The Friend No One Wants You To Know

The Holy Spirit is the cool friend who says, “Come sit at the table with the cool kids.  I accept you, and being associated with me gives you power to belong.” But the world system does not want you to know because he changes everything.

Historically, Jesus dies, is resurrected, and then pours out the Holy Spirit on his followers not  much later.  Historians have documented that those followers, filled with the Holy Spirit, then took the message of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the Roman Empire, and it began to transform culture.  Then, about the third century, controversies arose in the worldwide church about Jesus: Was he really God? Was he really man?  The church had to focus on Christology, a theological term that means the study of Christ, and Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, was set aside.

The result: only .036% of Americans who identify as Christians could correctly identify the Holy Spirit as a person, according to a 2021 Arizona Christian University survey. This perspective is the fruit of over 1,700 years of minimal theology on the Holy Spirit.  

The world system does not want you to know about the Holy Spirit because of his life changing influence.  The Holy Spirit is a friend —  no one wants you to know.

In Romans 8:9-12 it says:  “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” 

The Apostle Paul, who wrote this to the church in Rome, is saying: If the Holy Spirit’s power is in you, then you are not only accepted but you have power to live a new life.  He says in verse 9, you need the Spirit to belong to God.  He then writes in verse 11 that the Holy Spirit is the same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead.   The Holy Spirit is powerful.  Power to live like Jesus.  Imagine power in a multitude of people across the globe filled with the Holy Spirit, mature and walking in the power and influence of Jesus. No wonder the world system doesn’t want you to know about the Holy Spirit.  He changes everything.

Therefore, we need to press into our friendship with the Holy Spirit and not be distracted by other messages.  We do that by talking about the Holy Spirit at Heartland Vineyard Church — a lot.  In our neighborhood groups we talk about what the Holy Spirit has been doing in the past week.  We look at scripture during the week, and think through how can the Holy Spirit work this into our life.  We pray for each other in the Neighborhood Groups to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  We encourage our families and friends to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Unlike the world, the Holy Spirit is a friend we want you to play with!