Let Me Introduce You To The Holy Spirit

January 9, 2011

Morning Worship

Text: Acts 19:1-5

Subject: The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Title: Let Me Introduce You to the Holy Spirit

I want to continue this morning with the theme of our baby dedication and what I have for you today also goes along with what we have talked about the last two weeks – giving and receiving, or sowing and reaping.

Have you ever had a tool or an appliance that you have had for years and suddenly one day you realize that this tool has capabilities that you never even knew it had? I’m that way with the computer. I use it all the time as a word processor, but occasionally I find that it has the capability to make my work easier in one way or another. I never ceased to be amazed at how much there is to learn about a computer.

I remember working in construction – actually this happened two different times with different contractors – I would watch them as they struggled with cutting aluminum with a hacksaw. Each time I think it was a storm door frame that they were trying to cut, and as they hacked their way through it – or tried to – the frame would roll around and the saw would slip out of the cut. It was a struggle for them. Then I would take the frame and lay it in an electric miter saw. Each time I did that the response was the same. ,”You can’t do that. That is a wood blade in that saw.” Little did they know that this was something I learned while working in the maintenance department in a factory. Aluminum and wood have the same density. What you use for wood, you can also use for aluminum. So I would lay the aluminum frame in the miter saw and cut it cleanly and quickly. They had a tool before them that would shorten their work and they didn’t even know that it was available to them.

Many new Christians and even some who have been in the church for years do not understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to introduce those people to the third person of the trinity.

Read Acts 19:1-5…

Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

I. The work of the Spirit is for eternal life… 1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 1) Paul considered these men to be disciples. The Holy Spirit had already been at work in their lives. John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” John 16:7-8, But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment… We can’t deny the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. Were it not for His work we couldn’t be saved… Also something happens at salvation that these disciples would have experienced. Romans 8:9-11, You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you. Paul knew that these disciples had the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within them. He knew they were believers. He knew that he would see them again in heaven. You see, that is the work of the Holy Spirit at salvation. You are sealed for eternity. I want you to notice the sowing and reaping that takes place. You can only reap eternal life after you sow yourself to God – totally giving Him your whole being – heart, mind and soul… If that is so then why did Paul ask them if they had received the Holy Spirit after they believed?