IN THE SPIRIT’S POWER

THE HOLY SPIRIT

Like the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is a full and distinct person of the Godhead. As a divine person the Holy Spirit is eternal everywhere present, Almighty, Perfectly wise, perfectly just, perfectly good.  As the Father is the Creator, and the Son is the Savior and Redeemer, the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier who frees us to lead new lives (2Cor. 3:17) “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The Holy Spirit teaches, encourages, comforts, empowers, pleads for us and leads us into all truth. The Holy Spirit lived in Jesus and empowered Him for ministry. After Jesus returned to heaven, He sent out the Spirit to make a permanent home in our hearts. The Spirit is own present in the church and in individual Christians.  He has numerous tasks, such as: (a) inspiring the prophets and  apostles to put God’s Word in writing- and confirming in the human heart that God actually speaks in the writings of the authors; (b) leading us to spiritual rebirth; (c)  bringing Christ’s presence to us; (d)keeping us in touch with God;  (e) giving us the power to witness and lead a Christian life; (f) giving us gifts; See Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Acts 1:5; Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor 12:1;  Fruit of the Holy Spirit Gal. 5:22;  Filled with the Holy Spirit Eph. 5:18.

BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

(Acts 1:5),” For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” This was the promise Jesus left with His disciples. In the Old Testament there are promises of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, such as in (Isa, 32:15),”Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.” and (Joel 2:28-32) “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders on heaven and on the earth; Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.” John tells us that the New Testament gift of the Holy Spirit to believers could come only after the glorification of Jesus (John 7:39) “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.” The water baptism of John the Baptist was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, anticipating the Messiah’s Spirit baptism. The former baptism performed an outward cleansing; the baptism of the Holy Spirit accomplished an inward purification. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the result of the victory of Christ who had been exalted at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33)”Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” in believing the truth, Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13) “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also having believed, you were sealed  with the Holy Spirit of promise.” All believers are baptized into one body and are made to drink of one Spirit) 1 Cor. 12:13)”For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” And in (Gal.3:26-27) it says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The first person baptized with the Holy Spirit was Jesus at the time of His baptism at the Jordan River, John the Baptist predicted that Jesus would initiate the powerful baptism of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost all those in the house were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and since that time, all who belonged to Jesus Christ have been given the Spirit. And Paul stressed that all Christians were baptized with the one Spirit. Christians today disagree whether there is a baptism that occurs apart from water baptism; the New Testaments separates them only in (Acts 8:12, 14-17) “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.; Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” What is beyond dispute is this; The Spirit of the living Christ wants to enrich, empower and use Christians in every generation.

FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

In (Eph. 5:18) Apostle Paul admonish us to be filled with the Spirit of God and not with wine. “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” God promises to give every reborn Christian the Holy Spirit as a gift. On Pentecost the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit when assembled together with one accord, and Paul was also filled at his conversion. But they were filled again on later occasions, meaning we don’t get filled once and for all but each and every time our hearts get yearned or when we have an encounter with the Holy Spirit, as Paul commands every Christian to be filled continually with the Spirit. In addition the Bible describes certain individual as being full of the Spirit. This suggest that a person full of the Spirit occasionally needed a special filling for a certain task, Filling with the Spirit qualifies and equips us for service and for living a joy- filled, victorious life, and nudges us towards becoming more and more like Christ. But Christians differ on whether a person filled with the Spirit will inevitably speak in tongues as a proof of His presence. Some say yes; while others think that no single gift is greater than any other, so that a person may manifest a gift other than tongues and yet be considered filled with the Holy Spirit. What is most important is this; that we open our minds, hearts and wills to the power and joy that the Spirit yearns to pour out on us.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

“Now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.”(1 Cor. 12:1) The Bible lists numerous spiritual gifts. Many Bible interpreters divide them into natural gifts (such as speaking, serving others, showing mercy) and supernatural gifts (such as doing miracles and speaking in tongues).  Some gifts may be enjoyed privately, but the main reason God gave them is to testify to Christ and to equip individuals to serve others and build up the church. Each believer has been given Special gift of the Spirit, so that he or she can make a unique contribution to the body, Christ’s Church.  Unfortunately Satan can also deceive people by phony and ultimately unsatisfying gifts that may actually tear down the church from within or without.  Particularly under discussion today are the supernatural gifts. Some insist that they were limited to the apostolic age, while others think that they have been, and will be, present in the church throughout her history, right up to the present day. Yes, the Holy Spirit is present yesterday, He is present today and He will be present forever.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22).” When the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, He gives each of us gifts. But far more important than the gifts of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit, mentioned only in this text. It describes a wholistic lifestyle that God wants developed within all Christians. First on the list is love, a Christian virtue mentioned more often in the Bible than any other. Love is more excellent than any single gifts; gifts will eventually disappear but love lasts forever.

MESSAGE AS A WORD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Come near to Me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”(Isa. 48:16). One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to vitalize believers and their message. Isaiah recognized this task of the Spirit of God. The prophet had delivered un believable prophecies.  In a time when Assyria reigned supreme, he spoke of the day when Babylon would replace Assyria and be the new power. He even called Persian King Cyrus by name, the one who would free Judah from the captivity in Babylon. Knowing that these things were hard to believe, he called his followers near and urged them to believe. He appealed to them on the basis that the Lord had sent Him “and His Spirit” Isaiah’s message, therefore, was not simply the message of a mare man but the Word of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the teacher and director of God’s messengers.  He speaks through them and gives their message power. He must be the urgent fulfilling God’s word, or else it is powerless. The Holy Spirit in bearing witness to His own message, breaths life and power into the utterances of His servants.

INSPIRATION OF WRITTEN SCRIPTURE

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he never ate bread nor drink water.  And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exod. 34:27-28).

HOLY SPIRIT AS A SOURCE OF POWER

When the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, he was turned into another man and prophesied as well. “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you , and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man,” (1 Sam. 10:6).

 “And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all”