The Holy Spirit In You. Series

“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