Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Living Water Part II: The Role of the Holy Spirit
What makes the Holy Spirit more than just a theological concept, but a vital presence in our daily lives? This profound exploration delves into the revealing and guiding role of the Holy Spirit, unpacking the three-part nature of our existence as spirit, soul, and body.
When we become born again, something remarkable happens—the Holy Spirit establishes a direct connection between our spirit and God. This spiritual link remains pure and incorruptible, though our soul (our reasoning, decision-making faculty) and physical body remain susceptible to sin. Understanding this dynamic helps explain why Paul warned the Galatians against beginning their journey in the Spirit but trying to achieve spiritual growth through human effort alone.
The Holy Spirit serves as our divine helper in multiple ways. As our Comforter, the Spirit fulfills Jesus's promise that we would never be left alone after His ascension. As our Guide, the Spirit reveals God's truth and will, particularly when we face difficult decisions. Perhaps most powerfully, the Spirit intercedes for us when words fail us in prayer, standing in the gap between us and Jesus just as Jesus stands between us and the Father.
We explore the practical principle that "if you don't use it, you lose it" in our spiritual lives. Just as physical skills deteriorate without practice, our spiritual sensitivity weakens when neglected. Regular engagement with God's Word, prayer, worship, and fellowship keeps our spiritual senses sharp against the constant bombardment of worldly influences that compete for our attention.
Jesus wasn't being poetic when He referred to the Holy Spirit as "living water"—He was describing the essence of God flowing through us, nourishing and sustaining our spiritual life. By maintaining spiritual disciplines, we ensure this living water continues to refresh our entire being.
Are you feeding all three parts of your being? Your body needs physical nourishment, your mind needs renewal, and your spirit needs the living water that only comes from communion with God. Join us as we discover how to nurture a vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
So last week we finished up with counseling and comforting role of the Holy Spirit. So this is the Holy Spirit, or what I call living water. Well, jesus called it that first. I'm just telling you that's what it is. Now I'm just going to go on to the revealing role and then I'm going to summarize and then I'm just going to put a little bit more information in there. So we go to 1 Corinthians. Little bit more information in there. So we go to 1 Corinthians, 2.9 through to 10.
Speaker 1:It says this, but, as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. Now, when he's talking about that, he says that we need to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, so when you come born again and the Spirit of God comes to live in you Now I've probably already mentioned this, I'm just going to go over it a little bit more. So some people and there are a lot of people that believe they're born again, they've asked Jesus into their heart, but they don't really comprehend what that actually means, apart from trying to live a more Christian lifestyle or a godly lifestyle, because each and every day if we're doing the right thing. As followers of Jesus, we are always trying to make sure that we are more and more Christ-like each day. Now we know we can never be what he has been to man and to God. That's the reality of it. But we get to a stage where we know that there's certain behavioral things that we do, and that could be a range of things. It could be anything from cursing like swear words like swear words, or it could be promiscuous activity, having sex outside of marriage, drinking alcohol. Now, I know that a lot of Christians drink alcohol, but what I'm saying is drinking to excess or becoming intoxicated. Even Jesus said that you can have it, but you just don't have it to excess. But that's the same with a lot of things. There's a lot of things that you can have in moderation and you don't have them to excess, because then you fall outside the guidelines of what it really is to be a Christian.
Speaker 1:But the main thing I'm trying to get through here is that when you become born again, the Holy Spirit comes in to live inside of you. Now, every single one of us, every man, woman and child that is born into this world you're born into sin because of what Adam and Eve did. Jesus wasn't because he was. Mary was impregnated with God's seed and so when he was born, he was sinless because he was of God. But when you actually become born again, the Spirit of God comes to live inside of you because we are all every single living human being is part of, made up of three parts. You know, we, uh, have a physical body. That's what you see and that's what the world sees. Okay, we have our logic, or our reasoning, okay, which is like our soul, so. So that's what makes us unique to everybody else, because everybody is different, even to the extent where you have identical twins. We are all different because we have our own different personalities, that own characteristic which is us.
Speaker 1:And the third entity is the spirit. We are made up of a spirit. There is a spiritual being. So when we die, our spirit has to go somewhere, because we have eternal life. Now it either goes, you know, to the dark side I suppose you can say it, it goes to the devil, or it goes to be with the Lord. So we are a spirit, a soul and a body. Now we know what happens to the body as we get older, the body breaks down, falls apart and it has all sorts of things go wrong with it, because we live in this world. We're not of it, but we live in it. So we are subjected to many natural things which are around us 24-7. And so a lot of people don't realize that that's sometimes what makes us sick. Yes, we have a hedge of protection around us.
Speaker 1:I mean, I can go on and on and on. Maybe I should do what some pastors do and they'll do, like the Holy Spirit, part 1 to 35 or something like that. Or faith from 1 to 50. Believe it or not, there are certain parts of the Bible or certain truths about God's word that we could talk about for the next year, and you would never fully um encapsulate everything that is about that part of, uh, the word of God. So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to give you a condensed version. I want you to be able to listen to what I'm saying. Do your own research, do your own investigation through the Word of God and, just exactly like God says in the Word of God, he says prove me now. In other words, he's saying test out what I'm saying, that it is true Now. I haven't got the added advantage of being 100%, totally true with everything I say and everything I do, because only God can do that. So what I'm just trying to give you a little overview at the moment is that we are made up of three parts. We live in a body, we have our soul, or our logic, reasoning, and we have the spirit within.
Speaker 1:So when you become born again, your spirit connects to the spirit of God. Because Jesus said when he goes away, he said I'm going to send you a comforter, I'm not going to leave you alone, I'm not going to desert you, I'm going to give you somebody who you can call on anytime you want. Okay, and this is when in Acts 1, and when he told after he ascended to heaven, he actually got there and he said go and wait for the Comforter to come to you. He said because I have to go away to be with the Father, but I'm not going to leave you alone. So he left the Comforter, which is him leaving the Holy Spirit. Now, if you read through the book of Acts, especially Acts 1 through to 5, it talks about the Holy Spirit. Okay, so to speak, because 5,000 people gave their hearts to the Lord just in that one instance, because of the evidence of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So when you become born again, your spirit connects to the Spirit of God because the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. Now, the Holy Spirit cannot live in a corrupt environment, right? It's the same as God can't look on sin, and that's why he sent Jesus to be in the gap for us. So I mean, like I said, I could go on about this for a very, very long time, but I've got to get my point across here, otherwise we'll be stuck here all day.
Speaker 1:The thing is spirit to spirit. See, your spirit can no longer be corrupted, it can no longer sin, because it's directly linked to the spirit of God. And the more time that we spend in prayer, we build the strength of our spirit within us. And so that's basically like have you ever seen those cartoons when you get the angel sitting on one shoulder and the devil sitting on the other shoulder and they're both whispering in your ear and they're trying to tell you what to do, and the devil says, oh, do this, it's fun, you're going to enjoy it, and everything else, and the angel's sitting there going no, you shouldn't really do that. That's not the sort of thing you should do. Okay, that's taken a bit out of context and if you've never seen that, that's just have to take my word for it, but basically, you had the same thing.
Speaker 1:Once you become born again, your spirit cannot sin anymore, but your soul, your logic, reasoning, your thought patterns, the decisions that you make, your thought patterns, the decisions that you make you can still sin. So what you need to do is you spend time in prayer and you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, and so, anytime you want to make a major decision or a change in your lifestyle or anything like that, spend time in prayer about it and get that peace that surpasses all understanding inside of you. So you understand that you know there is a right and a wrong. Now we understand that from law. Okay, because, um, I don't want to go into great details, but we have statue law and common law. I'll give you a quick, quick lesson on law.
Speaker 1:Okay, common law is laws that are put into place in the world, where the majority of society frowns upon this sort of thing as being you know, something that you can do sort of thing as being something that you can do. So a classic example is you can't walk down the street naked. Now, I know there are places around the world where you can, you know, naked nudist collins or beaches or stuff like that. But what I'm saying is walking down the street with no clothes. On, the general consensus by the majority of society says, oh, that's wrong. So they make a law to make that illegal to do and that's under common law because the common people don't like it. So the government invokes a law and says you can't do it Now. Then you have statute law.
Speaker 1:Now, statute law is when the government or the police force or any governing body in authority over you goes to the government and says for the good of the people, we are going to introduce this law. Okay, and to give you an example of that, it would be that speeding okay, there are speed limits around the country. Now anybody can drive any speed they really want to, okay, but are they able to control the vehicle? Are other people at risk of getting hurt, and all this sort of stuff. So when speed limits change or when speed limits are created in certain areas, that is statute law. So the government says we are doing this because this is in your best interest and you voted us into power so we can make this law legal.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's the difference between common law and statute law, right, but looking at things from a spiritual perspective, we know by reading the word of God there are certain things that we shouldn't do because they're against the law of God. Now, even to the extent where I mean, like this is going like full on, but the commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai, okay, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt not steal. And so they made these God's law handed down to man. Now the Jewish people, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they needed to go over and above that. So they would take the law of Moses and they created other laws. It's a bit like on the Sabbath you can't work. But there are laws within the laws and there are natural laws within the laws. And there are natural laws. Okay, like if you jump off a building you're going to go splat on the ground because the law of gravity will throw you to the ground. But there are.
Speaker 1:I don't want to get into a thing about law, otherwise we'll be here all day. Sorry, I'm just reminding my my studies in bible college. But the thing is, I mean you have a higher law and a lower law. Okay, so we can't fly, but man has been given the wisdom to create um machines that can fly because they they have a higher law which is over the natural law. So, with thrust and lift and things like that, create a plane to fly when, in theory, you've got a plane that weighs like six or eight ton I don't know how much they weigh, but they're really heavy In theory that shouldn't be able to get off the ground. So they created a way of doing that and so they've had a higher law.
Speaker 1:Now, from our perspective, our higher law is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to save us, he went to the cross for us, he bore it all upon the cross so that we don't have to have sickness or disease. Our sins are washed away because Jesus now stands in the gap for us. Now it doesn't mean that we're sinless, it just means that our sins have been forgiven and also, on the other hand, it does not mean that we have the right to continue to sin, because we have grace through faith and so therefore, we can actually do things all right. So I'm getting a bit stuck in this, so I will move along. But just remember, the Holy Spirit is there to help you. That's why we get there Sometimes if we don't know what to pray and I'll probably go into this at another time but you can pray in tongues, just like the apostles did when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
Speaker 1:That's a language that only God knows and your spirit knows. In tongues, just like the apostles did when the Holy Spirit come upon them, and that's a language that only God knows and your spirit knows, but you don't know. But it's the way to have the perfect prayer. I'm not going to go there today. I'm just going to go on with this. Now. This is what I'm talking about the Holy Spirit being a guiding role.
Speaker 1:In John 16, 13 through to 14, it says this However, when he that's, jesus, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come, and he will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. Now, he's talking about the Holy Spirit here. Okay, and you notice that they're calling him he my mistake when I first started that. Okay, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. Okay, and when he, the Spirit of truth has come upon us, the Spirit of truth has come upon us. See, we have a Father, son and a Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:We have a tribe being. We have three parts of the Godhead. We have God the Father, okay, we have God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. So the Son is Jesus and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, okay, so they are three in one, so they are one, but they're also individuals and that's why they actually are spoken about as being him, jesus, god, because they are all the same, but they are the one, but they are individual and they are a living spiritual being who you can communicate with, living spiritual being, who you can communicate with. So they're not an it or just this thing out there that you cannot see, feel or touch. Because I'm telling you right now, I've experienced it and I dare say there's a lot of people out there listening to this that have also experienced it.
Speaker 1:You can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and sometimes, when you're just praising and worshipping God, you can feel the presence come upon you and that is an awesome thing to do just sitting in his presence and hearing from him, sitting in his presence and hearing from him Now. He also intercedes for you, right, just like Jesus intercedes for you, between God and you. So it says that you can boldly come into the throne room with grace, stand before the Father and the desires of your heart will be met. Why? Because Jesus stands in the gap for you. You are a sinner. You sin every day, without even realizing it. It's the level of sin that varies, but Jesus gets there and he goes. You know, father, listen to Phil, okay, because I've taken the ultimate sacrifice at the cross, so I'm standing in the gap for you. In the same way, the Holy Spirit stands in the gap between you and Jesus.
Speaker 1:Romans 8.26 says Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. John 7.37 says this If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Jesus knows how much we need the living water of the Holy Spirit. Let me put it another way Do you ever struggle to find the right words when you pray, or wonder if God really hears you and your prayers? Prayer frustration leaves many believers feeling disconnected from God and inadequate in their walk with him. So, see, you need to try and unveil how the Holy Spirit serves as your divine helper in prayer, interceding when you do not know what to say, and align your heart with God's will.
Speaker 1:You can read through Galatians, chapter 3, starting at verse 1, and Galatians 5. And because I'm very, very grateful that the Spirit of God really did prompt my heart to do this two-part series, because there's been more need for this to be taking place than we ever do. What we're actually talking about is basically the fact that somehow the Christian church has gotten away from an evident belief in the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit for matters of Christian living. We have substituted all kinds of earthly things for the supernatural power which is granted us in the Spirit. We have to know that as we read through Galatians, it says this If we go to chapter 3, and it says in verse 1, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
Speaker 1:Before those eyes, jesus Christ was publicly betrayed and crucified. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the work of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish?
Speaker 1:Having begun this, see, now the Apostle Paul is confronting among the Galatians a rather bizarre turn of events. These people, who had begun in the Spirit, that they were saved by the works of the Spirit, were now trying to come to spiritual perfection in the flesh. They started out in the power of the Holy Spirit and now they were trying to carry on in their own strength and their own wisdom and their own ingenuity and their own system was effortless. See, paul confronts the folly of what they're saying. You don't believe, do you, that you begun your christian experience by the power of the holy spirit and now you can somehow perfect it on your own in the flesh. See, when you, when you look at the writing of paul in particular, you've got to look at you know, we know who's writing it Paul, the Apostle Paul, okay, and he's writing to you. Know, like on several occasions he writes. You know, when you've got 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, 1 Ephesians, 2 Ephesians, two Ephesians this is Jesus. I mean sorry, this is Paul writing to the churches, okay, of the people that he's already spoken to, and he needs to encourage them the same way we need to be encouraged. You've got to look at it from a perspective, is that? Okay? I'll leave this where this is at the moment because I don't want to get too into it, otherwise I'll be going.
Speaker 1:Part three, part four, part five. Listen, let me put it this way when you were a child I'm hoping that most of you experienced this, or those that didn't think of something else that you did along the same lines you get taught to ride a bike. But actually, let me put it a different way. This is a better illustration. When my daughter was young okay, when she was still a child we bought her these rollerblades, okay, and she'd go out every day. Once we taught her how to do it and she got the gist of it, she'd go out around Tomato Lake or Lake Munga there are lakes over here. I mean, just think of another lake with a path around it and she would be rollerblading all over the place. Right, but when she grew up and grew out of her rollerblade, she didn't continue doing that rollerblades. She didn't continue doing that. Now, 20 years later, she decided that she was going to teach her daughter how to go roller skating and she basically had to learn again how to do it. Why? Because she had not practiced what she'd been taught.
Speaker 1:See, if you're not doing something on a regular basis, you will forget how to do it. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be riding a bike, doing rollerblades, it could be using mathematical equations, it could be reading or even speaking in a different language. Right, because practice makes perfect, yes, but absence makes the heart grow fonder sometimes, but in the reality, when you actually stop doing something for a long enough period of time, you forget how to do it. That is why it's very important to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:You need to build up the spirit that is within you. And how do you do that? By spending time in the word. If you don't spend time in the word of God, if you don't spend time in prayer, if you don't spend time praising and worshipping God and you don't spend time having fellowship with other Christians and that could be a home church it could be just going out and have a connect group, it could be going to church, or it could be going to men's breakfasts or women's morning teas, things like that. But if you're not constantly consistently using what you've got, you lose it. If you don't use it, you lose it.
Speaker 1:So what I'm saying here is, to get a relationship with the Holy Spirit, you need to spend time in his word, the word of God. You need to spend time in prayer. See the church at Galatia, the Galatians, when Paul's writing to them again. They've gone away from the traditional following of Jesus and his word and all of that sort of stuff, and what they've done is said we can do this on our own now. It's like someone going to Bible college when they're a teenager and then not spending much time in the word for the next 20 years because they've been busy living life and all of a sudden someone comes up and said oh, there's this course on it, the church, and I think it'd be a good idea if you went, and that's why churches always hold lots of events and different programs and that, so you can actually get into them and you're constantly refreshing your word. Pastor Margaret Court was my senior pastor, or still is has been for very many, many years, but she says train the brain. She got a book out called Train the Brain. Okay, and the thing is, you've got to train the brain.
Speaker 1:Every day of your life you are being fed stuff from this world, from society, from friends, from family, from work colleagues, university students, teachers, lecturers. The list goes on and on and on. They are constantly bombarding you with information, whether it be good, bad or indifferent, and you are absorbing that. But what you need to do is then spend time in the word to counteract any of that. That's not healthy for your lifestyle, right? Another classic example put it this way peer pressure.
Speaker 1:How many times do people experiment with drugs, whether they're pharmaceutical or whether they're just plain illegal drugs? Or they start smoking, drinking excessively? All these types of things you do because everybody else is doing it. You don't want to be. Oh sorry, no, I'll just have a lemon squash. Oh, what are you Some sort of? You know? And they'll say something derogative and you'll get the hairs on the back of your head stand up and you think, oh yeah, fine, give me a double whiskey or something. You know why? Because they said something to you. Be your own person. Listen to the voice that is inside you saying Philip, don't do this. This is not a good idea. All right part being I'll say it again the same as God is a three-part being Father, son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So we are a body, a spirit and a soul. We live in a body. We have logic, reasoning and everything to be able to make our own decisions, because God has given us free will, reasoning and everything, to be able to make our own decisions. Because God has given us free will, okay, and we have a spiritual entity within us, you need to be feeding your spirit on a daily basis, because that is living water. Do you know? The human body is about 80% water, okay, and so why does God choose to use these common terminologies? Okay, to represent what he is doing.
Speaker 1:It's like Jesus is the shepherd. We're the sheep. We were always lost and we need to be found, but we need the shepherd to look after us. We need to be found, but we need the shepherd to look after us. Spirit of the living water flowing through us. Living water, it means the essence of God flows through our bodies, and the way to actually keep that in line is to spend time in his word, spend time in prayer, and you'll be surprised that the things that you hear, the things that you start saying and the way that you're reacting Me for the life of me and I don't remember exactly how many years it's been Well, it was about 1987, I think I gave my heart to the Lord.
Speaker 1:A lot's happened since then. Some people can recall it in an instant because they had such a massive encounter with God. I didn't when I got filled with the Holy Spirit. That's when I remember, and that was in 1999. I remember that very clearly because I had a huge experience with the Holy Spirit that day. But the point that I'm trying to make, because we've run out of time, is purely and simply this you are spirit, soul and body. All three parts need to be fed. Some parts need to be fed. Some parts need to be fed physically, other parts need to be fed spiritually. And how we come about that? Spending time with God, spending time in his presence, spending time in the word, spend time in prayer, spend time listening to praise and worship music. All right, that's where we'll finish up today. God bless, take care, and we'll talk to you soon.
