“The Holy Spirit in you.”
The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is the gift of the risen Christ in dwelling His followers. The Day of Pentecost marks the inauguration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had ascended to the right hand of the Father and as promised the people were not left alone. The Holy Spirit would be sent by the Father, in the name of the Son. The Holy Spirit is none other than ’God with us.’
The Holy Spirit is not a force but the third person of the Godhead who is with us until Jesus returns.
Today I want to look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers life in three areas: 1.In regard to the believer and the world. 2.The believer and the Church and 3.The believers individual life.
In each instance we will see that His purpose is to establish the Kingdom of God. Firstly let us see how the Holy Spirit establishes his kingdom in the world through us.
1. The Holy Spirit empowers witness in the world. Acts 1:8
Here we have the promise of Jesus that the disciples would receive power to witness, and the confirmation that they would reach out into a lost world starting in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This power would come upon them as a result of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. In Acts.2:1-4 we see the outward manifestation of the Spirit (In Hebrew and Greek breath, wind) God the Holy Spirit being poured out upon them with a violent wind, tongues of fire rested upon them and they spoke in different language as the Spirit enabled them.
Here we see the Holy Spirit empowering believers to witness, here we see that to witness too others is not something that is done in our own strength, but that it is only accomplished when we are empowered to do so, by the Holy Spirit: Here we see a natural progression:
a. They would receive the Holy Spirit.
If we are going to be a people who are empowered to witness into our communities then firstly we must be a people who have firstly received the Holy Spirit. God’s Kingdom will not be built in our own strength, Gods kingdom will not be built by a religious veneer.
If we are to witness to others, we firstly must have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. As Jesus said, "we must be born again" by the Spirit of God.Jhn 3:3
In the 1970’s Christian Barnard a South African heart surgeon performed the first ever heart transplant and was able to give someone a new heart this in some respects gave the person a new life. And that is exactly what each and every person in the world needs today a new spiritual heart and the surgeon who performs that transplant is God the Holy Spirit. When he brings conviction of sin and the gift of faith to those who believe. Have you received the Holy Spirit? “Without the powerful inner witness of the Holy Spirit, there will be no powerful outward witness of the Holy Spirit in your life.”
b. They would receive power to witness.
Jesus said they would receive power... . To do what? To witness.
There are four marks of a witness: 1 firsthand experience of Christ. 2 A witness must be able to express themselves verbally. 3. A witness will have confidence in the power of God 4. A witness will have compassion upon others.
On the Day of Pentecost the words of Jesus were fulfilled with startling results, the power was clearly seen vividly not only with the fire that came down and the wind that swept through the place and the tongues they spoke....But in the very words they spoke. The breath of God had filled their lungs to declare boldly and witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God .
We must always remember that when we are witnessing about Christ our words will have a powerful impact . Rom 1:16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
In our six steps to encouragement series we were reminded that ‘God’s word through us has the power to change others too’.
c. From the book ‘Heart beat of Evangelism’: Read the Frank Gennar story.
The most striking thing of this story is that although he witnessed to many, he didn’t know of any that had come to Christ and that should also encourage us to continue speaking to others, because your words are powerful you know....
d. They experience extraordinary growth v8
As a result of these first century believers being empowered to witness, they would experience extraordinary growth at Pentecost 3000 people were added into the Kingdom of God and the Lord added daily those who were being saved to the early NT Church. They were experiencing extraordinary growth and the message was spreading. This was all in fulfilment of the Lords word 1:8 that this message would start in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Church is expanding. 12 disciple grew to 120 in a upper room followed by Peters sermon 3000 believed, shortly after 5000 were add then came persecution till AD 313 Edict of toleration around 10 million Christians at this time. By the year 1000 this had grown to 50 million. By the end of the 18th century had grown to 215 million. That is an increase of 165 million in 88 years. In 1795 Missionary endeavour began in earnest with men like William Carey by 1900 the total Christians grew to 500 million. That is an increase of 285 million in one century. Then by 1980 just 80 short years later it had grown to 1.3 billion professing Christians. Then by the year 2000 the number has grown to 1.8 billion that’s an increase of 1.3 billion people in the 20th century alone. (US centre for world missions in Pasadena).
This extraordinary growth tells us that the Holy Spirit is committed to honour every single person, church, mission and ministry that seeks to fulfil the great commission. The challenge for us is to be part of this huge expansion we have all the tools we need (Gods powerful Spirit and his word) lets step out everyday like Frank Gennar and make the most of our words advancing God’s Kingdom in the world.
2. The Holy Spirit enables unity in the Church. Eph 4:1-6
The Church is built up with a diversity of people from a wide range of backgrounds; there is no other institution like it where you will get such a diverse group of people meeting together with one common bond. So what is the glue that holds us all together? What enables believers to live, to serve, to outreach, to worship, to fellowship one with another in unity?
The fact the Holy Spirit is with us and has joined us together in what we participate in together. Even though we are diverse Eph 4:4 – 6. In Christ we are one. “
The piano Tuner came on Wednesday and as he got his tuning fork out and it occurred to me that if there was forty pianos they would all be tuned to the same fork as a result all the piano’s are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned to the one tunning fork. But they are not tuned to each other but as a result to another standard to which each one must they all individually bow.
So also are the forty worshippers here today, each one looking to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship” SOURCE: A.W. Tozer in "The Pursuit of God."
• We have one Spirit - who activates our fellowship
• We are one Body – the fellowship of believers
• We share one Hope - The glorious future
• We have one Lord – Jesus Christ to whom we belong
• We share one Faith - Our singular commitment to Christ
• We undergo one Baptism – the outward sign to entry into the Church
• We have one God - Who is our Father who keeps us to eternity.
Here we have the grounds for our unity in the Church, too often believers are separated over minor differences. Here we see the areas which are pivotal and Christians must focus upon and agree on to enable true unity.
In practice though what does this unity look like?
“We all know we are not in the perfect Church and if you think you’ve found it, leave it because you’ve just spoiled it”.
The quality of our unity as a fellowship will be measured by our partnership with the Holy Spirit. We need to be people who are actually living by the Spirit Gal 5:16 and demonstrating the fruits of the spirit. Gal 5:22-25 with one another
V1 -3 live a life worthy of your calling: Reflecting the life of Christ with one another: We are Christ’s representatives we have been called into relationship with Jesus Christ; hence our relationship with one another should be reflecting the relationship we have with Christ.
v2. Be completely humble and gentle – Greek means a lowly mindedness: this is not to have a low self image of oneself but it is the recognition that everything we have and are is because of the grace of Jesus Christ. That every gift we have is not in place to boost our own importance but to serve one another just as Christ ministered to us as a loving servant. 2Cor 4:5 What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. In addition it means we will have the humility and gentleness to recognise our need to receive the gifts God has given to others so that they may minister to us . This is the secret to mutual affection and esteem in the body of Christ. Where there is humility in a fellowship there will also be gentleness. 1Cor 10:1. Christ is our example.
v2 Being patient forbearing in love with one another. Here we have another part to play of being patient and this is coupled with forbearing one another in love. This means we need to be patient with one another especially when things go wrong. The easiest thing to do is to angry with other peoples faults, to give up on them and walk out at the slightest upset. But the Holy Spirit wants us to be patient forbearing with one another’s faults.
We need to take a long term view of one another because a Christian is still ‘under construction’. How often we are quick to pull out faults of others when we forget how patient Christ has been with our own faults.
If we make every effort to develop these traits of Christ like relationships, genuine Humility and gentleness and patience towards one another in love and you will have the essential ingredients which enable believers to live in unity in the church.
3. The Holy Spirit equips us to walk in the Spirit and to bear fruit in our lives. Gal 5:16 - 25
Living the Christian life is hard we struggle and sometimes we fail and we make mistakes but we need to be assured that we are equipped for victory every Christian is equipped with the Holy Spirit and with Him we can withstand the conflict against the old sinful nature.
The Battle: V16 Paul calls us to live by the Spirit, so often we fail to we revert back to living by the flesh we often find those old habits returning, certain sins unable to defeat and and often we can become accepting of them a conflict takes place v16-17 The answer is to LIVE BY THE SPIRIT.
But how does it work out in practice?
• Its a bit like soldiers going to war... They are equipped before they go into conflict would a solider forget his rifle? We need to remember we are equipped with the Holy Spirit a solider could go into a war zone without a rifle it would be unthinkable ditto if you live your life without the Spirit....
You see the battle has been won, in Christ sin has been conquered, satan defeated and death consummed by eternal life. We are a forgiven people in Christ.. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus but although the war is over little battles continue to rage in our lives and we need to put them to death in our daily lives working alongside the Holy Spirit (The ongoing process of sanctification)
Please note, don’t confuse living in the Spirit with simply some subjective feeling you might have. Walking in the Spirit involves the desire to hear, being ready to obey God’s word and the ability to discern between your own feelings and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Living in the Spirit will mean.........
• The words of Christ will be in your mind
• The Love of Christ will be behind your actions
• And the power of Christ will help you control sinful desires.
Living in the spirit means bearing fruit in our lives 22-24
These fruits are found in the nature of Christ. And are a natural by product growing in the new nature of Christians Jhn 15:4-5 if we want our lives to bear these fruits we must be connected to Christ. Just like the fruit on a tree can only grow as it connected to its source so we must be join our lives to His. The fruits of the spirit in your life? LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF CONTROL.
Today we have seen the Holy Spirit in You giving you the power to witness in the world. The desire for unity in the Church and the equipping to live holy lives by living in the Spirit, let us give God all the glory as we live for Him in these three areas.
Pastor Vaughan @ www.cbchurch.org.uk
