The Ministry Of The Holy Spirit Series

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit Part 4

John 16:7-15

(From Steve Meenho Kang, Live by the Spirit (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2022)

Currently we are going through the message series, “The Holy Spirit.”

During this series, we are examining the work of the Holy Spirit.

First week, we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit.

Second week, we talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Third week, we talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit.

And today we will talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

When I first attended church, I had a difficulty understand the Holy Spirt.

I understood God the Father.

I understood about the Heavenly Father who loves me.

I also understood God the Son Jesus Christ.

I have seen pictures of Jesus, the blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus.

Then there was the Holy Spirit, and I just could not understand Him.

I think many people had similar experiences.

Some Christians over-emphasize the Holy Spirit.

For them, everything is the Holy Spirit.

However, others under-emphasize the Holy Spirit.

We understand God the Father.

We understand God the Son.

And then there is that the other guy.

We know there is the Trinity.

And we know that there is the Holy Spirit.

But when we think about the Holy Spirit, we think about those weird people over there.

Therefore today, we want to talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

We want to think about what role He plays in the life of Christians.

In John 16, Jesus talked about 3 different ways that the Holy Spirit will minister to us and how we should be sensitive to His work in us.

I. We must be sensitive to His help (v. 7).

Verse 7 says this.

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus was with His disciples for over three years.

He helped them whenever they got into a trouble.

But now Jesus told them that He was going away.

When the disciples heard this, they panicked.

They felt the feeling of abandonment.

However, Jesus said that it is better for Him to go away, because in order for the Advocate to come, He had to go away.

Then and only then will He send the Holy Spirit to them.

As long as Jesus was with them in person, His work was localized.

It was impossible for Jesus to help them equally at all times and in all places.

When the Holy Spirit comes, He will help them just like Jesus helped them.

But His ministry would not be localized because He could be with everyone at once.

Here, the Holy Spirit is called “the Advocate.”

In the original Greek, it is the word, “parakletos.”

It comes from two words: “para” which means “alongside of,” like paralegal.

And “kletos” which means “called.”

Therefore, literally, “parakletos,” the Holy Spirit, is the one who is called alongside of, or to be inside of us to help us.

The Holy Spirit came on the disciples at Pentecost, empowering them to speak in other tongues, and do all sorts of miraculous works.

Now the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a supernatural life in a natural world.

However, many people live a Spirit-less life when God wants us to live a Spirit-filled and Spirit-powered life.

Why?

Let me explain this way.

It is a little bit like traveling in an airplane.

There two basic types of people.

There are people like me.

When I get on an airplane, I always turn right to go to the back of the plane, where the cheap seats are.

Then there are people who turn left.

There is a curtain that divides two sections.

I have never known what is on the other side of the curtain.

Then once I was upgraded to business class.

I walked into the plane and this time I turned left.

They have seats that turn into beds.

They bring drinks in a real glass.

You can have anything you want any time.

Coke, water, cup ramen.

For dinner, they gave me sashimi and steak.

On the other side of the curtain, there was a life that I knew nothing of!

Many Christians are going through life without His help.

They do not experience His power and His strength.

However, we have His power that is greater than we could ever imagine.

The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us.

We will face many difficulties in our lives.

But He is within us and He wants to help us.

I just came back from China after a pastors’ seminar.