New Hope Notes
The Promise Of The Holy Spirit
Standing On The Promises
Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
February 22, 2004 - W0408
What is a Promise?
A promise is a hopeful chance or expectation that something will happen. An expectation that we have based on something someone has said or promised us. However, in our experience, we are oftentimes disappointed. So often in fact that we have a saying, ìPromises are meant to be broken.î And because of our earthly experiences and disappointments, we often view Godís promises in the Bible with skepticism, forgetting that Godís promises are based upon His character, not ours. But what if the promise was a living promise that God made?
Godís Living Promise ñ the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a living person. Godís promise of the Holy Spirit is not a nice saying or a hopeful expectation. Itís a living promise. Let me explain it this wayÖ
There was to be a final exam in an undergraduate math course and the exam was to be so difficult that many of the students were begging the professor, ìCan we bring notes to the exam? Can this be an open book exam?î The professor relented and said, ìOkay, because I know the exam will be so difficult, you can bring whatever you can fit on an 8.5î by 11î sheet of paper to help you with the exam.
Well the next week when the exam was being held, the professor walked into the room where the assistant professor had distributed the exams and the students were writing furiously in their exam booklets. But there was one freshman in the class with an advanced graduate student standing next to him giving him all the answers. When the professor said, ìWhoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whatís going on here? This is a graduate school math student here giving you all the answers!î And the student quickly responded, ìBut you saidÖ!î ìYeah, I said, whatever you can fit on an 8.5îx11î piece of paper, you can bring.î ìBut look!î the freshmen said as he pointed at the ground where the professor saw that the graduate student was standing on an 8.5îx11î piece of paper.
Thatís sort of like the Holy Spirit. Heís a living promise. Not just a bunch of notes. Not just hopeful expectations. He is someone God said he would give to us to guide us along our way. ìWhen the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truthÖ.He will be telling you what He has heard. He will tell you about the futureî (John
God knows our future. He designed it. In fact, what this passage tells us is thatÖ
TRUTH NEEDS A GUIDE.
ìAnd behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on highî (Luke 24:49).
Truth needs a guide and God is telling us that we need to stay with Him [the Holy Spirit]. The Holy Spirit will be a guide in our life, the living promise that God makes available to every single one of us. Why? Itís because the truth of our future is so incredibly important to God that He wants to make sure that we donít miss it so He sends the Holy Spirit to guide us. Thatís pretty cool, donít you think?
The Bible says God is going to send to us the Holy Spirit who is going to guide us. In fact, we cannot navigate life without Him. The Holy Spirit will tell us what He has heard and what our future is.
WHY WAIT ON THIS PROMISE:
God tells us to wait upon His promise of the Holy Spirit for three reasons. The first reason is becauseÖ
1. HE KNOWS GODíS PLANS.
ìThe earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the watersî (Genesis 1:2).
The Holy Spirit knows Godís plan because He was with God from the very beginning. He saw the formation of the world, and what pleases God and what does not. He even knows the thoughts of God, ìEven so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of Godî (1 Corinthians
He knows Godís design for our life, our family, and our future. He gives us a map ñ a guidebook which is the Bible. That is one of the reasons why daily devotions are so important. We get to know His heart through our daily reading and devotions -- what He would do in certain situations, how He would treat people, and what He is calling us to do.
Then, once we get to know Godís voice (through His word), when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, we will know it is Godís voice. The second reason to wait upon the Holy SpiritÖ
2. HE CAN FULFILL GODíS DESIGN IN ME.
ìI donít mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to beî (Philippians
The Holy Spirit can fulfill Godís design in us. You and I will not be able to fulfill Godís design by our own power and strength, but only with His help and assistance. ìBy His mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hopeî (Ephesians 3:20).
The best thing we can do is stay close to the Holy Spirit and obey what He is telling us. It is not enough for us to just hear Him. We must hear Him, follow Him closely, and walk with Him gladly. If we listen to Him, the Holy Spirit can guide us to be all that God intended for us to be.
God sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us in His truth. Itís Godís living promise to us. The amazing thing about the Holy Spirit is that He knows Godís plans and can even fulfill Godís design in usÖ
3. BUT WE MUST BE WILLING TO OBEY.
ìAnd we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Himî (Acts
Think of it this wayÖWhat is the use of giving a saddle to someone who is afraid of horses? Or what is the use of giving a cruise ticket to someone who gets seasick?
In a similar way, the Holy Spirit is only given to those who are willing to obey. In order to do this, we have to ìsetî our heart. We have to want Godís best. We have to want to hear. We have to want to listen.
Thereís a wonderful poem that goes like this:
One ship sails east and the other west
While the self same breezes blow
But it is the set of the sail, not the winds
that will ultimately determine which way itíll go
And as we journey on through the currents of life
It will be the set of our hearts that will determine our path
And not the storms or strife.
Isnít that true? Itís not the current or the blowing winds that will determine where you go. And thatís the set of our hearts. We need to set our hearts to follow the Lord and whatever way the winds blow, we will always come back to the right path and we will follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, the living promise.
He is called the Helper. He is here not only to be with us, but also to help correct our course. The best thing we can do is trust Him and be willing to obey. From time to time, we will hear His voice and sometimes weíll be convicted. It is in those times that the Holy Spirit will start correcting us. So we can recognize we are indeed hearing the Holy Spirit by theseÖ
TWO TYPES OF OBEDIENCE. The first type of obedience isÖ
- CORRECTING OBEDIENCE.
Our tendency is to stray, to maneuver, manipulate, and take short cuts because we want what we want. Often however, the Holy Spirit reminds us, ìFor the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peaceÖî (
The second type of obedience isÖ
- PERFECTING OBEDIENCE.
ìAnd as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even moreî. (2 Cor. 3:18 NLT) A perfecting obedience is not to correct us from going the wrong way, but rather a way to help to improve us and encourage us to be more and more like Him.
For a lot of people, you will be the only Jesus someone sees or the only Bible someone reads. This kind of obedience tells us to pick up a piece of paper or rubbish we see on the ground, to help someone with that chair or to help someone down the stairs. When there is perfecting obedience, people will start to see our servantís hearts and we become more and more like Jesus. We need to remember, Jesus did not come into this world to be served but to serve. And as we build our servant heart, we learn to share more about what we know. We can share some of the words that we received during a service or what we read in our daily devotional.
God sends us a living promise, the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth. That means that as our guide, the Holy Spirit knows Godís plans and can fulfill His design for our lives, but only if we are willing to obey. Therefore, as we listen and hear Godís voice we will understand two types of obedience. The first is a correcting obedience which simply means that the Holy Spirit as our guide corrects us when we are headed in the wrong direction. The second is a perfecting obedience which develops in us a servantís heart as we become more and more like Jesus and begin to radiate His spirit. ìAnd as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even moreî. (2 Cor. 3:18 NLT)
Discussion Topics
- Describe a time where you think the Holy Spirit was leading you and you obeyed. What happened?
- Describe a time where you think the Holy Spirit was leading you and you did not obey. What happened?
- What ways have you found to help you distinguish between whether itís the Holy Spirit leading you or something else.
- Which of Godís promises have you found yourself needing to rely on and how has that affected you?
- Give an example of a corrective obedience that youíve undergone.
- Give examples of perfecting obediences that you will practice going forward.
Thank you to Jaylene Tsukuyama for this weekís summary, a woman with a servantís heart!