Intro
Have you ever felt like you did not have what it takes to live the Christian life? Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the challenges of life? What do you do when you feel like circumstances are pressing in on you with almost irresistible force? Perhaps you have never experienced those feelings. But the disciples did on the night Jesus was betrayed.
They were in the upper room eating a meal during the Passover feast.i We refer to it as the Last Supper. Jesus revealed to them his imminent departure. Judas is exposed as Christ’s betrayer. One of their own has proved to be an impostor.ii Peter is told that he is about to deny the Lord three times.iii The situation has thrown them into a state of despondency. They know their utter dependence on Christ. He is about to leave them. The authorities are coming down on Jesus, but the whole group is at risk.
I want you to get a sense of their emotional state when Jesus says these words to them in John 14:16-17: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.”iv Let me make the application to any believer who is feeling overwhelmed with your circumstances. Jesus says to you: “I have asked the Father, and he has given you another advocate to help you.”
That other advocate is the Holy Spirit. Amid all our struggles, we can easily lose sight of the tremendous help that is available to us. Do not underestimate this infinite source of strength. The word translated “advocate” is parakletos. It is impossible to translate it into another language with just one word. It is variously translated as Comforter, Counselor, advocate, or Helper. The Amplified Bible says, “Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby).” Each of those words captures part of the meaning but not all. The Greek word basically means “one called alongside to help.”v
We get a sense of the Holy Spirit’s significance when we realize he is replacing Jesus for these disciples. Jesus was the first Parakletos, and the Holy Spirit is the second. The Holy Spirit “is to be to us all that Jesus was to his disciples.”vi Spurgeon asked the question: “What would that little company of disciples have been as went through the streets of Jerusalem without the Lord?”vii Their influence would have been negligible. And what would they have been after Jesus’s ascension without the Holy Spirit? They still would have been a small band of people with insignificant influence. The empowerment of their influence was the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus commanded them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit, those people turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Without the Holy Spirit they would been totally ineffective.
Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we, too, are ineffective—no matter how industrious and well-intentioned we may be. One of our greatest errors is to underestimate our need for the Holy Spirit. One reason the church is so weak is that we try to do God’s work in our own strength. Sixty-nine percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians.viii Can you imagine what America would be like if all those people were filled with the Holy Spirit? If even one-tenth of them were filled with the Spirit, they would turn this nation upside down for Christ.
The problem in America is only secondarily political, only secondarily philosophical. The most fundamental problem is a lack of the Spirit in the church. Your greatest need and my greatest need is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When that is properly in place, everything else follows.
But it is very easy to neglect this most important need. We learn better leadership skills. We upgrade our technology. We study our Bibles more diligently with better study helps. We reach out to the community with benevolent efforts. All those things are good. But without the power of the Holy Spirit, they are relatively ineffective.
That is why Jesus told his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). We are busy people. We are an impatient generation wanting our instant coffee and our fast food. We are running to and fro trying to get something done. And in the end, get very little done.
Wait until you are endued with power from on high. The American church does not want to wait. As a result, she is not (for the most part) endued with the power of the Holy Spirit. Our unwillingness to wait for divine enablement, betrays our inner sense of self-sufficiency. Some churches have attained superficial success through effective marketing strategies. They can get people to attend their meetings. But those meetings have little effect on the lifestyles of the attendees. They are part of that sixty-nine percent of professed Christians who have almost no influence as salt and light.ix We must remember that our assignment is not big attendance per se, but to make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20). Being a disciple is a full-time commitment, far more than a two-hour event on Sunday morning.x Our greatest need is a fresh empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
To emphasize that point, I want to share seven reasons the Holy Spirit is necessary for our success as God’s people.xi
I. The Holy Spirit is necessary for the CONVICTION of sin that leads to salvation.
In John 16:5-11, Jesus is telling the disciples that his departure is a good thing because it opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come into their lives in a more intimate way than ever before.xii In verse 5, Jesus says to them: “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart [We pointed this out at the beginning of this message]. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper [Parakletos] will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” Then in verse 8, Jesus declares to them what the Holy Spirit will do when he comes: “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”xiii
You and I cannot “convict the world of sin.” That is something only the Holy Spirit can do. We can declare truth, and the Holy Spirit canl use that declaration in his work. But conviction of sin depends entirely on the Holy Spirit. If he is not there functioning, you can get people to join your church club, but you cannot bring them into the kingdom of God.
When I was 14 years old, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and of the judgment that awaited me if I did not repent. I do not remember what the preacher said the night I got saved. He was an evangelist, and I’m sure he was proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
The declaration of the gospel is an essential part of God’s way of salvation. But it was not the preacher’s words that transformed my life. It was the influence of the Holy Spirit convincing me of my sinful condition and my need for God’s mercy. That is what made all the difference. In a moment’s time, I knew that my eternal destiny was at stake, and I must, I must, respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Without that conviction, no one gets saved.
When I bowed before God and threw myself on his mercy, God worked a radical change in my inner most being. I have never been the same since. Thank God for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We are dependent on him for the conviction that leads to salvation.
II. The Holy Spirit is necessary for the strength to OVERCOME sin as a believer.
In Romans 7, Paul talks about our struggle with sin, We cannot overcome sin by willpower alone. It will always end in failure. The effort may make us religious, but it will not make us holy. It will either produce a hypocritical self-righteousness like the Pharisees of Jesus’s day. Or it will produce despondency in the more sincere soul. The struggle in Romans 7 draws toward a conclusion with this statement in verse 24: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” Trying to be good by performing the duties of the law will leave any honest person to that point of failure. So, what is the answer? Paul declares it in the next verse: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” And who is the agent that makes that deliverance possible? It is the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus to help us and empower us to live pleasing to the God.
Paul explains this further as we move past the chapter break into Romans 8:1-4: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Living “according to the Spirit” is the key to a victorious Christian life. Our godliness as Christians depends on the continued influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He alone can pour God’s love into hearts (Rom. 5:5). It is God, the Holy Spirit, “who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”xiv We must receive his influence on our will. We must have his strength to do what is right. Without that influence we just become religious. We either become indulgent people whose primary value is tolerance—using God’s grace as a cover for any and all
sin. Or we become religious Pharisees living by a rigid code of behavior with the heart far from God (Matt. 15:8). Neither is a good place to be.
James 4:8 carries a wonderful promise: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” This is the key to living above the power of sin. We stay close to God in our hearts. As we worship, we cherish his presence. And his presence softens our hearts with God’s tender love. We experience his love, and it causes us to love him and do his good pleasure. We come under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and he produces holiness from the inside out. God promises to draw near to us if we draw near to him. Being in intimacy with him produces the changes we need.
We must avoid Spirit-less Christianity. We must avoid that form of godliness that does not empower the heart with God’s love (2 Tim. 3:5). Instead, we nurture intimacy with the Lord, and in that place of intimacy the Holy Spirit works sanctification in our lives. The Holy Spirit is necessary for the strength to overcome sin as a believer.
III. The Holy Spirit is necessary for JOY that keeps the soul satisfied.
Isaiah 12:3 extends this promise to God’s people: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” God has rich, refreshing depths of salvation that will fill your soul with joy. His part is to make it available to you. Your part is to act in faith and draw that refreshment from the Holy Spirit who is often symbolized by water.xv This verse (Isaiah 12:3) was chanted by the priests on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.”xvi In John 7, on that day, Jesus stood up and shouted: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (v. 37). He is still saying that to you and me. Are you thirsty?xvii Come to the Lord and draw upon the waters of his great salvation. It will refresh your soul and fill you with joy.
Joy is often linked with being filled with the Spirit. For example, Acts 13 talks about Paul’s ministry in Antioch. Then the chapter concludes with these words: “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (v. 52). Romans 14:17 tells us “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Our righteousness comes through the Holy Spirit. Our peace is found in the Holy Spirit. And real joy is experienced in the Holy Spirit.
Are you experiencing the joy of the Holy Spirit? Are you drawing water from the wells of salvation “with joy”? If not, you will be tempted to find joy and satisfaction somewhere else. Some people will reach into the depths of debauchery to find pleasure and satisfaction. Others will pursue worldly pleasure in more refined and socially acceptable ways. It is part of our human make-up to pursue joy. You were made to be joyful. If you are not receiving that in the Holy Spirit, you will be sorely tempted to find it in the pleasures that the world and the flesh offer.xviii We need the joy of the Lord that only the Holy Spirit can give. When God’s people are not experiencing joy in the Holy Spirit, they will find their pleasure in some other way.
Ephesians 5:18 instructs believers: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” There we have a contrast between two pursuits of pleasure and satisfaction. One pursuit is illustrated with being drunk on alcohol, something very common among unbelievers. That is set in contrast to being filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit leads to righteousness, peace, and joy.xix Being drunk on alcohol leads to debauchery. The consequences of those two pursuits are very different.xx
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4 NKJV). The more we are delighting in the Lord, the less we need the world’s entertainment to keep us satisfied. In Isaiah 55:2 God asked his people this question: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?” (NKJV). Their entertainment costs were high, yet they were still not satisfied.
Many Christians today endure the church service as a laborious duty. Their hearts are not in it. They are anticipating the conclusion so they can go pursue what they really delight in. You can tell what you delight in because you look forward to it, you talk about it, and you pursue it with your time and energy. The alternative is drawing joy and fulfillment in the Holy Spirit. That’s why we pursue his presence. The Holy Spirit is necessary for joy that keeps the soul satisfied.
IV. The Holy Spirit is necessary for understanding TRUTH.
In his farewell address to the disciples, Jesus said in John 16:12-14: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”
The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth.” He alone can reveal Scripture as God intends it to be understood. There are people who have dedicated their whole lives to Bible study and have never been born again. Some of them are professors at Bible colleges and seminaries. They have never come to the knowledge of truth in a way that benefits them eternally. They are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7 NKJV). Why is that?
They have not received “the Spirit of truth” to guide them into truth. The world through human wisdom cannot know God regardless of how religious they are.xxi Neither can they know God’s truth without the revelation that only the Holy Spirit can give. We need the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. We need to seek him for that. We need to depend on him for that. Bible study is profoundly important. But it is only beneficial if the Holy Spirit is illuminating it and applying it to our lives.xxii
V. The Holy Spirit is necessary for our PRAYERS to be effective.
Last week we discussed the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11.xxiii One of the principles we talked about was the importance of praying in the will of God. How do pray according to the Father’s will. Scripture is full of revelation about that, and the more we know what God has revealed in his word, the more we are able to align ourselves with his will.
But we need to pray in the power of the Spirit as well as in the will of the Father. We need a passion and intensity that only the Holy Spirit can give. Romans 8:26-27 talks about how the Holy Spirit can take us beyond our human limitations into more effective intercession: “In 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. 27 And 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.”
When we are praying for others, the Holy Spirit can enable us to pray more specifically for what God wants to do. A new Christian will just pray his own thoughts. That is not wrong, but there is a higher level of intercession in which the Holy Sprit is directing and empowering the prayer. We want to learn how to pray that way. As we mature in prayer, we learn to make it a cooperative activity dependent on the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us pray. He is necessary for our prayers to be effective.
VI. The Holy Spirit is necessary for WISDOM to navigate our daily lives.
He not only leads us into truth doctrinally, but he gives wisdom for our daily decisions, big and small. It can be something as simple as where did I lay my keys? Or it may be something significant, like should I sell my house and move to New York? Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us through our Christian journey.xxiv Scripture gives us principles that are helpful in making daily decisions. But Scripture does not specifically tell me what job to take, what woman to marry, what ministry to enter. We need the Holy Spirit to give us supernatural insight for making those determinations. Instead of leaning on our own understanding, we acknowledge the Holy Spirit and ask him for wisdom (James 1:5).
In Acts 13, some of the prophets and teachers were fasting and praying. Verse 2 says: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” The next verse describes them sending Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey. Do you see how crucial the Holy Spirit was in that strategy? They did not spend their time analyzing the culture and interviewing people for the job, hoping to get a good match. They did not go through a democratic process trying to figure out what a good step would be.xxv They fasted and prayed, and the Holy Spirit told them what to do. The more we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us, the better our decisions will be.
In Acts 15, the apostles were trying to resolve a significant conflict about keeping the Jewish law. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they addressed the problem. They listened to one another’s concerns. They came to a decision and communicated that decision in a letter. The letter included this statement: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (v. 28). They did not decide independent of the Holy Spirit. They resolved the problem through the wisdom given by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is necessary for wisdom to navigate our daily lives.xxvi
VII. The Holy Spirit is necessary for MINISTRY empowerment.
Jesus described the supernatural nature of New Testament ministry in the Great Commission. In Mark 16:15-18 he said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
This kind of supernatural ministry was demonstrated by Jesus, and we see it happening throughout the book of Acts. Even Jesus’s ministry depended on the Holy Spirit for the deliverances, miracles, and healings.xxvii That was the model, and it has not changed. There is nothing in the Bible that says the church ceased to be supernatural. The gifts of the Holy Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 are just as relevant and needed today as they were in the first century.xxviii We have a supernatural enemy that cannot be defeated with natural, fleshly efforts. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to accompany the gospel of Christ.
If the gifts are for today, why don’t we see them in operation more? Those gifts only function when the Holy Spirit is actively working. They are entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). If he is grieved by our lifestyles or by our self-sufficiency or by our impure motives, we may not function in these supernatural ministry expressions. We must submit ourselves to God in purity of heart and lifestyle. We must humble ourselves before God in a dependence upon him. We must obey his directives rather than leaning on our own understanding. We must seek God with all our hearts.xxix We must wait upon him for his divine enablement. When we choose to not do those things, we are on our own, and that is not very effective.
In Acts 1, the disciples were ready to get on with the program. They wanted to know the times and the season. In verse 6, they asked the risen Christ, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus’s answer is packed with revelation about how we are to occupy ourselves until he comes. Verse 7: “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” Our job is to receive enablement from the Holy Spirit and in his power declare the good news of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is necessary for ministry empowerment.
We have processed seven reasons the Holy Spirit’s activity is essential for our success as God’s people. To clarify this further, I want to tell you what happens to the church when each of these activities of the Spirit are missing. I will first list one of the seven areas in which the Holy Spirit operation is necessary. After the colon, I will share the impact of not being submitted to the Spirit in that respect.
NECESSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR: CONSEQUENCE OF NOT BEING SUBMITTED TO THE SPIRIT IN THIS RESPECT
I. Conviction of Sin That Leads to Salvation: Church Becomes a Gathering of Mostly Unconverted People and Lukewarm Christians with Little Impact on the World.
II. Strength to Overcome Sin as a Believer: Church Fails to be Salt and Light as Grace Is Used to Justify Sin.
III. Joy That Keeps the Soul Satisfied: Members Do Church as a Duty But Find Their Delight in Worldly Amusements.
IV. Understanding Truth: Members Study the Bible as an Intellectual Pursuit with No Intention of Following Its Commands.
V. Our Prayers to Be Effective: Token Prayers Are Offered with Little Expectation of Results and Minimal Effort Given to Prayer.
VI. Wisdom to Navigate Our Daily Lives: Members Make Decisions the Same Way the World Does with Little Dependence on Divine Direction.
VII. Ministry Empowerment: Church Becomes a Social Center Doing Nice Things to Ease the Conscience.
What we have just described is the modern lukewarm church (Rev. 3:14-22). It is a distorted version of the powerful people God intends for the church to be. When the Holy Spirit is not given proper place in the church, believers (both individually and corporately) rely on frail human ability to live godly and do ministry. What all of us need is a fresh infilling of Holy Spirit.
We Pentecostals can criticize other groups for their neglect of the Holy Spirit. After all, our distinctive is the emphasis on the Holy Spirit. We refer to ourselves as “Spirit-Filled.” But are we that in name only? Are the realities of the Holy Spirit that we have examined today evident in our lives and churches?xxx To some extent, they are, but we have a long way to go. It is not enough to have a one-time baptism in the Holy Spirit and coast on that from then on. We are to be filled with the Spirit and stay filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 commands Christians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” The word translated “be filled” (pleroo) is in the present, imperative, passive tense. Imperative means it is a command; it is not optional. Passive means we submit ourselves to God who does the filling. We cannot fill ourselves with the Spirit, and we cannot fill one another with the Spirit. We can position ourselves to receive it. The present tense indicates something we do on an ongoing basis. We cannot live on the water we drank five days ago. Our bodies need to be refreshed with water on a daily basis. Christians must not try to live on an infilling of the Spirit received sometime in the past. We need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit on an ongoing basis. “Be filled with the Spirit.”
That is a command, but in it we have an invitation as well. In the light of all the benefits of the Holy Spirit, it is a glorious invitation—an invitation to be fully equipped for life and ministry—an invitation to live in the righteousness, peace, and joy that only the Holy Spirit can give. May the Lord stir us all to ask and receive fresh fillings of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
ENDNOTES:
i There is some debate as to whether they were eating the Passover meal or a meal in preparation for the Passover in John 13. However, in the Synoptic accounts they were eating the Passover meal (Luke 22:7-38). Powell concludes a discussion about this by saying, “Certain things might be argued for both viewpoints; the important thing is that these events really happened.” Ivor Powell, John’s Wonderful Gospel, 1962 (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1983 275.
ii While Judas’s betrayal was painful for Jesus, all the disciples felt betrayed by him. They did not see it coming because they did not discern his true nature.
iii See John 13:33, 38.
iv All Scripture quotes are from the New International Version (2011) unless indicated otherwise.
v Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Greek Lexicon to the New Testament, Baker Greek New Testament Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000, Bibleworks 6.0) s.v. “parakletos.”
vi Charles Spurgeon, “The Paraclete,” in Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia: Sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978), 22.
vii Charles Spurgeon, “The Paraclete,” in Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia: Sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978), 22.
viii George Barna, “Release #6: What Does It Mean When People Say They Are “Christian,” Cultural Research Center, Arizona Christian University. Accessed at https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CRC_AWVI2021_Release06_Digital_01_20210831.pdf. Of course, many of these people are not even born again. And many who are born again do not have a biblical world view and live their lives much like the unsaved people around them.
ix Matt. 5:13-16.
x See Luke 14:25-35.
xi These seven are not exhaustive but should alert us to the necessity of the Holy Spirit. We will only have time to briefly address each one.
xii Cf. John 14:17; 1 Cor. 6:17.
xiii For an exposition of these verses see, Richard Tow, “Cause for Encouragement,” Sermon Central. Accessed at https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/cause-for-encouragement-richard-tow-sermon-on-holy-spirit-attributes-83260.
xiv Philippians 2:13 NKJV.
xv Cf. John 7:38-39.
xvi F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible, Isa. 12:3. Accessed in Biblesoft data base (2014).
xvii Cf. Ps. 42:1; Matt. 5:6. For an exposition on Jesus’s fourth beatitude, see Richard W. Tow, Beatitudes of Christ: Pathway of Blessing (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2024), 115-124.
xviii Cf. 1 John 2:15-17. For an exposition of 1 John 2:15-17, Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John ((Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), see 95-110.
xix Rom. 14:17.
xx Gal. 6:7-8.
xxi See 1 Cor. 1:21. 1 Cor. 2:14: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
xxii A key to knowing truth is a willingness to do whatever Scripture tells us to do. To know truth in a profitable way, we must be doers of the word and not just hearers (James 1:22).
xxiii Richard Tow, “Unanswered Prayer,” Sermon Central. Accessed at https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/unanswered-prayer-richard-tow-sermon-on-prayer-283513.
xxiv Consider Paul’s dependence on the Holy Spirit in Acts 27.
xxv It is not necessarily wrong to exercise this kind of prudence. However, we get into trouble when our confidence is in those human endeavors instead of relying on and hearing the Holy Spirit.
xxvi Consider the way Paul relied on the Holy Spirit to help him navigate the crisis in Acts 27.
xxvii Jesus did his ministry as a man filled with the Holy Spirit. According to Philippians 2:5-11, in the incarnation he laid aside his divine prerogatives so that as a man he could function as our substitute on the cross. He is the perfect example of a man operating in the power of the Holy Spirit.
xxviii Cessationists often refer to 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 for support of their position. The passage does teach that the gifts of the Spirit will pass away in the final consummation when God becomes all in all (1 Cor. 15:20-28). But they are needed throughout this present age. For an informed explanation of this, see Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary of the New Testament, Bruce Stone and Gordon Fee, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 640-652.
xxix Cf. Jer. 29:13.
xxx There is a biblical way to seek the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit which is modeled by the early church in the New Testament. There are no short cuts. When people try to operate in the supernatural without due repentance and submission to God, they can be exposed to deception. I am alarmed when I see fellow believers viewing the Holy Spirit as being like a Jeanie in a Bottle that they can use. One key difference between authentic supernation operations of the Holy Spirit versus counterfeit spirits is this: We do not manage and manipulate the Holy Spirit with our methods and techniques like the occultists do. We submit ourselves to God and follow the will of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11).
