Preaching About the Holy Spirit
Preaching About the Holy Spirit
We are considering a series of sermons about doctrine. The first post is here. The purpose of these blog posts is to get ideas about how doctrine, something that many Christians believe is “dull”, can breathe with life. In this post we consider how preaching about the Holy Spirit can bring life to your congregation.
The Evidence of the Holy Spirit
When I typed the title for this blog post I immediately thought of Jim. Jim came to the first church that I served because his wife had been attending and badgered him to come with her. She had begun attending after abandoning church for many years, and this return gave new meaning to her life. She wanted to share it with him.
Back then, I visited people who had come to church in their homes. I’ll never forget what it was like to visit Jim. After his wife shared her story, I asked where he was in the journey of faith. His response was shocking. “I think it’s all made up. It’s similar to Mother Goose stories.” Yet, after we talked, he agreed to meet with me to go through a booklet that summarized the Bible’s message about salvation.
We met each week and covered Creation, the Fall into sin, Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for sin to satisfy God’s perfect justice, and the work of the Holy Spirit. The last lesson in the book ended with a prayer to receive Jesus Christ into your life. I asked Jim if he was ready to pray that prayer. His response, again, was surprising. He said, “No, I still think it’s all on the level of Mother Goose and other fairy tales.”
At that point, we quit meeting, and he quit attending church with his wife.
A Turning Point
Yet, a few months later, there he was in church. I was surprised, to say the least. But at the end of the service he came to me and said, “We have to talk sometime. I’m a Christian now.”
I think my shock registered as I said, “What happened?”
He said, “I was at my aunt’s funeral, and as the pastor talked I was thinking, “a nice fairy tale.” The next moment, I knew deep inside that the whole story was true. The only way I can explain it is that Holy Spirit that we talked about before.
The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Many books have been written about the Holy Spirit, and I would suggest that you preach a series on the many Scriptures that point to this third person of the Trinity, and that in the process you cover the idea of a God who reveals himself as a trinity. For this message preaching about the Holy Spirit should at the very least cover the purpose statement that Jesus made in John 16:
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Here is a good sermon that summarizes these truths, by Brian Bill.
The Paraclete
Another good approach when preaching about the Holy Spirit is to reflect on the word that Jesus gives to describe the Spirit’s work: Paraclete. You can find this name, translated as Comforter, or Advocate. The word in the original is Paraclete. Here’s an explanation of what that means:
After Jesus announced to His disciples that He would be leaving them soon, He gave them a statement of great encouragement: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:16–17).
The Greek word translated “Comforter” or “Counselor” (as found in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7) is parakletos. This form of the word is unquestionably passive and properly means “one called to the side of another”; the word carries a secondary notion concerning the purpose of the calling alongside: to counsel or support the one who needs it. This Counselor, or Paraclete, is God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity who has been “called to our side.” He is a personal being, and He indwells every believer.
Preaching About the Holy Spirit’s Fruit
The Spirit may be the most challenging to understand of the three person trinity. A Father is something we generally understand. Jesus is fully explained in the gospels. But the idea of a Spirit that dwells within us is more difficult to grasp. Another way to bring this to your people’s minds is to preach about the fruit of the Spirit, as given in
Conclusion
Preaching about the Holy Spirit can enliven your church. Spend time with this subject in your preaching.
