The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Goodmorning, Holy Spirit (EP 13)

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

In this episode, Bryce talks about the Holy Spirit and how He operates.

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce, and today I'm so excited for this episode. As always, got to be excited for the episodes. But today we're talking about the Holy Spirit. We titled this episode, Good Morning, Holy Spirit. This title is from a book I've read about the Holy Spirit by Benny Hen. Now, I've read a ton of articles and books on the Holy Spirit because it's such an iffy subject. We'll go in that in a minute. I don't know why it's an iffy subject, but people perceive it as an iffy subject. but out of all the books and articles I've read on the Holy Spirit, Good Morning, Holy Spirit by Benihann has been the most beneficial and one of the most theologically sound books I've ever read on the Holy Spirit.

And so we're going to talk about the purpose and the power of the third person of the Trinity, which is the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is God's Spirit and the third person of the Trinity. And so a lot of times the reason that I said that the Holy Spirit as a subject is iffy is because people get scared to talk about the Holy Spirit. It's almost like the God, the Father and God the Son, or like greater than the Holy Spirit. That's how people make it seem.

But in reality, they're equal. We just get scared to talk about the Holy Spirit sometimes. It's like, who is he? What does he do? How long has he been around? Those types of questions. And we're going to talk about that. In Genesis 1-26, this is the creation story.

It says, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Our is an inclusive word, meaning there's got to be multiple people. So this is in reference to the Trinity, the father, son, holy spirit. So when God says, let's make man in our image, he's saying, we're going to make man

in the image of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So Holy Spirit's been around since before time ever existed because he's God. And so we know that the Holy Spirit has deity because he's been around since before the beginning of time. And we know that the Holy Spirit

is mentioned as the helper. We see him mentioned as the helper in the New Testament. In John 14, 15 through 17, it says, this is Jesus talking. He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him or knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. So the promise, the Holy Spirit, Jesus is like,

I ascend into heaven, I'm not going to leave you guys hanging. I'm going to give you guys my spirit and my spirit will be with you and he'll guide you in truth. And he's going to be the helper. And this is key because Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. But we keep his commandments with the help of the Holy Spirit. Right. The Holy Spirit is our strength inside of us that allows us to love Jesus and love him well. And so John 16, after John 14, calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and how God is in all truth.

and it mentions that in that passage in John 14. And so in order for us to understand the truth, which is Jesus and the Word of God, we have to have the helper because he is the Spirit of Truth that guides us in our truth. You see what I'm saying? Like the Spirit of God is going to have different names, but he's mainly the helper because he's here to aid us.

God isn't leaving us hanging. He's given us a helper. And we mentioned it earlier. People try to belittle the Holy Spirit because they get too scared to talk about him. But there's nothing scary about the Holy Spirit. He's concerned about our lives. He wants to be involved.

And so how did the Holy Spirit come? How did he enter in? So in the Old Testament, one guy would have the Holy Spirit. So God would choose one person, and they would have the Holy Spirit, and that person would hear God's voice, and an entire nation would listen to just this one person. But because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he gives all believers access to the Holy Spirit. So now it's not just one person. All people can have the Holy Spirit inside of them if they receive the free gift of salvation.

The Holy Spirit is our seal of salvation. So the Holy Spirit comes in us and seals us with salvation. That's how you know if you know if you know that you're going to heaven because you have the seal of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Now, the Holy Spirit came like a rushing wind. We see in Joel too this prophecy of the Holy Spirit. It says, it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your old men shall dream dreams. And your young men shall see visions, even on the male and female servants. In those days, I will pour out my spirit. Now, this is in reference to the end times, and the end times is the time period in which we wait for Jesus to return a second time. So the apostles were in the end times. We see that the apostles have the spirit poured out on them, and that is a continuous act.

It doesn't just stop at Pentecost. So Jesus is sin, he gives us the spirit, and we see that the Holy Spirit had a mighty entrance. The Holy Spirit had a mighty entrance. He came in with the Son. sound of thunderous wind and tongues of fire. Acts 2, 1 through 4 says when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they're sitting. So there's 120 people gathered in the

upper room. The Holy Spirit comes and it sounds like a thunderous rushing wind and fills the room and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and arrested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And Isaiah 28 actually foretells this. In Isaiah 28, it says with stammering lips and another tongue, he will speak. So we see the Holy Spirit comes with a mighty entrance, a thunderous wind sound, and tongues of fire are placed on people. Now this is interesting. Me and my roommate were just talking about this a while ago, but how Pentecost is a restoration and a redeeming moment of what happened at the Tower of Babel. So at the Tower of Babel, it was tongues of

fire came down on the people, but to separate them because they were trying to dishonor God. But now God has come and rested in this place with a mighty thunderous one and has given them tongues of fire and reunited them. It's a redeeming moment. Cool little moment right there. And we notice that the upper room was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives tremendous authority to those who have received him. We're going to read about it later about Stephen. When you look at martyrs, even modern day martyrs, how are they willing to endure till the end? Right. It would be selfish of them to try to back out of Christianity in the end when persecution strikes. So what is it? When persecution strikes and trial strikes that people are able to endure till the end, even unto death, how is that even possible?

It's because the Holy Spirit gives tremendous authority. What happened at Pentecost was not just a yesterday experience. The spirit coming and dwelling in believers was not just a foot stamp in history, like I said earlier, but it's for now. and we can all be filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 4, 7 through 8 says, and when they had set them in the midst, they inquired by what power or by what name did you do this? The Sanhedron are questioning Peter. And Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them,

rulers of people and elders. And so when we actually look at the story of Peter, it's really interesting here because just a few weeks prior, Peter was denying Jesus three times. And then if you notice, there's something weird that happens in the story because after he denies Jesus three times, when Jesus resurrects and he appears to people,

he actually appears to Peter. Jesus said Peter go on a beach and they have some breakfast together. And on this beach, Jesus tells Peter, hey, this is how you're going to die for me. He tells him exactly how he's going to die. I would hate to know exactly how I was going to die because I would anticipate it. I would be worried.

But the reason that Jesus tells him how he's going to die is because he's telling him that he's going to endure till the end. Peter was so worried if he was going to endure to the end. like, no, Jesus, I'll be with you to the end. Then he denies Jesus three times, so he's probably beaten himself up. And Jesus tells him how he's going to die to show him that he's going to endure to the end. But what is the power by which he endures till the end? The Holy Spirit.

So when Peter says in Acts 4, when it says he's filled with the Holy Spirit, that's his juice. That's his power that's getting him through that. The Holy Spirit is close and near to us. His closeness to us is unimaginable. It's closer than the breath in our lungs. He's closer than our skin. He's closer than the blood flowing in our body. John 20 says,

Jesus said to them, Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And he's sending out all the disciples. And it says, and when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness for many, it is withheld. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them, and then received the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is upon them.

and he's closer than their skin. And if we look at Exodus 33 and Acts 6, we can see the byproduct and the manifestation of the Spirit of God. A lot of you guys might be like this. There's something special. You might not even have to tell someone about Jesus because they know something's different about you. In Exodus 33, Moses is going,

God, show me your face. And he's like, bro, you would die if I showed you my face. But I'll show you my back. But I'll still have to cover your face with my hand while I show you my back. shows him his back, he sees the glory of God. And when he came off the mountain, the glory had changed his face so much that it hurt people to look at him. They had to put a bag over his head. And in Acts 6, the people that were grilling, Stephen the Sanhedred said that his face was like an angel.

We want the Holy Spirit's presence to be dripping off of us. It's that oil that's dripping off of us. And when you throw oil onto a fire, it makes it erupt in more flames. So the power of the Holy Spirit, when it comes upon us can convict people without us even actually saying a single word about Jesus. And it can actually make people aware of, okay, there's something different about this guy. I don't know what he believes or who he is, but I don't feel like doing drugs or drinking around him. Or I don't feel like making sexual jokes around this guy because there's just something different about him. And I feel like I would be dishonoring him. I don't know what it is.

There's just something different. The Holy Spirit, when he's dripping off you, it's contagious. It's going to affect people whether you talk about Jesus or not. The Holy Spirit also never stops working. And Acts 10, Peter has a dream, and the Lord visits him in a dream. And he says, behold, there's three people searching you out. Go visit them and don't doubt this. What does Peter do?

He gets up and goes visits them. The Lord speaks to him in a dream. And we can see this act of today. We know about the issue going on in Gaza, the issue with Palestine and Israel. Over 200 Muslims had the same dream about the man in white. How is it that we say the Holy Spirit isn't at work today, yet 200 plus Muslims have the same exact dream about Jesus and they get born again. The Holy Spirit is at work today through dreams, visions, signs and wonders.

It would be foolish for us to look at the word and say, oh, that stuff just happened then, but it won't happen now. The reason that stuff is in the Bible is because it has to be able to have applied to both the people in that time period and to us today. So when Jesus says, you will do greater things than I did with the help or the Holy Spirit, then that's not just to the people he's talking to. He's talking to you and me. So I'm going to believe that, grab to that truth and run with it because it's the truth that sets us free and people free. And when we hold to that truth, we can use that to soften the hearts of other people.

Can the spirit prophesy today? This is huge. The Holy Spirit is deeply concerned about your life and your footsteps and the path you're on and wants to be involved. And Acts 11, we see now in these days prophets come down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Agabus stood up, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers. This is powerful. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, through this man, prophesies that something's going to happen.

Because the Holy Spirit is close to us. He's upon us. He's in us and he's concerned about your life. And so if you want to know what steps to take, what things to do, should I do this decision or do this? Should I go over here? Should I turn left or right? Ask the Holy Spirit and let him guide you because he's concerned about you. I'm not kidding. Ask the Holy Spirit whether you should turn left or right at a stop sign.

Because if you turn left and he told you to turn right, there could be danger the way you just turned. Holy Spirit is so concerned about you. He has his best interest for you. Why wouldn't we listen to him? And we need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. We can't do this on your own.

How is doing things on your own worked out for you? It hasn't worked out. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Spirit. The Spirit was necessary for Jesus Christ. Christ was born of the Spirit, anointed with the Spirit. He casted devils out in the Spirit. He performed miracles by the Spirit. Everything he did was by the Spirit. And Hebrews 914 says, how much more would the blood of Jesus, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It was by the power of the

spirit that Christ surrendered his life to the Roman soldiers. that Christ has surrendered his life on the cross. So if the same spirit was essential for the earthly work of Jesus Christ, then that same spirit is essential for our life's day and day. We need Jesus. Our experience of salvation is based on Christ, the cross, and our confession, but how do we receive regeneration? How are we born again?

How is our spirit born again? It's through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, there's two issues with the Holy Spirit I want to talk about. It's going to be grieving the Holy Spirit. and quenching the Holy Spirit. Now, grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit are two different things. You have quenching when 1st Thessalonians 519 says, do not quench the Spirit.

And then Ephesians 430 says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Now, we have to look at the difference between these two. Quenching, the Bible uses this term, quenching also in Mark 944, and a term as to putting out the fire of something. To quench something would be putting out.

a fire. And Paul's letter in First Thessalonians was in the context of people living a holy life. So Paul warning them not to quench the spirit is saying, if you are not walking by the spirit, you're quenching the spirit. Quenching the spirit would be to put out the fire of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life for someone else's life. So not only can you quench the spirit of what he's doing of a work in your life, but you can quench the Holy Spirit's work of what he's doing in someone else's life. And then grieving the Spirit. To grieve the Spirit would be to make the Holy spirit sad or to do something opposite of what God's spirit desires. And so the context of that passage in Ephesians 4 is talking about anger. So we see the relation of grieving the spirit with sin.

When we sin, when we go outside of God's desires, it grieves the spirit. Both of these things, quenching and grieving the spirit take place as a result of a self-focused lifestyle that places ourselves above God. And both of these things actually include sinful practices. And this would be the way of a person that would not live for Jesus, but we can still fall into temptation. It's not guaranteed. It's that if we sin, if we sin, we can be grieving the Holy Spirit. The final thing we want to talk about about the Holy Spirit is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit cloaks you in his bower. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes in you for you. And that seal is for the seal of your salvation.

But the Holy Spirit can come upon you for other people, signs, miracles, and wonders. And I want a fresh filling every day. My prayer every morning before my feet hit the ground is God fill me, baptize me in your spirit. Let me walk in boldness. Let me walk in boldness. And we see that. Matthew 311, John the Baptist says, I baptize you with water, but he who is coming after

me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. We need this fire in our life. We need the baptism of the Spirit in our life. It makes life easier when we have the baptism of the Holy Spirit in our life. Acts 1 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judean to the ends of the earth. The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon us, and we will be His witnesses.

Acts 431, and when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. So we know when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, boldness comes with it. So when we look at the lives of Stephen and Peter, the reason that they had boldness was because of that baptism of the Holy Spirit. And if you look at the life of Jesus, Jesus didn't do any ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon him. It wasn't until he was baptized.

He was baptized when he goes under the water. When he comes up, it says the Holy Spirit rested upon him like a dove. The Holy Spirit comes upon him. Then his ministry starts. We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We need it. It just, why wouldn't we want to be cloaked in God's power? Why wouldn't we want to use signs, miracles, and wonders to soften people's heart?

Why wouldn't we want to walk in that? And it's interesting. There's another topic among this, but we look today, and I'm going to acknowledge something here. There can be theatrics in anything. There can be theatrics in church. There can be theatrics in Christianity. But we get a little iffy when people fall to the ground. when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

We see people fall into the ground and have a crazy reaction and convulsing and things like that. And you're just like, what the heck is going on? But there's, when we look at Leviticus 9, there's a story where Moses and Aaron are building an altar before the Lord and the entire nation of Israel is there. The entire nation of Israel is with Moses and Aaron. The second they lay the last stone, the last brick of this altar. The fire of God hits it. The Holy Spirit hits the altar and boom, the whole nation of Israel falls on their face. When we look at Exodus 33 with Moses, we see that he's like, God, show me your face.

And he's like, bro, if I did that, you would die. And we look in the upper room when the Holy Spirit filled the room. They were all on the ground. And so why do we think it's weird when people fall to the ground? Why is it weird or illogical to say that people can have a physical reaction to the glory of God? It's not illogical. I kind of laugh when people were like, if I was in the same room with Jesus, I'd run up to him. I'd just give him a big old hug

because he's just so awesome and loving. He is, but he's also holy. You'd probably fall on your face and weep and worship him before you'd be able to give him a hug. So why do we think it's illogical that people fall on the ground and have their encounters? And I personally want to be the last person to accuse something to not be an act of God.

I just want to be the last person to accuse something of not being an act of God. I want to believe the best in someone. And if we have the Holy Spirit inside of us and people do, then we should believe the best of the Holy Spirit in them. And the last thing I want to talk about, I don't have it written in my notes, is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We forget about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And a lot of people are confused. A lot of people are worried. Oh my gosh, did I commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the one unforgivable sin. So people are worried, like, did I, did I commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? I can provide you comfort right now. If you're worried that you committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, you didn't. Because you wouldn't be worried that you blaspheme the Holy Spirit if you actually did. If you were concerned that you committed the unforgivable sin, you didn't. Let me provide some comfort for you there. Now, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit would be the Holy Spirit is working on your life, on your heart, all your life, and you ignore it till you die. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit would to be ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit on your heart for your entire life. So when you die, you never receive the Holy Spirit. He's working,

he's nudging at your heart, he's doing that. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But if you're afraid that you've committed it, you haven't. And so to end this podcast, I want to pray for the Holy Spirit to sharpen in your lives, to guide you in your words, guide you when you read the Bible. And I want to pray for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit upon your life. That he will give you signs, miracles, and wonders, and boldness in your life. To equip you guys, the helper is equipping the saints today. Let the Holy Spirit equip you guys.

Jesus, I thank you for the people across the screen. Holy Spirit, I pray right now to anyone. who's watching or listening to this, we pray for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. May your presence come upon you. May your presence come upon everyone watching or listening to this. May the Holy Spirit baptized with fire anyone watching or listening to this. God, we just pray for a sharpening of the Holy Spirit's voice in their lives. God, we pray for the Holy Spirit to teach people your word.

God, will you just teach people your word through the power of your Holy Spirit? God, we love you. We thank you for an increase of the gifts of the Spirit in our life. Holy Spirit, fresh baptism in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for listening to this podcast. If you enjoyed it, subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Instagram, Bryce Crawford podcast. We're on Spotify, Apple Music, or Apple.

Guys, we love you guys. Thank you so much for tuning into our ministry. I don't know when this podcast is coming out, but I think by the time it comes out, we will either be at Marty Graw or done with Marty Graw. We are street evangelizing Marty Graw. Guys, if you want to see Street Evangelism videos in everyday Christian vlogs go to our main channel bryce crawford guys love you guys and comment down below comment down below if you got encountered by the holy spirit while listening this if the holy spirit was

speaking to you comment down below and let us know how the holy spirit has been encountering you love you guys we'll see you guys next time