I Believe in the Holy Spirit | 12 Lines | Pastor Derick Amsler

All right, we have been in this series called 12 lines. Everybody say 12 say lines in which we are looking at 12 lines that have brought a sense of stability, security, purpose and strength and stewardship to our life. We've been saying it like this. Empires rise and empires fall. Powers shift through different seasons, things happen, expected and unexpected.

But 12 lines throughout 3,000 years have brought a sense of clarity to the life of the believer as it gets us out of moments of confusion and it recenters our life and brings our soul a sense of collaboration. I believe in God the Father Almighty. We started there in week one studying the Apostles Creed. What did the disciples of Jesus believe and why did they believe it? The reason why this is important is because it calls the believer back to conscience, right?

What do we believe? And because we say we believe it, why do we believe it? And then how then must I live my life? This is also a very helpful series to the unbeliever or the non churchgoer. Because you've been complaining that all Christians are hypocrites, and now you're gonna realize, no, no, no.

Some of them are just Christian by name, but they don't act it out because they don't act out what we've been talking about, right? And we've talked about, I believe in God the Father Almighty, not just that he is a God by title and position, but relationally, he's a father, but he's not just close relationally, he's God Almighty. And then we looked at what it means to believe in Jesus Christ His Son, and why he had to die a horrific death on the cross for our sins. We talked about what it looked like when he was buried. And for three days he descended into the realm of the dead.

Then we looked at, why did he have to be born of a virgin? What's the big deal about that detail? And we looked at, what does it mean? What does it mean that he ascended to the right hand of God? That was last week.

And we said it like this. The ascension was not his evacuation plan from Earth. It was his enthronement over Earth. Tell the person next to you he's still in charge. Come on, let him know he's still in charge.

This week we are continuing the line to a topic that it may skip depending on some of your church circles or experiences. For others of you, you're gonna be like, it's about time Pastor's talking about this subject. And in either paradigm, I'm glad that we can offer up some truth together as we explore God's word. All right, put your hand over your heart. Let us recenter our mind now.

Spirit of God, would you please speak a word ever so clearly to our life? Lord, we have some church traditions, therefore we have some church baggage that we've been walking around with. And so to the ignorant mind, would you fill us with truth? With the confused mind, would you give us clarity? And for the encouraged soul, would you give us a bedrock foundation for our belief?

May we never be the same. In Jesus name, Amen. I used to think that our standard of excellence changed as we got older. Therefore, our standard or our definition of excellence or high quality emerged through time. As we got older, it just automatically generated greater expectations.

I've since discovered age has nothing to do with it. And I'll tell you where I came up with this belief. I was a couple years ago, I was having dinner with a gentleman in his 60s, and we were talking about favorite restaurants and food. And he said, oh, I am a food connoisseur. I said, my guy, I said, what is your favorite type of food?

And he said, oh, without a doubt, seafood. I like seafood. So I said, well, where do you go for fresh seafood, Pastor? It doesn't get better than Red Lobster, I'll tell you that right there. And I realized age has nothing to do with the standard of excellence.

Matter of fact, let me go back to the first time I was introduced to the pinnacle of culinary excellence. I remember I was in elementary, and my mom introduced me to the. You guys remember these? The ham and cheese loaf? It's a slice of ham with cheese freckles up in there.

You also remember these. I know you did it. You would hold it up and just. And just suck the cheese right out. You remember?

Oh, there was nothing greater in life than open up lunch. I'm like, oh, man. And you knew you hit a new tax bracket when you would cut this up into four, put it on a Ritz cracker with a pickle on top.

Well, I guess dad got a new job, didn't him? Tastes like Loudoun county, doesn't it? Look at me, I'm from Northern Virginia. Oscar Mayer, baby. And then I went to college.

And then my roommate introduced me to something else. He's like, derek, I can't believe you eat that junk. I said, show me something better out there, Mr. Michelin star restaurant. And he introduced me to y'. All.

Remember these?

Deli me for 29 cents. It's ridiculous. If you all knew how many places I went to to try to find this before I realized that Derek, you just gotta go to Walmart for some things. And unbelievable on the front of the no artificial flavors. Two sentences down.

Contains artificial flavoring.

I don't even know what's happening right now. This was the pinnacle of culinary excellent. It's not just me who thinks this way. I'm about to trigger some of you, so just know this is a safe place. We're gonna have prayer in just a minute, and we can deal with our trauma together.

But do you guys remember thinking that this was real fish? You guys remember this? You remember these? Some of you are having an internal crisis right now. Pastor, you better not say it.

You better not say it. And it said, made from minced fish. You know what that is? That's the hot dog of the sea, y'. All.

That's what it is. They just scoop it, grind it, put it in a little. I don't even know what's happening. It's disgusting. That's disgusting.

Something happens along the way when we're introduced to fresh seafood. Like, real fresh seafood. Like, somewhere where you can't go to Winchester to find fresh seafood. You gotta go, like, to the ocean. Something happens when we're introduced to homemade pasta.

Something happens when we're introduced to filet mignon and not a la White Castle hamburger from the frozen. Something happens when we're introduced to wagyu beef. Something happens when our exposure increases. Have you ever said this? You.

You went back to a childhood favorite restaurant and then you leave saying this? I don't know what happened to them. It's like they've gone downhill. Anybody? Maybe they didn't go downhill.

Maybe you've just climbed other mountains. Exposure creates expectations. Come on, write this down. The right exposure creates right expectations. What is true with our relationship with.

With. With Oscar Mayer is also true with our relationship with the Holy Spirit. If your only exposure to the person of the Holy Spirit is television movies or crazy Internet clips or emotional hype or a weird lady in a church, that's not the right experience. Many times people are rejecting the Holy Spirit. They think they're rejecting the Holy Spirit, when in fact they're rejecting the interpretation or the experience somebody else gave them.

I would say we're not rejecting the Holy Spirit. We're rejecting how he was packaged. But there's something about getting back to the roots of our creed. This series that says, what does the Bible say about biblical topics? We're not interested in how it was packaged along the way.

What does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit? And that's where we're going today. When it comes to our understanding of the Holy Spirit, I have found that people are usually in one of four camps. Either they are uninformed, meaning they simply don't know what they don't know because nobody ever taught them. No shame there.

There's even verses in the Bible where. Where. Where the disciples went up and asked somebody, do, did you receive the Holy Spirit? And they said, I didn't even know there was such a thing. He says, great, well, let's talk about it.

Some people are uninformed. Other people are misinformed. They're rejecting the interpretation or the impression or the packaging that somebody else showed them. And I just want to say from the very beginning, the Holy Spirit isn't weird. People are weird, but they were weird before they ever became a Christian.

Can we just say that, Oh, I don't do the Christian thing because Christians are weird. No, no, no. Those people were weird long before they met Christ. Right? And some people are uninformed.

They're misinformed. Other people are well informed, but not transformed because they know of him. They have not experienced him. They've heard that there's better deli meat out there. They've never tried it.

They've heard there's fresher fish from the sea. But if our exposure is limited to what we're familiar with or what we can articulate and understand, we'll never be engulfed by the sheer friendship and power and love and expression that comes from this gift called the Holy Spirit. Uninformed, misinformed, well informed, but not transformed. And then, number four, there are people that have been transformed by God. Write this down.

You will only approach a relationship to the level of your comfort. In other words, intimacy and intimidation cannot coexist in a relationship. That was so nice. I'll say it twice. Intimacy and intimidation cannot coexist in a relationship.

You will only approach a relationship in terms of intimacy. Intimacy means into me to see vulnerability, openness, trust. I trust you to the level that you would know me fully and still love me completely. That's intimacy. And so, with that in mind, here's the question on the floor today.

What if the thing standing between you and this gift called the Holy Spirit is not doubt, rather it's limited exposure? John Chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16 gives us the context of Jesus longest and most detailed teaching of the Holy Spirit. The context is important because it's going to help us understand who he is and what he does. We would call it the night of the Last Supper. This is the night before the crucifixion, Jesus and his disciples have gathered in an upper room and they are celebrating a Passover dinner together.

It's getting late into the evening. The day has been long. Jesus has been teaching. He's been walking and talking with the disciples. Candles are burning low.

Bread is still on the table. The disciples are asking Jesus questions. And Jesus is answering some of their questions very clearly. Others. It leaves room for interpretation that he will clarify later on.

Judas has a little encounter with Jesus. He then stands. He leaves. The door shuts. Everyone is a bit confused.

They go back to eating. But something has shifted in the atmosphere. Jesus is now talking about, I'm leaving. Jesus, where are you going? It's better for you that I go.

For when I go, I will send you a gift. Jesus, this doesn't make any sense. Like, look at everything we've been through. The conversation is shifting now. Peter.

Peter wants to publicly affirm his devotion to Jesus. And then Jesus responds, Peter, even before the rooster crows, tonight you're going to deny me three times. We've got Judas standing up and leaving. We got people asking questions. Thomas is arguing with Jesus.

Philip is saying something to Jesus that Jesus has to correct. Peter's getting thrown under the table. Jesus is talking about leaving. It's a heavy dinner conversation is what I'm saying. It's dinner at your house during election year.

That's what it is, right? There's tension all around the room. And the disciples know something is wrong. They don't know how wrong. Something in them is shifting.

They don't know how to articulate what just changed. Jesus is aware what they are ignorant of. Watch this. They don't know that in a matter of hours Jesus will be arrested, tried, crucified, and buried in a tomb. They don't know.

Jesus knows. And yet, in love for them and in love for you, he sets his own interest aside and he begins to comfort them.

What a person chooses to talk about when they're under significant pressure says a lot about what they value and who they are. Philippians says for the love of humanity, he put his own interest aside and cared for us, not just in the form of going to the cross, but in his daily living and activity. Jesus knows he's moments away from the most horrific crucifixion history has ever seen. And he spends time talking to them about their future. By the way, never allow your season of stress to limit a God who loves you and wants to talk to you about your future.

God is not limited, nor is he intimidated by the very things that intimidate us in moments of hardship and confusion in which clarity is a must and your emotions are bipolar. And I don't. I'm up, I'm down, I'm all around. Da da, da. God wants to talk about your future.

And in that context, he begins to talk about comfort and a gift of empowerment that he wants to give in them. Matter of fact, when he finishes up the conversation, he tells us why he had the conversation. John, chapter 16. He says, I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.

What's heavy on Christ's heart when life is about to crush him, that when life crushes you, you will fall apart. So he wants to give you empowerment so that you can stay the course later on. Right before they stand, pray and leave for the Garden of Gethsemane, he once again says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. The obvious question is, what things is he talking about? What is Jesus so concerned that they know before he leaves to the cross?

And that is the Holy spirit. John chapter 14:16. It says this Jesus is talking about, it's better for you that I go away. And then he says, and I will ask the Father God and he will give you another advocate. Everybody say advocate.

It's one of the top words the Bible uses to describe the Holy Spirit. So we'll come back to it and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. I will not leave you as orphans. That's good news all by itself. I want to tell somebody, you are not in a long distance relationship with, with Christ.

You are in a long term relationship with Christ in which he is closer than a friend, closer than a brother. He lives in you. Later on, Jesus says, it is good that I am going away. Unless I go. Here's that word again.

The advocate will not come to you. Here's what Jesus is telling us as I leave. I'm sending you a gift. Check the mail. Be on the lookout for it.

Don't get distracted. Be anticipating its arrival. Everything Jesus had been to the disciples. He was there physically present with them, guided them, taught them, comforted them, protected them, provided for them. He says that.

He says that that form of ministry is going to continue through the very real, very presence of the Holy Spirit, who now lives in you. Because God lowered himself and became made in flesh Jesus. Jesus is in one place at one time physically, right? We would get that, but because he ascended, we talked about that last week, to the right hand of God. And now he is enthroned above.

He, in his physical stead, sent the Holy Spirit, who can be with every believer around the entire world throughout all of time, living on the inside of them. That's why the Bible says your body is a temple of God. It is the resting place for the Spirit of God. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on certain individuals at certain times to do certain things. In other words, God had the Holy Spirit come upon people for, for a specific purpose, a flash of empowerment.

Now the Holy Spirit rests inside of us not as a flash of empowerment, but as a faithful reminder that God is with us. It is good for you that I go away. Once I go away, the advocate will not come. So when the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit, it constantly reaches for an image, a metaphor to help us in our thinking about the person of the Holy Spirit. So just so we're clear, the Holy Spirit is not a force.

It's not an energy field. It's not the Christian version of Star wars, you know?

And yet, and yet, when the Bible wants to talk about the person of the Holy Spirit, it reaches for this particular image more than any other image in Scripture. And that is, are you ready for this?

Breath, Wind. Oxygen. Inhale, exhale.

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over the waters. God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. He formed and fashioned him. There's the function, there's the body, lifeless until breath entered him. So in the Old Testament, it was written in Hebrew.

The most primary word in referring to the Holy Spirit was ruach. You have to say it like there's something stuck in the back of your throat. Ruach. And it simply means a blast of breath or a refreshing, strong wind, hot summer day.

In the New Testament, the word is pneuma is where we get other words connected to breath, like pneumonia or a pneumatic drill, a blast of power, pneuma. Both words simply mean breath, wind, or exhale. So out of everything God could have chosen to describe the Holy Spirit, he chooses breath. Because life transformation and spiritual formation don't occur by trying harder and outperforming other people. It's learned by catching his breath.

When we, some of us, we are so exhausted in our soul in a place that more rest and a better balanced schedule won't fix. And so we use words like man, I just need to catch my breath. But there are some places in our soul where catching a restful breath isn't going to help. We've got to catch the breath of the Holy Spirit for The same spirit that hovered over the water wants to hover on the inside of you and begin to redeem and renew and fix and tether together and remove some things and add some things in your life. Beyond the skilled work of a doctor or the wisdom of a therapist, there's the Holy Spirit who wants to live on the inside of you and heal you, redeem you, secure you, build you up, and strengthen your life from the inside.

It's the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever seen a person have a panic attack? A while back, I was a camp counselor for elementary kids and never done it again. But in that season I did. In that season I did.

And there was a kid, bless his heart, he would just. I thought it was home sick, you know, like, he was just anxious from being away from home. And then I found out later that he struggles with anxiety really bad, and panic attacks. I'll never forget one night he's just in his bed and he just screaming. He's hyperventilating.

I get up and I was like, buddy, man, you're having a panic. Come here, dude. And I just, like, held on to him. Hey, focus on my breathing. Inhale.

Let's count to three. Exhale. Hell, Count to three. We got him calmed down, called his mom. Everything was okay.

The Holy Spirit wants to come alongside of us.

I know, I know, I know.

Just be with me for a minute. Let's breathe in his presence.

Let's exhale our frustration.

You know another name for God? Is he Yahweh? They call him Yahweh because it's the closest word they could form. That sounds like the actual practice of breathing. Yahweh.

Even in God's nickname, there is this presence of peace. Just breathe with me. Just breathe with me. Come and learn the unforced rhythms of grace. God said, inhale his presence.

Exhale our fear. Everything's gonna be all right. One of the greatest dangers of modern Christianity, with the rise of technology and AI and information overload, one of the greatest dangers we'll face in our Christianity is coming to a place where we only trust what we can completely explain.

In other words, there's no room for mystery in our truth. That's one of the kickbacks I hear from non Christians. Well, Pastor, I can't believe that because I can't explain it or I don't always understand that, but what other realm of life do we operate under that principle, right? You can't see grief. You can just see the effects of grief.

It's not like grief is floating in the atmosphere, and you can just. Whoo. Sidestep it. You can't see peace. You just see the effects of peace.

You can't see trauma and turmoil. You can only see the effects of it. Likewise, the Bible says you can't see the wind.

Who knows where the wind begins and where the wind ends? The Bible says nobody. You can't see the wind. You can just see the effects of the wind. Trees bending and leaves shaking and balls rolling.

We see the effects of the wind. We don't see the wind. Likewise, the Bible says, so it is of the Holy Spirit. You cannot physically see him, but you can see the effects of him. Bitter hearts begin to soften a person whose life ought to be falling apart.

And yet there's a peace that surpasses the all their understanding setbacks and heartbreak and relational fractures. And yet he redeems, renews and restores. He guides, he provides our life. There is a peace that surpasses all their understanding and a joy that is unspeakable and full of the glory of God. What is inside of them that is not in other people.

As somebody who has officiated hundreds and hundreds of funerals throughout my tenure as pastor here, there is a difference between. Between those who lay loved ones to rest, who know God personally, and those who just manage life all on their own. There's a difference in the atmosphere. There's a difference in the environment. There's a different piece.

Someone can hold peace and grief all at the same time. What is happening in that moment? The Holy Spirit holds us. Just breathe with me. Just breathe with me.

When the Bible talks about the character of the Holy Spirit, it does so because in describing the character, it also describes the function. So if that is what the Holy Spirit is, the third person in the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. What is the function function then of this third person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? In other words, why do you want to accept this gift? What's the big deal that Jesus wanted to spend his last teaching moments with his disciples talking about it?

Let's look at it. What does the Holy Spirit do? Number one, write it down. He is your guide. He's your guide.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it. Now, let me just demystify this voice of the Holy Spirit, right, so we're not weirded out by it. I would argue that many of you have already been listening to the voice of The Holy Spirit. You just call it intuition.

You call it intuition when really it's God getting your attention. Let me give you some scenarios. Have you ever been. Been about to send a text and something inside you said, I want to do that? Yeah, you might want to rethink that one.

Have you ever walked into a worship service really anxious about something, but somehow in a matter of 60 minutes, you left more encouraged and empowered and more at peace, more trust in God. What is that? That's the Holy Spirit taking one message, dividing it up amongst thousands of people, and hitting your heart in a very specific, specific way in a way that only he can. Have you ever felt conviction to make something right with someone without them confronting it? You're like, man, something's off.

I need to go make that right. What's going on there? Ask the power of the Holy Spirit guiding you into reconciliation. Have you ever experienced grief and sorrow beyond words and yet felt more held by God than words could articulate? It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

He guides us. Number two. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is your teacher. John 14. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.

So have you ever read a verse a hundred times or heard a verse a million times, seen on Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, TikTok and all the likes. And yet, somehow, in a different season, in a different setting, that verse came alive. Like, whoa, I never saw that before. Or, whoa, this is what it does to me. Or, wow, this is the promise behind it.

That's the Holy Spirit revealing another facet of this prism called God's Word. He makes truth come alive on the inside of you. Number three. The Bible says the Holy Spirit, he is the one who draws you, draws you closer to God, draws you towards spiritual maturity, draws you out of sin and into his fullness, draws you out of addiction and into freedom, draws you out of despair and into joy. He's the one who draws you.

This is important because some of us have thought that God was absent from different seasons of our life, but the very conviction we felt, the very hope that we were hungry for, is drawing us closer to God as He redeems all things. Number four, the Bible says he's your guide, your teacher. He draws you and then he is your helper. He's your helper. Jesus said, I will ask the Father and He will send you another advocate.

The word advocate was an ancient word that meant parokletos para alongside of Kaleitos, the called one. And so the Called one would walk beside someone who needed somebody to stand with them when they were alone or overwhelmed. Parakletos. It was this. Have you ever needed an attorney?

Just wink at me. Just wink at me. Have you ever needed a counselor? Have you ever needed a defender? You felt like somebody or something was bullying you, and you just needed a big brother, a dad to come stand on the long.

Now, what did you say? It's the Parakletos, the advocate. The one who stands next to you to help you, defend you, provide for you, remind you of God's promises. The one who gives you peace, the one who gives you strength. The one who gives you clarity.

The one who sometimes corrects us on the inside because we need correcting. Some sometimes. God's correction, by the way, is not condemnation, it's conviction. He's trying to save our life. So sometimes when the Holy Spirit guides us out from wrong, it's not because he's mad at us.

He's trying to get us back in the borders of the safety zone out of love for us. God is our guide. He is our teacher. He draws us. He is our helper.

And then he is your friend. Second Corinthians ends like this, talking about the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever been carrying something really heavy? Maybe you're helping a friend move. Maybe you're walking through the forest with a log.

I don't know. But somewhere along the way, somebody comes up beside you and they grab the other side of that thing. And what. What was costing you an exorbitant amount of energy. Exuberant amount of energy.

It just became easier because a friend behind you took a load off you. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus can be on the other side of suffering, about to suffer his most painful moment in human history. But have you on his mind. I'm gonna send you the guy who's gonna carry the other side of the log of life.

But you gotta let him do it. So many times we then try to, hey, I sense the Holy Spirit is trying to do something in my life, but because I can't explain it all away, or because I don't want to be associated with certain people who package the Holy Spirit in a way I'm not comfortable with, I'll just throw everything out. No. What if the right expectations and the right gift is on the other side of having a right encounter? So can I be honest with you?

It's just me and you. Just me and you. I'll be honest. I grew up in a church involved environment that talked about the Holy Spirit a lot and the way they did it, it was very emotionally charged. And people would just get up, kind of run around and, you know, like, there's a lot going on.

A lot going on. And. And I remember. I remember. I remember reading the Bible for myself and hearing.

Hearing of the Holy Spirit taught in just a normal conversational way, like hopefully I'm doing now and kind of demystified and kind of straightened some things out in my theology about who he is and what he wants to do in my life. And I come to the conclusion after praying a prayer like this, God, if the Holy Spirit is real and if he really is a good gift from you, then I want it. I just don't want to be weird with it, Right? So it's like inviting a man with a seatbelt, right? Let's drop drive.

I'm gonna be. I don't want to be. Never mind. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for dropping that one. But.

And so in a moment of just sheer surrender, God, I trust you. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my death. I trust you with my eternity. And if you say this is a good gift for me to have, why would I reject something that you say is good for me?

So here's our pray. Ready for this? Holy Spirit, I don't know you yet, but I want to.

And I'm just encouraging some of you to pray that prayer. God, if this is a good gift for me, then I'm open to it and I want to receive it. Would you align our heartbeats together as you hold me? And I can hear the breathing of heaven again? Maybe it's a little more practical for some of you.

Maybe it's God. I am overwhelmed in this season. And so the most powerful prayer you can pray is some of the most simplest prayers you can pray. So you would pray something like this? Holy Spirit, I need wisdom.

God, I'm in a season of loss and turmoil. Holy Spirit, would you comfort me, God, before I respond to this meeting decision, before I respond to this text message, before I return this phone call, before I have this encounter or this interaction? Holy Spirit, would you teach me? Would you call me? Would you guide me?

Holy Spirit, I don't fully understand you yet, but I want to.

God did not send the Holy Spirit to intimidate you or to scare you, but to empower you with his very presence.

And so now we come to the Apostles Creed. A short line. It says it all. I believe the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit.

Notice it doesn't say, I believe the Holy Spirit exists. Because that's not what we're after. We're not after head knowledge. We're after experiential realities. We can experience this truth.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. In means trust. It means relationship. It means participation. It means dependence.

It means openness. It means into me to see intimacy. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Lord, we're so grateful for this truth that gets past shallow thoughts or uninformed minds. And it challenges yet again what we believe and why we believe it, what we've been rejecting and if we need to receive it.

Thank you for the exposure, not of. Not just of Scripture, but of transformation, the evidence that exists in our very life of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, who's been helping us and leading us and guiding us and comforting us well beyond the scope of our awareness. Thank you for moments in time when we are very aware of your presence and the breath of heaven that breathes new life and forms a new creation. Creation on the inside of us. Lord.

For anybody who is intimidated or still unsure whether or not this gift exists for them, I pray in a way that would only make sense to them that you would begin to fill them with an awareness of your peace, your joy, your confidence from the inside. We pray these things with the help of the Holy Spirit. In your Son's name, Jesus. Amen. God bless.

We'll see you next week.