Doctrine of the Week - The Holy Spirit

So the doctrine of the week for this Sunday is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the

Trinity. And notice I said person. The Holy Spirit is referred to as he or him, not referred to as it.

So the Holy Spirit is a person in that he has personality.

He is not God's impersonal force as some sub -Christian groups like to claim.

So the Holy Spirit, how is he a person? He has a will. He can be grieved. He speaks.

And the Holy Spirit is God. In Acts chapter 5, he is called God when

Peter, talking to Ananias, he says to Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the

Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God. The Holy Spirit was present and active during the creation.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 2 says, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.

So he was involved in the creation. The Holy Spirit can rightly be called the author of scripture based on 2

Timothy 3 .16. And perhaps most importantly, the Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent of regeneration.

John 3, 5 and Titus 3, verse 5. Now there's so much that could be said,

I really don't have time to go through everything that I'd like. So just one more comment, the

Holy Spirit's ministry, as many of you know, changed from the Old Testament to the

New Testament in this regard. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon men to empower them for the work of ministry.

But the Holy Spirit also might depart. But in the New Testament, Jesus said he would send the

Holy Spirit, where now under the new covenant, the Spirit continually indwells the children of God, sealing us until the day of redemption,