken, God wants to correct you so you can be whole.