Have you ever been a witness in a legal case? If you have, you know that when you’re sworn in that you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth.
I felt that when I was growing up, the church was leaving something out, not telling the whole truth. I found out later that the something that was being left out was the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was rarely talked about in the churches I grew up in.
Jesus tells a lot about the Holy Spirit in John 16.
In John 16:5-6 Jesus tells His disciples that He is going away. He knows that they are filled with grief. Then Jesus says an amazing thing in John 16:7. He says that it is a good thing that He is going away.
The reason it is a good thing is that the Holy Spirit will then come.
In John 16:7 Jesus shares with us a truth about the Holy Sprit.
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Counselor or Intercessor or Helper.
The Holy Spirit gives us counsel and direction for our lives.
The Holy Spirit intercedes with the Father for us.
The Holy Spirit helps us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on the Holy Spirit to direct our lives and helpings us to do the Father’s will as He intercedes for us.
In John 16:8-11 Jesus says, “When He comes He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin, because men do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and with regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
The Holy Spirit convicts or exposes the world of sin or missing the mark. We all miss the mark by not believing. The conviction here is of unbelief and His purpose is to result in salvation.
The Holy Spirit convicts or exposes us of righteousness.
According to 1 Corinthians 1:30 Jesus is our righteousness.
When the Holy Spirit convicts in regard to righteousness He is showing us the righteousness of Jesus and He is showing us that in Jesus we are righteous.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is putting on the righteousness of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit convicts of judgment.
This is not judgment upon people. This is judgment upon the prince of this world, Satan.
Jesus says that Satan stands condemned.
If you are a follower of Jesus, Satan has been defeated. You have the Holy Spirit living in you to guard your heart and mind from him.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing Satan has been defeated and living in that truth.
Jesus shares another ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16:12-13. He says, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all 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.”
The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us.
The Holy Spirit guides us into truth.
The Holy Spirit gives life to the words of the Father and the Son. He makes them come alive in our everyday life.
Then in John 16:14-15 Jesus gives one more work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you.”
The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.
The Holy Spirit does not glorify:
Himself
People
Churches
The Holy Spirit only glorifies Jesus!
The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by confirming in the life of the believer that we belong to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 1:22
Set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The Holy Spirit lives in us as followers of Jesus and according to Romans 8:15 enables to experience a relationship with God that is so intimate that we can know Him as our Abba, our Dad.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in our lives to the point that we experience true intimacy with Him.
The Holy Spirit works in the world to bring conviction.
The Holy Spirit works in the believer to bring security.
We serve a God who is one, but reveals Himself in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Never make the Holy Spirit secondary. He is God just as the Father is and the Son is.
We are told in Romans 8:9 that everyone who is a child of God has the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit draws us to God.
The Holy Spirit reveals God to us.
The Holy Spirit makes us a child of God.
The Holy Spirit continually reminds us that we belong to God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the Holy Spirit filling us and forming in us the image of Jesus.
By and With the Holy Spirit Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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