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The ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Introduction: Many believers never understand the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s presence and work in their lives. Do you want to live fruitful and victorious Christian lives? Remember without the Holy Spirit, you and I simply cannot lead successful lives, but with the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, there is nothing that can stop you from being a victor.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit of God is the common theme which runs throughout the Bible.
He was there at creation. Genesis 1:1-2 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Holy Spirit was hovering, waiting to create. The moment God spoke the word “Light” the Spirit sprung into action and the universe was created.
Judges 14:5-6 5Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.
In Judges 15:14-16 when the Holy Spirit came upon Samson, he single handedly killed a 1000 Philistine soldiers.
1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David.
Matthew 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
John 14:15-17 15“If you love me, keep my commands. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Acts 2:1-4 1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
We cannot examine everything about the Holy Spirit today but we know that the Holy Spirit is a person. Our God is one God who manifests himself in 3 persons and one of those 3 persons is the Holy Spirit. If in the OT the Spirit of the Lord came upon select individuals, In the NT the Holy Spirit is a free gift for everyone who believes.
In Romans 8 we learn about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit indwells in every believer.
Dwells - to remain constantly at home.
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
When you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, when you were saved, that very instant the Holy Spirit came to live within you and he has been dwelling with you ever since. You might have not seen him with your eyes of flesh. You have many times in your life missed the Holy Spirit because of the business of life, pressures of life, or circumstances, but he has always been there. He has never left you. He has never forsaken you. The Holy Spirit of God dwells with and in you, if you know Jesus as your saviour.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
In the OT, God dwelt among men there in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. In the time of Solomon and the great temple there in Jerusalem, God dwelt among men there in the holy of holies there in the temple. As a matter of fact, his presence was visible as the form of the shekinah glory. No one saw that except the high priest who went into the Holy of Holies once a year but there God dwelt among men.
Today God dwells with born again, saved men and woman by indwelling their bodies. Think of that, there as you sit almighty God is there inside you in the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 also teaches us the negative of that. Romans 8:9b And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
If a man or woman is not born again, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in them.
Now you need to know the terms indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Indwelling is the Holy Spirit residing in you when you accept Him as you saviour. Infilling is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You and I are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. We have to pray to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That is the experience of Acts 2.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples on how we can receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:9-11 9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? It’s a free gift. You can receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit in His power, might, authority, speaking in tongues, visions, prophesy, discernment provided you ask and wait in the presence of God.
2. The Holy Spirit removes our condemnation and gives us life.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Just as the Holy Spirit who moved upon the waters and was agent of creation, the Holy Spirit is waiting for people to be saved today. The moment anyone accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit redeems that person from sin and give the new birth. So the Holy Spirit removes our condemnation and gives us life.
So dear friend when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit you were saved, you were moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. When you trusted Jesus as saviour by the power of the Holy Spirit that condemnation was removed. You are not condemned. Jesus took that upon himself in your place on the cross. You do not need to fear the fires of hell for eternity.
3. The Holy Spirit gives us peace with God.
Romans 8:15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Abba Father – The closes meaning of the word Abba is Daddy. That is a very precious name that a child has for his father. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. That is exactly what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit in salvation. You become the son/daughter of God. There is peace with God.
So once you receive the Holy Spirit you do not live in fear. If there is any fear in your heart that is not the Holy Spirit, that is another spirit. The Holy Spirit takes out every fear –Failure, rejection, sickness or pain, loneliness, death etc. I bind every fear to leave out of God’s people right now.
4. The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf.
The Holy Spirit prays for us. Imagine that. When we pray, the Holy Spirit prays to God the Father for us. Romans 8:26-27 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
We pray for so many things. Sometimes we do not know what to pray. Perhaps it was a time of difficulty or distress for you and you cried, you just did not know how to pray. Sometimes you did sin and prayed. Dear friend the Holy Spirit was indwelling your body and He was praying for you, he was praying in the will of God for you.
Undoubtedly there have been times in our life when we have been praying for the wrong things. Sometimes that is not what God wants and that might become a real tragedy for me. I am so glad that the Holy Spirit who indwells within me prays for me to the Father, the right way according to the will of God. So the Holy Spirit intercedes for me in prayer.
That brings a question to my mind and the question is this, do you pray? The Holy Spirit is praying for you but do you give him anything to intercede within? You and I should work on our prayer lives knowing that the Holy Spirit is there praying with us.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. All things work for good for whom? It is not something which just happens incidentally in life, it is something which takes place because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit within your life. For born again, praying believers all is going to work out for our good in the end; because of the Holy Spirit in us.
5. The Holy Spirit guarantees our resurrection.
Romans 8:11 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 because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Born again men and woman who died in Christ are going to be made alive again, resurrected from the grave because of the Holy Spirit. Most of us have loved ones who have died, and the Holy Spirit will bring them back to life at the resurrection. What a mighty God we serve.
6. The Holy Spirit is God for us. Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? See the words – “These things.”
Here the Bible says in response to these things the Holy Spirit is God. There is a progression from verse to verse in this chapter which leads up to say that the Holy Spirit is God.
Look back at v26. Romans 8:26 In the same way, (that word ‘in the same way’ ties verse 26 back to the preceding verses about the Holy Spirit) the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:27 And (Conjunction linking the working of the Holy Spirit) he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 1:28 And (Conjunction linking the working of the Holy Spirit) we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 1:29 For (Connecting with the previous verse) whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 1:30 And (Again a connecting word) those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
From the beginning of this chapter, it is all tied to the Holy Spirit. Now see the next verse:
Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Now as a result of all what the Holy Spirit does to us, the Bible says Holy Spirit is God. If God be for us, who can be against us?
You and I must understand that the Holy Spirit inside of us is God in us. No one can come against you if God is in you and for you. What makes us more than conquerors? - The Holy Spirit. What makes all things work for the good for us? – The Holy Spirit.
Now since the Holy Spirit is in you: Romans 1:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
So the Holy Spirit is God for us. Who can condemn us if God justifies us?
7. The Holy Spirit is the love of Christ always with us.
Romans 1:35-39 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (The Holy Spirit is always dwelling within you, always carrying our his ministry in your life) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? (in the midst of this all the Holy Spirit is still living within you and interceding for you) 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. (Difficulties can come in the life of a believer, sometimes terrible difficulties but) 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusion: My dear friend if you know Jesus as your saviour, the Holy Spirit of God, God himself lives within you. He is in person the love of Christ always with you. So no matter what circumstances you go through. God is good. He will make you conquerors. You have a flourishing finish. You have a great destinity because the Holy Spirit is in you. Amen!
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