Is The Holy Spirit A Ghost, Dove, Water, Tongue, Or An It? | Herbert Cooper

Reintroducing The Holy Spirit: Is The Holy Spirit A Ghost, Dove, Water, Tongue, Or An It? Acts 19:2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (NIV)  1 Corinthians 2:9–12 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (NIV) Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! (HCSB)  5 Questions About The Holy Spirit 1. What Is the Holy Spirit?       1A. The Holy Spirit is God Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (NIV)  Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. (NIV)  Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (NIV)  John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” (NIV)  John 17:11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (NIV)  John 5:19  Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (NIV)  John 14:10–11 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. (NIV)  John 16:13–15 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. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (NIV)    1B. The Holy Spirit is a person  1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (NIV)  Hebrews 3:7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, (NIV)    2. What makes the Holy Spirit a person?    2A. He is alive  Romans 8:2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (NLT)   2B. He has a mind Romans 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (NIV)    2C. He has a will  1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (ESV)     2D. He has emotions Romans 15:30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. (NIV)   Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. (NIV)   Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (NIV)  Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? (NIV)    2E. He has a personality 3. Where did the Holy Spirit come from?    3A. The Holy Spirit has no beginning  Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. (NIV) Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. (NIV).   Hebrews 9:14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. (NLT)  Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (NIV)    3B. The Holy Spirit is everywhere       Psalm 139:7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! (NLT) Psalms 139:7 “Where can I go from your Spirit?” (NIV)  4. What Does The Holy Spirit Do? The Three Distinct Roles Of The Godhead In Salvation:   4A. The Father created the plan of salvation  John 6:37-38 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. (NIV)   4B. The son, Jesus, executed the plan of salvation  Galatians 4:4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law (NIV)  Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (NIV)  Hebrews 7:27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. (NLT)    4C. The Holy Spirit is carrying out the plan of salvation  John 16:7–9 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. (NLT)   5. What does the Holy Spirit do in the life of the Christ follower?