Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Message for Sunday 1^st November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of The Holy Spirit.

Topic: Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Introduction: a look at the word of God reveals to us the names of the Holy Spirit through His multiple personalities. In Genesis 1:1-3, He is the first of the Godhead introduced to us as the Spirit of God. We know from the Bible that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit [1John 5:7, Matthew 3:16-17]. He is on earth to accomplish a mission we shall be looking at in more details in the course of this month. According to the Lord Jesus Christ, His mission among other things is to bring conviction to the world with the aim of saving mankind and his environment and reveal God and His mind to us. See John 16:7-13, Rom.8:19-22 and Acts 3:19-21.

Who then is the Holy Spirit?

To understand who He is, we have to go back to God’s word to find our answers. From the scriptures, we are made to know that He is:

1.     A person described in the male gender. In John 16:13, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us this insight when He refers to Him as follows: “When He the Spirit of truth is come, He shall…” and went on to describe His mission to us. In talking about His purpose on Earth from John 16:8-15, the Lord refers to Him as a person in the male gender. Until you recognize Him as a person, you will not be able to establish a working relationship with you and that would be very devastating considering what His purpose is on earth in relation to our fulfilling God’s purpose for us.

2.     He is God: As God, He has all the power and backing of the Godhead. Whenever He speaks to us, He speaks on behalf of the Father and the Son. Like we saw earlier, He is the first of the Godhead introduced to us in the bible. In Gen.1:3, we see Him hovering over the face of the deep before the father could issue the command that triggered the recreation of the Earth as it is today. See 1John 5:7 and Matthew 3:16-17.

3.      He is also known as The Lord: When we compare the places when He ministered in the Old Testament and some of what was reported about those same texts in the New Testament, this truth is made very evident. For instance, when we compare Hebrews 10:15-17 with Ezekiel 36:22-28, we see that Ezekiel was prophesying what was to be discussed in our Hebrew text here as having been fulfilled. Ezekiel refers to Him as The Lord God while Paul calls Him The Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.

4.     He is the author of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation: As a Spirit, He could only work on Earth through human vessels. This is why we are told that He moved on Holy men to put the scriptures together. He is therefore, the most authentic source of bible interpretation. See 2Peter 1:14-21 where Peter left his legacy affirming the authority of the word of God, He makes us realize that He witnessed God Speaking and that Holy men of Old also heard God speak to them and documented them in writing which now makes up the scriptures. Also, Apostle Paul in 2Tim.3:16 makes us see that the Scriptures were not original with men but that they were given to men by the Holy Spirit to show us how to live well. This is why the Bible is God’s manual for our lives and environment.

Why is the Holy Spirit Here?

The Holy Spirit is on Earth today for the following reasons:

1.     To bring Conviction to the world: He convicts the world of sin showing us that we are all sinners and lost and hell bound and in need of salvation          [John 16:7-13; Rom.3:23; 6:23]. Then, He convicts us of righteousness that could only be found in Christ Jesus because we were not eyewitnesses to his death, burial and resurrection. Even many who witness it like Pilate could not understand it. All to the understanding given to Apostle Paul like the one in 1Cor.15:1-5 came by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. See Gal.1:12; 2:2 and Eph.3:3. Also, when People sought to know what they must do to be saved, the Holy Spirit used the disciples to show them. See Acts 2:37-39 and Acts 16:31. This is his ministry of showing the world true righteousness. See also Ephesians 2:8-10. Finally, He shows us the defeat of our archenemy and that we need not fear him anymore as all power has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ including the power he once stole from Adam. This is what gives us the audacity to bind him and cast him out. See Matthew 28:18; Mark 16;17 and Revelation 12:7-11 and 20:10.

2.     To give us vision: Vision is God’s revelation of our purpose to us: Like we already know, a life without a purpose is a meaningless life. In every right thinking person; is a desire to know why they are on earth and the only person that can reveal it to us is our manufacturer – God. This is why Jesus said He would take of Him and the father and show it to us. Then He added that He would show us things to come. See John 16:13. The importance of vision for each of us cannot be overemphasized. It is what gives us direction and the proper pursuit of it brings out the best in us. Every one without a vision lacks beauty and dignity; they perish. See Prov.29:18. Vision is the compass for life that enables us to know where to go. As we receive and follow divine instructions on a consistent basis, we will get there. The example of Joseph is very instructive here. See his story in Genesis 36-42. He knew his calling and lived a life that honored God until He was standing in his dream.  

3.     To bring us all the revelation required to fulfill our purpose: Every time we read the bible, we need the Holy Spirit to open our understanding to help us see the secrets embedded in the scriptures. Jesus said He will teach us all things in John 14:26 [all things means exactly that and includes everything about life including our profession]. It is an understanding of these mysteries that provides us with the wisdom to master our world. If it is not given to us to know the mysteries of the kingdom, we cannot know them on our own. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us to know. See Mark 4:11, Ps.127:1, Luke 24:13-31. Without the revelation from God to pursue our God given purpose, our vision will look like a lie because it would never find expression as we would not know what to do to bring it to pass. This is why the preacher says in Ecclesiastes 10:15 that the labour of the foolish brings them weariness as they do not know how to get to the city.  

4.     To help us with the power we need on the journey: He does this by filling our hearts with the Joy of the Lord. Peter refers to this joy as joy unspeakable full of glory. It is joy that provides us with the energy required to make it to the end of our journey on earth. See 1Peter 1:8, Neh.8:10. 

Welcome To November 2015: Our Month Of The Holy Spirit

 John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

With abundant joy in my heart today, I welcome you to this great month of November 2015 which the Lord has graciously named for us as the month of The Holy Spirit. When the Lord gave me this word, I thought it strange because I did not really consider it as appropriate to be the tag of any month because to me He is so real that my experience of Him is an everyday thing.

However, the Lord made me to see that not everyone is conscious of Him or even know Him. In fact I began to observe that even some believers in Christ do not even know of Him nor do they have any personal experience of Him in their lives. Some do not even recognize Him as a person; not to talk of His status as God. This is unfortunate because it is the Holy Spirit that makes Christianity different from religion and distinguishes Christianity from any other purported access to God.

Without the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to know true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because it was Him who came to bring us the conviction that the Lord came, died for our sins and arose from the dead for our justification [1Cor.15:1-10; 12:7 & John 16:7-13].

As a result of His ministry on Earth, we have experienced the reality of God and His presence and power as a ministry so much that it would require more than all the faith in the entire universe not to believe in His reality. For instance, one day in the mission field, I had told Him to wake me up at 3.20am so as to be able to convene a 4.00am prayer service. Unknown to me, I had switched off my phone and removed the battery for some hours the previous day and did not remember to update it when I switched it on. When I awoke the next morning, the fastest means of checking my time was my phone which I could look at without having to switch on the light. When I checked, the time was far ahead. I was so upset that I immediately started to accuse him of not waking me up. His response was simply, “is this how you talk to me?” I immediately repented and was just thinking that this is unlike Him because He’s been waking me up faithfully and I never have to use an alarm clock to wake up when I want to. So I decided to check my wrist watch and I saw that it was just 3:20am meaning He even over delivered because He saw what was coming and what time I was going to waste. Then it dawned on me that I had tampered with the phone the previous day. I was very unhappy with my behavior but praising him took care of everything.

Most people who know me do not know me to be down. It is the joy of the Lord burbling in my heart most of the time that keeps my energy high and enables me do what I do. He is so real to me that it is my pleasure to share Him with the entire world this month. To this end, this month, we shall be looking at Understanding the Gift and Ministry of The Holy Spirit. As an appetizer, I want to quickly say here that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone to profit with [1Cor.12:7]. This truth is self-explanatory as it shows us that the Holy Spirit is a gift of God to the entire world to bring about our awareness of Him and what He has done to save us and keep us saved. However, no one will receive this great redemption if they are not aware of it. This is why I consider it my business to spread this word around the world.

Many people want to be able to hear the voice of God, their religious persuasion notwithstanding. I believe that includes you reader even if you are not born again yet. Well; I have good news for you. You can begin hearing him today as you embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit; but you must meet the demands of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Father in Heaven,

I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your word says in John 6:37 that you will not cast me out when I come to you. So I thank you that you will take me in.

You also said in Romans 10:9-10 that if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that you raised him from the dead, I shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died for my sin on Calvary’s Cross and was raised from the dead for my justification and I confess him now as my Saviour and Lord.

I believe that I have now become your righteousness in Christ whom you made to be sin for me on Calvary’s Cross.

Thank you father that I am saved from this day in Jesus’s name!

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.   

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!