John Bevere - Who Is the Holy Spirit?
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We are here in our offices in Palmer Lake, Colorado, and I am so delighted to have some of our closest partners, friends, and staff here. I can sense the hunger. I mean, I feel like this passion is emerging from me right now—it's kind of amazing. You guys are beautiful; I enjoy looking at you. I think it's because you are full of the Holy Spirit—that's why you're so handsome and beautiful. Amen.
What we are discussing is the Holy Spirit, and I want to share something: this past month of my life has been truly amazing. It started about a month ago when I was on a fast, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying, "Read the book of Acts." The ironic part is that during my last extended fast, the Holy Spirit also said to read the book of Acts, and I thought, "Okay." As I read through it previously, what stood out was how the Apostle Paul's calling was to go to the Gentiles, yet because of his natural love, he kept going first to the synagogues in every city to reach his Jewish countrymen. The result was that he kept getting into trouble, and the greatest trouble often came from those Jewish people. During that fast, God spoke to me and said to remain within what I've called you to do because if you go outside of it, you're asking for trouble.
This time, as I read through the book of Acts, something different captured my attention: how much the apostles, leaders, and believers interacted with, depended on, and spoke of the Holy Spirit. It was everywhere, and I realized He was a vital part of their lives, involved in everything they did. Just listen to some comments from the book of Acts—these are not all of them. It reads something like this: "We are His witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit." We read, "The Spirit told me to go with them."
One of them showed by the Spirit that a Great Famine was coming. They were sent out by the Holy Spirit, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. They tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified. Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go to Macedonia. The Holy Spirit tells me that in city after city, we should take heed to ourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Did you receive the Holy Spirit since you believed? Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? You always resist the Spirit.
Are you seeing how much they talked about the Holy Spirit? So I thought, wait a minute, I'm not really witnessing this today in my life. Why is it that we don't talk about Him? Are you with me? So, I'm going to make some upfront statements here that I think need to be declared. Number one: there is virtually no Christian life without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, Christianity becomes dry, monotonous, and mundane. Remove the Holy Spirit from the church, and it will morph into a social club or become a religious institution. There is no love without the Holy Spirit. There is no revelation without the Holy Spirit. In fact, the scriptures become lethal without the Holy Spirit, because 2 Corinthians 3:6 says, "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
There is no vision, joy, peace, or freedom without the Holy Spirit. You know, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "The Lord is the Spirit." That's interesting right there—the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Now, hold on a minute: where is the Spirit of the Lord? He's omnipresent; He's everywhere. So, we need a better understanding of what He's really saying here. A better translation of what He was saying is, "Wherever the Spirit is Lord, there is freedom." If He is not allowed to be Lord—what does "Lord" mean? Supreme in authority. He's not allowed to be Lord in every home, in every Christian's life, in every church. Where He's not allowed to be Lord, you don't have freedom. You end up dry, losing your joy, rest, and passion for life.
I'm over 50 now; I can't believe I just said that, and I'm still passionate about life as when I first got filled with the Spirit of God at 19, back in June of 1979. So now you can tell how old I am. The purpose of what we're teaching here is to introduce you to the person of the Holy Spirit. Volumes could be written; I could preach for weeks on the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine if I tried to tell you about Lisa Bevere in just four sessions? There's no way! I've been married to this amazing woman for 30 years now, and I'm still growing in my knowledge and understanding of her personality and ways every single day. There is certainly no way I could tell you everything about her in four sessions. I could introduce you to her, tell you how to contact her, interact with her, listen to her, and work with her. I could get you started, but I won't tell you everything about her.
So if you're expecting me to tell you everything about the Holy Spirit in these sessions, forget it, because you know Lisa is only 30; He's from everlasting to everlasting, okay? So, He's a bit older than Lisa, got it? Here's a tragic mistake every single Christian makes: they have tried to study and understand the work of the Holy Spirit without first coming to know Him intimately as a person. You make a grave mistake when you do that.
It's important to establish in our hearts whether the Holy Spirit is a divine person who is infinitely holy, wise, powerful, yet wonderfully tender, sensitive, and compassionate—one who is worthy of our love, adoration, faith, devotion, and complete surrender—or if the Holy Spirit is simply an influence emanating from God, like the spirit of generosity or the spirit of democracy. The latter view is crude, shallow, and even cultic. If we believe like that, we open ourselves up to spiritual pride because we can strut around as if we're a higher order of Christians and look down on others.
However, if we understand Him to be infinite in majesty, glory, splendor, might, wisdom, and holiness, and that He, as a person, has agreed with the Father and the Son to come and reside in us and make our lives good, it puts us on our face and keeps us there in humility. Are you with me? People who see God as an influence who see the Holy Spirit as just a divine entity will often say, "I want more of the Holy Spirit." People who understand Him as a wonderful yet mighty person will say, "How much more can I give myself to Him?" You don't walk around with spiritual pride thinking you have more of someone else; you realize you want to give yourself to this wonderful Creator more and more.
Can you say amen? One reason some people perceive the Spirit of God as a mere influence rather than a person is that they refer to Him as "it." You know, "the Spirit, it…" If I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone refer to the Holy Spirit as "it" throughout my 30 years in Christian ministry, I would be very wealthy. Many view the Holy Spirit as a holy entity rather than one who is most holy and desires to be your closest friend. If they would meditate on the scripture and allow it to open up, they would realize that the Holy Spirit has a mind. Romans 8:27 talks about the mind of the Spirit. He has a will; 1 Corinthians 12:11 says He distributes each of His gifts as He wills. He has emotions spoken about in His love and joy in Romans 15 and Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:30 says He can be grieved, made sad and sorrowful. He comforts, He speaks—Hebrews 3:7 says He speaks clearly. 1 Timothy 4:1 tells us He teaches. I don't know any dumb teachers; do you? I know teachers to be people who communicate, right? He can be grieved, sad, and sorrowful (Ephesians 4:30). He can be insulted (Hebrews 10:29). He can be resisted (Acts 7:51) and can be lied to (Acts 5).
Our first impression of the Holy Spirit is a dove. Why is that? Because in all four gospels, we read that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove. But can I make a statement? Don't we make statements like, "She runs like the wind, he is strong like an ox"? Does that make her "the wind"? Does that make him a four-footed animal? Absolutely not! But somebody says, "Yeah, but John, He is represented as flames before the throne of God!" Well, can I also tell you that in the Bible it says, "I looked, and behold, in the midst of the elders in heaven stood a Lamb as though it had been slain"? That was how John described Jesus. Jesus certainly isn't a four-footed animal; He's a Lamb. Just like the Holy Spirit is not some mystical fire burning in front of God's throne. Are you with me?
So who is the Holy Spirit? He is the third person of the Godhead. Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.'" God didn't say, "Let me make man," but "Let us make man." If you look at Acts 10:38, you see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all distinctly identified: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil." You have God the Father anointing Jesus with the Holy Spirit—there are the three right there.
When Jesus was baptized at the River Jordan, the three manifest as totally different persons: you have Jesus, our Lord, being baptized by John, you have Him coming up, and the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove, and you have God the Father speaking from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Three distinct persons, yet one God, because Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." If you look at Romans 3:30, there is one God who will justify. James 2:19 says, "You believe there is one God? You do well."
An example to help you understand: you have water. How many of you know water takes three different forms? You've got steam, liquid, and solid (ice). But all three have the exact same molecular makeup—three distinct forms, yet one. Are you with me? That's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. He actually is the first member of the Godhead that appears in the Bible. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." What does verse 2 say? "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." He shows up right in Genesis 1:2.
So who is the Holy Spirit? We have to ask that, amen? He is the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, kind, tender, sensitive, mighty person on the face of this earth. You say, "John, on the face of this earth?" Oh yeah, on the face of this earth! Because you have to understand the Father is not here on earth; He's on His throne in heaven. Jesus is not here on earth; I hear people say all the time, "Jesus is in my heart!" He is seated at the right hand of God. The angel specifically said, in Acts 1:9-11, "While they watched, Jesus was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." The two angels said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." In other words, He's going to come in the clouds. Has He come in the clouds? No. There are some people who might think that, but you know they're out on a ranch somewhere where we can't find them. But He hasn't come in the clouds yet, which means He's at the right hand of God in heaven. When Stephen was being stoned, Stephen looked and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand. I love that—how Jesus stood for His martyr to come home.
But you see, Jesus has been there ever since, you know, approximately 2,000 years ago. I don't care how much you say He's in your heart; it's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God the Father. Matthew 10:20 says, "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Do you know who's speaking through me right now? The Spirit of my Father!
I used to, and I even tried it here before this taping; I used to try to preach my message. Anyone who has ever preached before knows that's a miserable thing because it's horrible. I can't preach! But then all of a sudden, what happens? The Spirit of my Father comes on me, and I begin to speak the word of God. Are you with me? Oh, I love Him; He's so amazing. He never leaves me dry; He never leaves me hanging. He never forsakes us. He is the Spirit of God the Son.
I said the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God the Son. Philippians 1:19 says, "For I know this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." How do the three work together? Well, 1 Corinthians 12:5-7 gives us a little insight: "And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord" (that would be Jesus). "There are differences of operations, but it is the same God who works all in all" (that's God the Father). "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all." You can see this shows us how they work together.
So we have the Father who operates—that's verse six, or in other words, He initiates. We have the Son who administrates, and then we have the Holy Spirit who manifests. Now, to help you get an understanding of this, let's say we want to build a house. If we're going to build a house, you've got an architect, you've got a foreman, and you've got the workers who actually build the house—the subcontractors. Well, in that illustration, God the Father is the architect, Jesus is the foreman, and the Holy Spirit is the workers who actually build the house; He's the manifester of creation!
Are you with me? Because Jesus said in Matthew 12:28, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God…" Now you hear that? "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God." But Luke's Gospel records it this way: "If I cast out demons with the finger of God." So the exact same situation; Matthew writes "Spirit of God" and Luke writes "Finger of God." So the Holy Spirit is the Finger of God.
Now listen, there's something you've got to understand: the Greeks always wrote according to form. You've got their statues and all that. The Hebrew writers wrote according to function. That's why He's not actually fingers. If I were trying to communicate to you how the Holy Spirit is my hand, does my hand do the work that my head desires? You see, He's revealed as the Finger of God, the Hand of God, the Arm of God. He delivered them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm; He delivered them by His Spirit.
If you look at Psalm 8:3, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers…" So the Holy Spirit is the one who put those stars in their orbit, put the moon, and the earth, because He says the work of Your fingers—the moon and the stars which You have ordained. He's the one who manifested all creation, which is why He's hovering upon the waters, waiting for the architect to initiate and the Son to administrate by saying, "Light be!" Because Jesus is the Word of God. So when "Light be!" was spoken, that was the Son administrating what the Father said to do, and the Holy Spirit made it happen.
I love that! That is so good! Are you with me? One of my favorite scriptures about the Holy Spirit is Isaiah 40:12: "Who else has held the ocean in His hand?" Think about it—He held the entire ocean in His hand! "Who has measured off the heavens with His fingers?" You can see the Holy Spirit is being described here by His function. "Who else knows the weight of the earth or who has weighed the mountains in a scale? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give Him advice or teach Him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone's advice? No way! Does He need instruction about what is good? Does someone teach Him what is right or show Him the path of justice?" No! For all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket; they are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand. The Spirit of the Lord! Do you see how mighty He is? Do you understand how mighty He is?
Remember when I said He has agreed with the Father and the Son to come and make His residence in us? It puts us on our face. Can you say amen? In regard to the creation of mankind, Genesis 2:7 says, "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." Who did that? The Holy Spirit! How do I know that? Because Job said in Job 33:4, "The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."
He was the one who breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life—not only just Adam, but each of us as well, because Psalm 139:13 says, "You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb." In fact, the Spirit of God formed everything we see. Proverbs 26:10 says, "The great God who formed everything." He's the one who manifested the creative desire of the Father. Are you with me?
So the Holy Spirit, He's God. How is He referred to? What are His names as revealed by the Word of God? It's called the Holy Spirit 96 times in the Bible, the Spirit of the Lord 28 times, the Spirit of God 26 times, the eternal Spirit, the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy One, the Lord, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of your Father, the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of Grace, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Judgment, the Spirit of Burning, the Spirit of Knowledge, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Prophecy, the Spirit of Revelation, the Spirit of a Sound Mind, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Wisdom, and the Spirit of Holiness.
I love that: the Spirit of the Holy God! Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit. He was conceived by the Spirit; He was taught by the Spirit; He was empowered by the Spirit. He did not perform one miracle until He was baptized in the Spirit at the River Jordan because John's Gospel says the first miracle He did was at the Cana of Galilee after He was baptized, and the Spirit came upon Him. He was led by the Spirit. He only spoke when He heard the Spirit speaking. John 14:10—Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you, I don't speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me—He does the works."
Notice Jesus did not say "the Father in heaven"; He said "the Father who dwells in me." Wait a minute, John! You mean He's referring to the Holy Spirit as of His Father? Well, why wouldn't He? Because listen to what the angel said to Joseph: "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit." So why wouldn't He call Him the Spirit of My Father? Are you with me? Jesus and the Holy Spirit work together as one, side by side, while He was on this earth.
In fact, Jesus made the statement: "The Son can do nothing of Himself." If Jesus needed this ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit to complete His god-given mission, how much more do we need the empowerment of the Spirit to complete our mission? No one knows the Holy Spirit better than Jesus, so we need to look to Him first to really understand how we are to interact with this amazing person of the Godhead. Can you say amen?
So Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever." The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive—an unbeliever cannot receive Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
You know, there are so many nuggets, but first of all, notice that Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Isn't it interesting that He prefaces talking about the Holy Spirit with obeying His Lordship, His word? You know what's interesting? Peter says in Acts 5:32 that "we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." Why don't we talk about that? God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him.
Now notice Jesus said, "I'm going to give you another Helper." Now look at the word "another." There are two Greek words that are translated "another" throughout the New Testament. The two Greek words are heteros and allos. Heteros means another of a different sort, allos means another of the same kind. The question we have to ask is, what is Jesus talking about here?
Let me clarify: David, come here. Alright, so here's David. Now, David, give me this. If I give David an apple, and David eats that apple, and I say, "David, do you want another?" If I give him an orange, I've given him another piece of fruit, but it's another of a different sort. If I give him another apple, it's another of the same kind, right? This would be heteros; this would be allos. Which word is Jesus using? Thank you, David. Which word is Jesus using here? He's using the word allos. He is saying the Holy Spirit is going to be just like Me—identical.
He says, "I'm going to give you another Helper." Everybody say, "Helper." The Greek word there is paracletos. Interestingly enough, this word is used to describe Jesus when it says, "We have an advocate with the Father" in 1 John 2. That is actually the word describing Jesus's function with us as paracletos.
So what does this Greek word mean? It actually comes from two words: para and kaleo. Para means "very close." Paul used this word to describe his relationship with Timothy—there was nobody closer to Paul than the Apostle Timothy. He used that word to describe Timothy's closeness to him. Are you following me? My wife Lisa is para to me. There is no one closer to me on the face of the earth than Lisa Bevere. I would use that word to describe my relationship. Are you seeing this?
Now, kaleo means "to beckon or to call." This word is frequently used in scripture when the apostles describe their calling. In other words, when Paul said, "I am called an apostle to the Gentiles," are you with me? That word "calling" has a destiny to it; it has permanence to it. Are you following me? So you put those two together, and you know what Jesus is saying: the Holy Spirit is permanently called alongside us to coach us in our life walk with God. This actually is His calling and assignment, and He does this permanently, because Jesus said He will abide with you forever; He will not leave you nor forsake you. Isn't that good?
Jesus is communicating, "Exactly the way I have been with you is the way He's going to be with you." Are you with me? Frequently, I hear people say, "Oh, if I could have only walked with Jesus, I would have asked so many questions." Why aren't you asking the Holy Spirit these questions? Do you think He's an entity? Do you think He's just an influence coming from God, or do you really believe He's a person? If you believe He's a person, you would be asking questions because you would know He is all-knowing.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: I think He's one of the most ignored people in the church. Are you with me? How many times do we go into church, and He's not even mentioned or looked to? How many times do Christians go through their day without saying a word to the one permanently called within them to walk with them? Are you with me? Jesus made this statement, which is mind-blowing: John 16:7, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth." Stop and think about it; He's been with these guys for three and a half years. Everything He's ever said has come to pass. He said it would be still, and it was. He said they would find a donkey over here, and sure enough, without having to go to eBay or Craigslist, He told them exactly where to get the donkey, right?
I mean, He knew there was a thief on the staff when He said it and manifested what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem according to the elders, turning Him over to the hands of sinners. Everything comes to pass, okay, that He speaks. Then He has to preface this statement—after being with them for three and a half years—with "I'm telling you the truth." So in other words, what He's about to say to them is so mind-blowing that He wants to ensure they understand He's not lying to them. The one who never lied and can't lie is saying, "I've got to tell you the truth."
What's the rest of the verse? "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don't go away, the Helper, paracletos, will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you." The New Living Translation puts it even better: "It is best for you that I go away." Why is it best for us that Jesus went away? Why?
Well, just think about it. If Jesus stayed and we wanted to talk to Him and have Him teach us, we'd have to catch a flight to Tel Aviv, rent a car, and drive to Galilee. He's not hard to find; there are a couple hundred thousand people waiting to get to the center to ask Him their questions. He did have to sleep and eat, so maybe He has 14 good hours to give us, and people are coming in by the masses to talk to Him. But when you think about the Holy Spirit being just like Jesus, teaching just like Jesus, amplifying the things of God like Jesus, the Holy Spirit doesn't have to sleep; He doesn't have to eat. He can carry on 10,000 conversations simultaneously, intimately with 10,000 different people.
That's why Jesus said, "It's better for you that I go away." So in the next session, we're going to talk about being intimate with this wonderful God.