Relationship with the Holy Spirit. I believe the greatest relationship that you can have on earth
after knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, is relationship with the Holy Spirit.
In this course, you're going to learn on how to have that relationship, on how to fellowship, on
the conviction of the Holy Spirit and on how he wants to have a relationship with you, on the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. I believe that this course is going to bring a huge change in your walk with
Christ. Lesson one: RELATIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Before we talk about having a relationship with the
Holy Spirit, we need to learn about Holy Spirit's relationship with us. "The next day John saw Jesus
coming toward him and said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John chapter 1
verse 29. And if we go a few verses down it says the following, "and John bore witness saying, "I saw
the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained on him I did not know him but he who
sent me to baptize with water said, "upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him
this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit", John 1: 32-33. We see that the
Lamb of God was Jesus Christ and the Dove which Is a symbol of the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus.
The lamb comes before the dove. The dove descends on the lamb. The fire comes on the sacrifice.
There can be no Pentecost without the cross. The foundation of the Holy Spirit's relationship to you is
the cross of Jesus Christ. Please make no mistake, your hunger, your holiness or your humility is
not the foundation for why the Holy Spirit wants to have a relationship with you. That foundation
is Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit has a desire toward you because of what Jesus did on the cross.
In John 7:39, it says, " but this He spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing
in him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified "
Spirit wasn't given because... why? was it because they didn't fast? was it because they didn't pray?
was it because the church wasn't united? was it because there was no
purity and holiness? no, because Jesus wasn't glorified. For me, this is the foundational scripture,
for my relationship with the Holy Spirit is to know that Holy Spirit wants to have relationship
with me because Jesus is glorified in my life, the cross of Jesus is magnified, the grace of God is
emphasized. As long as you emphasize works, as long as you focus on your hunger, as long as you focus
on your desire, your humility, or your desperation for God, you are building on a faulty foundation.
Your relationship with the Holy Spirit
because his relationship with you is Jesus. The foundation of the relationship of the Holy Spirit
with you is the cross of Jesus. I'm not talking about your relationship with him
I'm talking about his relationship with you. The foundation of his relationship with you
is the cross of Jesus. Spirit was not given because Christ wasn't glorified. You will not benefit and
know the Holy Spirit closely as long as you're building that relationship and your good works
and your prayer life and your bible reading and your hunger, humility, and honor, it's built
on the cross of Jesus Christ.. why you may say, "why does Holy Spirit wait for us to honor Jesus and
give him a proper place before he relates with us and before he builds a relationship with us?"
You must understand unlike demons who live in dirty dead defiled places, the Holy Spirit lives
in holy places. And only Jesus, his blood turns your heart into a prime real estate for the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit cannot dwell in tombs, he dwells in temples. The sin will make you into a tomb
but the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus turns your heart into a temple,
into a house for the Holy Spirit. See when you got saved, not only your name is written in the Book
of Life, not only God gives you a new heart and a new spirit, not only God forgives your past sins
not only do you have a place in heaven but at the moment of your salvation Holy Spirit has gotten
a house, he has gotten a dwelling place and that address for his dwelling place is you... who did that?
Jesus... who did that? his sacrifice, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. If you don't
honor Jesus's work on the cross, Holy Spirit has nothing to do with you or relationship with you.
He will still be with you to bring you to Christ but he will not have a relationship with you
As long as Christ is second to your good works, your good striving, and your efforts.
This changed my relationship with the Holy Spirit when I understood from the scriptures
that Holy Spirit's relationship with me is Jesus. My relationship with him is because of that hunger,
that desire because of how much he wants to be with me but his relationship to me is Jesus Christ.
All four gospels record an account of the Holy Spirit descending as the dove upon Jesus Christ.
You probably have heard and seen that the Holy Spirit symbol for the Holy Spirit is the dove
the same way as the cross is the symbol of Christianity. The dove is the symbol of the
Holy Spirit. Leonard Ravenhill said the following he said, "there are nine main feathers on the left
and on the right, wings of the dove. There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit and there are also
nine fruit of the Holy Spirit. There're also five main tales on the dove which represent fivefold
ministry given to the church. The tail feathers of the dove are like the rudder of the ship they
assist in balance and direction in flight just as the five-fold ministry gives in the church bring
balance to the body of Jesus Christ." So it's one of the symbols of why the Holy Spirit is represented
as a dove. The first mention of the dove in the Bible is in Noah's story. Noah's story is
very illustrative and it's a huge symbol of Christian life for us. For example,
as Noah was sheltered from the wrath of God by going to an ark, you and I are protected from
the wrath of God by going into Christ. That ark of Noah is what Jesus is to us. Noah was a good person
yet his goodness wasn't enough to save him from the wrath of God.
The Bible says Noah was righteous even before God meaning he was better than other people
but his righteousness wasn't enough to protect him from the wrath of God, he still needed to go
into the ark. The same way with us all of our goodness, all of our efforts, it's not good enough
to appease a Holy God. God gave us an ark, this ark has a name, his name is Jesus. When you enter
it, you're protected from the wrath of God. The second similarity between the ark and Jesus
is, the ark had only one door that's what Jesus is. Remember how he said I am the door.
Jesus is not "a door", he is "the door" to the Father. Yes there are many ways to God
but there is only one way to have it. There're many ways you can get to God, some people go to God
because of problems, some people go to God because of success but if you want to have a relationship
with God, if you want to go to heaven, there is only one door and that door is Jesus Christ.
Ark not only it saved Noah from the wrath, not only had one door but the ark also had one window and
that's symbolic of the Bible because a window in the house allows the outside light to come in
and it allows the insiders to see the outside world through a glass. The ark had one window, not
many but one. The same thing is with Christ. Christ has one word through which we see the spiritual
world and through which God's illumination and light and information comes into our heart
and that window I know you already know what that window is it's the Bible. So not only the
ark protected from the wrath of God, not only the ark had one door and the ark had one window
but the ark also had one family on the inside, Noah's family. Everyone in the ark was family, there
were no cousins, there were no neighbors, they were all brothers and sisters so is in Christ. When you
go into Jesus you become brothers and sisters in Christ. Whether you're black, you're white, small or
tall, smart or not so smart whatever your financial situation is, we are all a family because the blood
of Jesus makes us into one. But what I wanna highlight in the ark is the ark had a dove. Jesus
is the baptizer of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning of this lesson I've read how John the
Baptist said of Jesus that he is the one. The testimony, the sign that Jesus is the one
is that the dove will descend on him and he will baptize in the Holy Spirit and Fire. The ark had
a dove. Jesus introduces us to the person and the work and the power of the Holy Spirit. This dove
flew out of the ark through the window the same way Holy Spirit speaks, guides, fills, convicts
but he does that in the parameters of God's word. Holy Spirit wrote the Bible so he will not lead,
speak, or do something that violates his word. He doesn't get out through the chimney or through the
basement, he gets through the window of God's word. This dove was released out of the ark three times.
The first time when the dove left the ark it found no resting place, this speaks of the dispensation
of the old covenant where the Holy Spirit couldn't rest in people, he couldn't dwell in them because
they were not clean, they were not purified by the blood of Jesus, Jesus was yet to die.
The second time the dove was released from the ark we see that this dove
brought a fresh olive branch, olive leaf back to the ark and this speaks of the new covenant
where the Holy Spirit introduces Jesus who died for us, who brought the good news of the gospel
by dying on the calvary for our sin. And then there's a third time
the dove left the ark and this time when the dove left the ark
dove never came back. This speaks of the church age where the Holy Spirit was poured out
and he is staying here all the way till the coming of Jesus Christ. So what I want to remind you today
is the Holy Spirit has his headquarters in Jesus. Holy Spirit honors Jesus. Holy Spirit's mission
is to glorify Christ. If Jesus is not the center of your life, you cannot have a relationship with
the Holy Spirit. He will not have a relationship with you because he can't be given to someone
who doesn't glorify Christ. His relationship with you is based on your relationship to Jesus Christ.