The book of Matthew tells us that the activity
of the Holy Spirit is evident in every phase of the life & ministry of
Jesus. It was by the power of the Spirit that Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb
(1:18&20).
Before
Jesus began His public ministry, He Was filled with the Spirit of God (3:16)
& followed the Spirit's leading into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil as further preparation for His messianic role (4:1)The power of the
Spirit enabled Jesus to heal & cast out demons.
Just
as John immersed his followers in water, Jesus will immerse His followers with
the Holy Spirit (3:11). In 7:21-23 we find a warning directed against false
charismatics, those in church who prophesy, cast out demons, & do wonders,
but to not do the will of the Father. Presumably the same Holy Spirit who
inspires charismatic activities, must also empower the People of the Church to
do the will of God. (7:21)
Jesus
declared that His works were done in the power of the Holy Spirit, giving
evidence that the kingdom of God had come & the power of satan was being
overthrown. Therefore, to ascribe the power of the Spirit to the devil was to
commit an unpardonable sin (12:28-32).
In
12:28 The Holy Spirit is connected to Jesus' exorcisms & the present
reality of the kingdom of God, not solely by the fact of exorcism per se, for
the Pharisees' sons (disciples) also practice exorcism (12:27) Rather, the Holy
Spirit is with the Messiah effecting a new event that is the kingdom of God has
come upon you (V28)
In
28:16 The disciples are commanded to go out & make disciples of all nations
baptising them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy
Spirit (V 19). That is they are to baptise them in their obedience to this
commission, Jesus' disciples are assured of His ongoing presence with them.
When
Jesus ascended into heaven He explained that He was leaving another Helper The
Holy Spirit. The Bible has much to say about who the Holy Spirit is & His
role.
The
apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, 1st,2nd & 3rd John & the book of
Revelation. He begins his Gospel by saying
Jn
1:1 (NKJ) In the beginning was the Word & the word was with God &
the Word was God.
Here
he is using the Greek word Logos for the "Word"This reference
indicates a name for Christ Himself who was the visible divine expression of
God on earth dwelling amongst men.
In
1 Jn 5:7-8 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: The Father the
Word & the Holy Spirit; & these
thee are one. For there are three that bear witness on earth the Spirit, the
water & the blood; & these three agree as one.
Understand
that those who are born again, loves other believers & obeys the Word of
God & the Holy Spirit.
In
Jn 1:14 we are told that the Word became flesh & is the only begotten Son
& in verse 34 we see that Christ is the Son of God. So we see that the
Father, His Son who is Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit are all the same.
If
we Look at Gen 1:1 we see that In the beginning God created the heavens &
the earth.
In
V 2 the Bible tells us that that the earth was without form, & void; &
darkness was on the face of the deep, & the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters.
&
in V 3 God said let there be light; & there was light.
v 1 reveals God as the Creator; the Hebrew
word for God is Elohiym, which is an early name for God & is used
throughout the Book on Genesis. We read in the 2nd V that the Spirit of God is
moving on the waters The word Spirit here is Ruwach which can be translated as
wind, breath & Spirit. This word occurs nearly 400 times in the Old
Testament.
The
3rd V is quite interesting, as God said let there be light, this was not the
cosmic light of the sun, moon or stars, as these heavenly lights were formed on
the 4th day of creation (in vv 14& 15). Here the Spirit & light are
joining together on the 1st day of creation
(v3.I read in Perry Stone's book where he
asked Rabbi Getz what the light was on the 1st day of creation, the Rabbi said
that it was an unknown light that was connected to the glory & presence of
The Almighty Father.
(I will come back to Genesis later)
When
God asked Job in 38:19 where the light dwells & where the abode of darkness
is He was making a point about His limitless knowledge & about the mystery
that surrounds Him. We will never know everything He knows, nor will we ever
know everything there is to know about Him. But He knows everything there is to
know about us, & in His awesomeness, He is doing great things for us &
in our lives.
In
Jn 15:26Jesus told His disciples (NKJ) " When the Helper comes, whom I
will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the
Father, He shall testify for Me".
God
wants us to depend entirely on Him. He wants us to lean on, trust in & rely
on Him. Actually that is part of the definition of faith. We are partners with
God & that means that we have responsibilities. BUT we must lean on Him in
order to do the things that are our part. If God calls you into ministry He
will anoint you & give you the gifts that are needed, BUT you still have to
trust Him & remember how much you need Him at all times.
Sometimes
we may think that we don't need the Holy Spirit help with things we have done
over & over again successfully.
Why would we need help with something already
know we can do? It is so dangerous to become self-reliant. The book of Proverbs
speaks frequently of the self-confident fool. People who think they are
self-sufficient & can take care of themselves are being foolish-&
eventually that will be proven to everyone even themselves.
An
independent attitude is part of the baby stage of Christianity. A mature
Christian knows that he can do nothing of any real value apart from the Holy
Spirit. Of course we can do things, but that does not mean they will be done
right or that we will enjoy them, or that we will produce any real lasting
fruit.
When
the Lord says we can do nothing apart from Him, He means things will not work
out properly in our lives unless we invite Him into everything. His presence
can eliminate much of the struggle we experience in life.
He
makes impossible things possible, hard things easy & frustrating things
peaceful. do not ever be afraid say "HELP, Lord, I can't do this without
you."
Jesus
also said in Jn 14:16 ( NKJ) & I will pray the Father, & He will
give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever.
The
word "another" used in this verse can be defined as "of the same
kind" So Jesus is saying that the father would give them, & therefore
us, a Helper "of the same kind" as Himself. In other words He will do
in my absence what I would do if I were physically present with you. The
Spirits coming assures us of continuity with what Jesus did & taught.
Jn
14:17 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is "The Spirit of truth". He
works continually in & with all believers to bring us into new levels of
truth & awareness. Entering a new level always means leaving an old one
behind, But we have nothing to fear because He promises to be with us always.
We
can see in these Scriptures that Jesus mentioned three different parts of the
Godhead: Father God & also the Spirit of God & of course Himself, being
Jesus the Son. Just like we are in one family who has many members, so God is
one entity that has three members, God the Father, God the Son & God the
Holy Spirit.
As
part of the Godhead the Holy Spirit shares the same nature &
Characteristics as God the Father for example He is omnipresent (everywhere)
& omniscient (all knowing)
omnipotent (all powerful).
Just
as Father God & Jesus, The Holy Spirit is also a person. When speaking of
the Holy Spirit the Bible refers to "He" or "Him" rather
then "it" for example in Jn 14:17 (that I just mentioned) Jesus
refers to the Holy Spirit says "The Spirit of truth whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him,
for He dwells with you & will be in you".
To
whatever degree we love God, to that same
degree we obey Him, that is the measure of our love for Him. as our love
for Jesus grows, so will our obedience.
Things
get hard when we try to do them independently without leaning on God's grace.
If everything in life were easy, we wouldn't need the power of the Holy Spirit
to help us,
One
of the ways the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit is our helper. He is in us
& with us all the time to help us, enable us to do what we cannot do-&
I might add to do with ease what would be otherwise difficult without Him.
In
the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of God or the
Spirit of the Lord. for example in Gen 1:2 (NKJ) The earth was without form
& void & darkness was on the face of the deep, & the Spirit of God
was hovering over the face of the waters.
Hear
we see God's first creative act "the earth was without form" means
that it was lacking the order it would have when God's commands were complete.
& "darkness was on the face of the deep" is a further description
of the lack or complete order & beauty that would emerge within six days.
Both statements reveal that creation reflected God's normal process for
bringing order out of the chaos.
"Hovering"
connotes a sweeping or moving rather then stationery. The Holy Spirit is the
executive arm of the trinity, so He was quite active as God spoke each word.
Now
the writers of the New Testament used a different word for Holy Spirit. Greek
words have a greater depth of meaning then our English equivalents & so
understanding the true definition of a word can help. When talking of the Holy
Spirit in the New Testament the writers use the Greek word parakletos which
literally means comforter, intercessor, standby, advocate, helper, &
strengthener. This fuller definition helps explain the different roles of the
Holy Spirit.
In
Old Testament times, that is before Jesus came to the earth, the Spirit of the
Lord came upon men for a specific task. For Example In 1 Sam 16:13 (NKJ) Then
Samuel took the horn of oil & anointed him (David) in the midst of his
brothers, & the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
The
Spirit of the Lord accompanies the anointing by Samuel. From the moment God
begins to equip David & direct the details of His life though it will some
years before he ascends the throne, as David is about fifteen years old at this
time.
In
the Old Testament times the Hoy Spirit mainly came upon those people who were
in the position of a prophet, priest or king. However, when Jesus came to earth
He explained that the Holy spirit would now live within believers as we saw
earlier in Jn 14:16 we will look at it again again but from the N L T.) I
will ask the Father, & He will give you another Advocate, who will never
leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot
see Him, because it isn't looking for Him & doesn’t recognise Him. But you
know Him, because He lives with you now & later will be in you.
Ezekiel
prophesied about God's plan for the Holy Spirit 36:26,27 (NLT) & I will
give you a new heart, & I will put a new Spirit in you. I will take out
your stony, stubborn heart & give you a tender, responsive heart. & I
will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees & be
careful to obey My regulations
When
we receive Jesus as our Lord & Savior, He takes our old hard heart &
gives us His heart instead. This new heart that God gives us one that desires
to love & be involved with people. It usually takes time, & We go
through a process of change before our
actions & behaviour catch up with our new hearts, but God does give us new
desires. He gives us a heart to obey Him &, for this reason we can no
longer be comfortable with sin.
We
still sin, but we not want to. Our
consciences are bothered when we go against God & His Word. Our new hearts
war against the flesh; the two are continually antagonistic towards each other
BUT thank God, when we submit areas of our lives to Him little by little, &
as we do, He changes our behaviour to match our new hearts.
It
is important for us to see that now the Holy Spirit lives in each of us to help
us. When we allow Him to lead us He will become involved in very decision we
make both major & minor. He leads us by peace & wisdom, as well as by
the word of God. He speaks a still small voice in our spirits, or what we often
call an inward witness. Those of us who desire leading by the Holy Spirit must
learn to follow the inward witness & to respond quickly.
For
example, if we are engaged in a conversation & we begin feeling
uncomfortable inside, that inner discomfort may be the Holy Spirit signalling
that we need to turn the conversation around or in another direction or be
quiet.
Or
If we are about to purchase something & we
feel uncomfortable inside, we should wait & discern why we are
uncomfortable. Perhaps we do not need the item, or we may find it on special
somewhere else, or we may be trying to purchase it at the wrong time. Remember,
we not always have to know why; we just need to obey the Spirits leading to
find peace & contentment in our daily living.
God
gives us His Spirit & only because of His Spirit within us we can obey
God& His Word. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, strengthens us &
enables us to do the will of God. We must learn to lean on Him & not be
independent, trying to do things in our own strength.
Rom 8:6-15 Helps us understand the
differences between following our fleshly desires & allowing God's Spirit
to lead us. Any time our flesh wants to do one thing & the Spirit of God
wants us to do something else, by choosing to follow the Spirit of God we need
to know that our flesh will suffer. We do not like that, BUT the Bible tells us
that if we want to share Christ's glory we have to share His suffering also.
I
would like to encourage those who are just beginning to walk with God that once
the fleshly appetite is no longer in control, they will get to the point where
it is easier to obey God. Even if obedience is difficult they will get to the
place where they actually enjoy doing it. So if you are new to the Christian
faith be encouraged.
Verse
15 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption, here the word
adoption means that we have been bought into God's family even though we were outsiders,
unrelated to Him in anyway. We were sinners who served satan, but God in His
great mercy redeemed us & purchased us with the Blood of His dear Son.
In
Romans 8:16 The Holy Spirit confirms our relationship with God the Father (NKJ)
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Lk
11:13(NLT) So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him.
Jesus
says in Matthew 7:11 " if you then,
evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father who is in heaven give good & advantageous things to
those who keep on asking Him." As we saw in Luke 11:13 ...how much more
will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask &
continually ask Him.
Notice
both of these passages say that if we who are evil know how to bless our
children with good gifts, how much more will our heavenly Father who is perfect
to bless His Children with good things. The most important of those "good
things" that God wants to give us is His own Holy Spirit. This is truly an
amazing gift.
Peter one of the apostles said In Acts 2:38-39
(NLT) Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, & be baptised
in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your
sins. Then you will receiver the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to
you, & your children, & even to the Gentiles all who have been called
by the Lord our God.
We
can see from these passage that the Holy Spirit is a good gift who is available
to all people who choose to repent & turn to God. Repent & Be baptised
& receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Be saved receive the forgiveness of
your sins & that they are forgotten by being converted. Enjoy the
refreshing that comes from God's presence.
You
will have received the Holy Spirit when you were born again; however the Bible
explains that there is a further filling up with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus last
instructions to the disciples before He ascended to Heaven, He explained it
this way in Acts 1:8 (NASB) You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you,& you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, & in all
Judea, even in Samaria, & even to
the remotest part of the earth.
You
may be wondering how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there are a
number of thing that you need to do:
The
1st you need to be born again. To be filled with Spirit you must have the
indwelling Spirit & belong to Jesus (Rom8:9)
The
2nd thing you have to ask. The Bible says, if we ask for the Holy Spirit, that
prayer will be answered. (Lk 11:18).
The
3rd thing you have to surrender, the apostle Paul made this very clear in the
book of Romans when he said present your bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1).
4th
you must be willing to obey the Spirit. God does not give this power to someone
& then say "You can take the part you like &leave the part you do
not like". If you want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, you need to be
preprepared obey the Spirit. (Acts 5.32).
5th
you need to believe. The apostle Paul said, "Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith (Gal 3:2). The answer,
obviously is faith. You have to believe that if you ask you will receive.
Finally
exercise what God has given you. Having asked, having received, having been
willing to obey, & having believed, you need to respond in a biblical
fashion.
The
Bible says those baptised with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost "Began
to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4)
This means they spoke words that the Spirit gave them. The Holy Spirit gave the
words, the apostles & disciples voluntary responded. There was action based
on faith, not merely passive acceptance of the blessing. That is the way it is
with God. God is offering the baptism of the Holy Spirit to people who need
only to reach out & take it & enjoy the blessing.
Acts
8:14-17 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had
accepted God's message, they sent Peter & John there. As soon as they
arrived, they prayed for the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit had not yet come upon them, for they had only been baptised in the name
of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter & John laid there hands upon these believers,
& they received the Holy Spirit.
This
act of Holy Spirit was visible to those around them, which means that there was
evidence of the baptism as in Acts 10:44-46. Which tells us that whilst Peter
preached to the people, the Holy Spirit fell on all who listened. The believers
who came with Peter were amazed how freely the gift of the Holy Spirit was
poured out on the crowd as evidence by their talking in unknown tongues.
AS
I said earlier to ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit here is a prayer that
you might like to use.
Father
in the name of Jesus, I ask you to baptise me in the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking in tongues. Grant me boldness as you did for those who
were filled on the day of Pentecost, & give me any other spiritual gifts
that you desire me to have.
Now
you may want to confirm your faith by saying a loud, 'I have received the
baptism in the Holy Spirit, & I will never be the same again"
I
want to stress that the importance of believing by faith that you have received
& not making your decision based on feelings. Believe & keep believing.
As
A Christian you have been sent into the world to do the work that Jesus began.
If you ever get tired or discouraged as you do so, ask God on a regular basis for a fresh filling of
the Holy Spirit so you will be empowered to do all that He has called you to
do.
In
Acts 19:1-7 describes Paul's trip to Ephesus where he found believers who had
not yet heard about the Holy Spirit, they had only been water baptised in the
name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid hands on them , the Holy Spirit
came on them, & they spoke in other tongues & prophesied. there were
about twelve men in all.
1
Cor14:2 (NKJ) For a person who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but
to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries
Paul
is clearly telling us the primary purpose for tongues as the gift of the Holy
Spirit is for private worship. It is a unique God-word & not a man-word
gift.
1Cor
14:4(NLT) A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one
who speaks prophecy strengthens the whole Church.
Prophecy
builds people up. It does not tear them down; rather it constructively aids
their spiritual progress & gives them encouragement & consolation in the process.
Eph
5:18-19(NLT) Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life,
instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms & hymns &
spiritual songs among yourselves, & making music to the Lord in your
hearts.
This
is such a powerful passage! How can we obey it & stay ever filled with the
Holy Spirit? We can do it by speaking to ourselves (through our thoughts) or to
others (through our words) & in psalms & hymns & spiritual songs.
We need our thoughts & words to be full of God's Word by continually
offering praises & giving thanks to Him.
Heb
9:14 (NLT) Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our
consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the
power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect
sacrifice for our sins.
Notice
that Jesus offered His blood by the Spirit. The Spirit & the blood work
together. The promised Holy spirit could not be poured out on the day of
Pentecost until after the blood was poured out on the cross at Calvary. The
Blood & the Spirit still work together today. Honour the blood, & you
will see the Spirit poured out in your life.
In
closing:
Remember
that now that you have your heavenly language YOU need to speak it out. With
practice you will become more & more & more fluent in your language.
Acknowledgement I
Believe An Introduction to Christian Living Rhema Family Church
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