The Holy Spirit And The Believer

The Holy Spirit and Church

Acts 1:8-1:8

The Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal printed the following questions actually asked of witnesses during trial lawyers:

• The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?

• Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?

• How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?

• You were there until the time you left, is that true?

Today We are going to try to answer some of the tough questions surrounding this important subject.

This teaching has been abused by an unbalanced focus on tongues that sets up a sort of spiritual elitism—the have’s and the have nots.

-This too can cause many of us to miss all that God has for us.

A correct understanding of the Bible’s teaching on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is like aiming the gun at the target,

Experiencing God’s fullness and power is like pulling the trigger—which only the Spirit can do.

I. In the Old Testament, there are two

primary functions of the Holy Spirit:

A. The first function of the Holy Spirit in the Old

Testament is…… Power

1. While the Spirit’s empowering work is evident in the OT, it was limited to select individuals and He “came upon” them for a relatively brief period of time for a specific purpose (prophesy, deliverance).

B. The Old Testament looks for to a new day when the

Messiah, Jesus, would bring about an age when all

of God’s people would receive this empowerment to

do God’s work.

In Joel expresses that hope

Joel 2:28-32, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved”

1. In contrast to the Old era, when the Spirit’s work

was limited to select individuals..

2. The outpouring of the Spirit in this future age

will extend to all God’s people and will be

characterized by the Spirit’s empowering work.

The second function of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is Purification.

A. The Old Testament looks ahead to the Spirit’s

future inner-transforming or purifying work.

This is clearly seen in Ezekiel 36:25-27:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezekiel is describing a new age where God would transform the hearts of His people by God’s own Spirit taking up residence in each individual.

II. What is the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

It depends on who you ask. You need to understand

that biblical writers sometimes use the same

words and phrases in different ways.

The same phrase used by different people in different circumstances can mean different things.

1. According to Paul

1 Corinthians 12:13, 13 For we were all baptized by

one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks,

slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit

to drink.”

Paul’s teachings on the Holy Spirit mostly emphasize the Spirit’s inner-transforming or purifying work.

Salvation – Purification

2. According to Luke

He emphasizes, almost exclusively, the Spirit’s

role in empowering the believer for service.

Luke 24:49 - I am going to send you what my Father

has promised; but stay in the city until you have

been clothed with power from on high.

Acts 1:4-8:

1On one occasion, while he [Jesus] was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” John clearly baptized people “in” water, to baptize is to dunk, immerse, submerge. This is the comparison that Jesus set up of being baptized “in” the Spirit.]

6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

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.”