Untitled

When Jesus died He broke down the barrier between God and mankind and removed the obstacles stopping us relating directly to God allowing (Jn 17:3). This meant that The Holy Spirit could now live in us, communicate with us and guide us individually. He was sent by Jesus to help us live as God required us too and so to ignore The Holy Spirit is to ignore God’s provision for living The Christian life.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

(Act 3:12) And when Peter saw it, he answered to the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

(Acts 1:8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

(Rom 8:14-16) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Why is important to study what The Holy Spirit does in the life of a follower of Jesus?

For the first 70 years of Christianity there were people alive who had seen Jesus, touched Him, learnt from Him, seen His miracles and ate with Him both before and after His death and resurrection. They knew Him and had seen his miracles as well as His rising from the dead.

We do not have that luxury now and people will usually only see Jesus now through our life, which is the expression of our faith in Him. The Holy Spirit is our guide in teaching us about Jesus and His requirements and directly affects How we express Jesus in our life. Without His guidance, teaching and empowerment we really cannot live our life as a follower of Jesus and shoe Jesus thrugh the way we live in the way He desires us to o..

It is He that gives us understanding of how to live for Jesus and empowers us to serve God. Hence the need to know Him and to study about His role in our life and how to hear His guidance more clearly. This is so He can better teach us how to live in a way that will show the world Jesus in our life as well as the difference knowing and following Jesus makes in a person. Crucially though, He teaches us how to serve Jesus His follower and as a citizen of His Kingdom.

AV-comforter 4, advocate 1, (summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid ). In the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant one who, (in a sense, goes through trials and joys with you as He goes through your life residing in your spirit).

of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom

We are in a spiritual battle and need a spiritual guide and helper to fight our spiritual enemy. Thus the translation ‘comforter’ identifies The Holy Spirit as the spiritual helper sent to help us fight this spiritual battle and who intercedes with God for our need (Rom 8:26,27) when we do not now what to pray.

He is a gentle servant waiting for us to ask for help and also working on our behalf to guide us to deal with and repel the enemy’s attacks.

The teaching on the Holy Spirit in the gospels is mainly preparative. Jesus teaches where The Holy Spirit comes from and what He will do. In Acts the work of The Holy Spirit is illustrated. Teaching on how the Holy Spirit interacts with the church is found in Paul’s epistles and must have been received by special revelation from The Holy Spirit or from Jesus, (when Paul was taught by Jesus in the wilderness for three years).

The Holy Spirit is a gift from The Father (Luke 11:13) but is given by Jesus (Jn 1:33). When we turn to Jesus to be our Lord (and thus saviour) The Holy Spirit fills our spirit and drives out demons that were there. The continual filling refers to our soul where The Holy Spirit replaces the demons that are cast out of our soul. This is to do with Holiness rather than authority or ‘power’ (which is really expressed authority).

He is given to the followers of Jesus by The Father (Jn 14:17) at the direction of Jesus (Jn 15:26).

To anoint (set apart and empower) people for ministry (Luke 4:19)

To guide them into all truth, reveal the Will of God and guide them in the things they have to do (Jn 16:13).

To testify of Jesus (Jn 15:26)

To guide them to serve in the Kingdom of God (Jn 3:5)

To guide then in true worship of The Father (Jn 4:23)

To guide them in deliverance (Mat 12:28)

To mark them as belonging to Jesus and The Kingdom of God (2 Cor 1:22)

The above teaching was exemplified in Acts, which is really the working of the Holy Spirit on the early church and the model of how The Holy Spirit should work in the church.

As it can be seen Jesus was teaching them what The Holy Spirit would do when He came to replace Him. After Jesus died, the Holy Spirit came and carried out what Jesus said He would do. (Jn 17:39).

According to what Jesus taught, if you only had The Holy Spirit and your relationship with Him and The Father, you could live the Christian life, as He requires you too. Knowledge of theology is thus shown to be irrelevant. All you need to know is The Father, Jesus and what He has done for you as well as follow The Holy Spirit’s guidance, listen to the truths He tells you and speak what He tells you. Theology only sidetracks you from the simplicity and purity of faith of The Gospel of The Kingdom of God.

It is to be noticed that in a church and society where theology is emphasized the gospel spreads much more slowly than where theology is absent as faith is more reasoned and applied less. In these theologically led societies The Holy Spirit also has a less important role and often His manifestation is missing, as is the outworking of his power and ministry through gifts and miracles.

Another comment is to observe that Jesus alone describes The Holy Spirit as a ‘comforter’. The one who walks along side us helping us every way we let Him, as we relate to God, ourselves and others. This intimacy of this relationship is what Jesus hinted at when using the word ‘comforter’. The Holy Spirit goes through our trials with us and knows our innermost thought. Thus he is a position to help us in all we do so that we glorify God by our life and serve His purposes (Rom 8:26,27).

If all we need is what Jesus taught us, then why do we need the teachings of Paul and the other New Testament Writers? God knew man’s heart and that man would make his own rules, so God gave guidance on important matters, including how the Holy Spirit was designed to fit into the scheme of salvation as well as how to live as a citizen of the Father’s Kingdom. Hence the writings of Paul and others in the New Testament on the Christian life include instruction on the role The Holy Spirit plays in the life of a Christian.

In the epistles the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian is expounded in greater detail. The need for the reliance of a Christian on The Holy Spirit is shown. A Christian cannot follow Jesus as they should if they do not walk in partnership with The Holy Spirit, led, empowered and strengthened by Him in all they do. If they do not rely on The Holy Spirit their fleshly side interferes with their Christian life, and while they may do what is right it may not be what God wants or what is best for them as it is not God’s perfect Will. They will only be doing His permissive Will which is always second best.

He is God and part of the Trinity (1 Jn 5:7) therefore He has all the attributes of God and is equal to The Father and Jesus in everything. The difference between them is solely because of the different roles they have chosen to assume. The Holy Spirit has chosen to be a servant to The Father and to us, but in a way that brings no glory to himself but instead brings Glory to Jesus and The Father.

He is called the Spirit of Holiness (Rom 1:4). His presence in something sets it apart as being Holy to God and thus sacred to God. It is interesting to note that in the New Testament no earthly places are declared to be Holy to God. Only people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells are Holy to God - His sacred (special) possession.

He is the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29). He is the one who gives us all we need to minister. The Father provides our needs (physical side), but The Holy Spirit gives us the grace (gifts etc. spiritual side) we need to minister and encourages and helps us in ministering.

He is The Spirit of Glory (1 Pet 4:14). He is the Spirit that shows the Glory of God to all. He rested on Jesus and will rest on us in our life as we uphold Jesus. The implication is that he refreshes and strengthens us to endure trials. As He ministers to us and through us (2 cor 3:8) it also brings Him Glory because of what He does in and through us. This is unintentional as He seeks only to lift up Jesus and in doing so is glorified Himself just as we have reflected Glory by our being used by Him and Jesus receives Glory as people see Him in us by what we have been used and empowered to do by The Holy Spirit.

He is The Spirit of Truth (1 Jn 5:6). All truth that we need to know (Duet 29:29) is revealed to us by The Holy Spirit. He is the one that will keep us from error if we listen to him.

He is sent By Father (Gal 4:6). The Father loves His children and has given them not only Jesus but The Holy Spirit to help them. What an amazing thing. it is that God desires us to commune with Him and has even made it possible for us to do this.

He is also received as a result of believing in Jesus (salvation – Eph 1:13) and cannot be received through the workings of The Law (Gal 3:2). The Father marks us as His very own through the Holy Spirit in us. It says to the Devil, "Hands Off! This person is my property!"

By faith (Gal 3:14) we receive the Holy Spirit as we make ourselves open to His living in us. Faith in Jesus (salvation) is the key - not faith in the Holy Spirit as that occurs as a result of salvation. One of the principles of the spiritual world is that God or Satan cannot really use us if we do not cooperate with them through our will not accepting what they want us to do.

Satan can only get you to do what you accept from Him. He suggests a thought or course of action and unless you accept it he cannot get you to do it. SIN IS OUR CHOICE!

The Holy Ghost is a witness to the new relationship we have with God that results in our sins being forgiven at Calvary and no longer affecting us spiritually if we repent of them (Heb 10:10-18). We are also sanctified (set apart and marked as belonging to God). THe understanding of His laws also being placed in our mind as the Holy spirit is now in our soul to tell us them.

We know belong to Jesus (1 Jn 3:24) because The Holy Spirit abides in us. All we know about Jesus and the spiritual world has been revealed to us by The Holy Spirit (Job 32:8).

This receiving of The Holy Spirit is not The Baptism of The Spirit. That is a separate event but may coincide with this sealing of a person by The Holy Spirit.

What is required to receive The Holy SPirit

Why was the Holy Spirit given to the disciples now and not earlier.

As we usually receive The Holy Spirit when decide to follow Jesus and He is not breathed on us then by another, why did Jesus breathe on them to give them the Holy Spirit as their seal of belonging to Him.

After the death of Jesus the disciples left off ministering and went back to their former occupations.

After He had risen and by this verified who He was (the Christ) they left all and followed Him and now were truly His followers and so received The Spirit to verify this. They still had to wait for Pentecost to be anointed by The Spirit and empowered to do the work Jesus wanted them to do.

This breathing is in allusion to God’s breathing the breath of life into man, something only God can do (spiritual life not just physical life). It is not a person breathing a gift of The Holy Spirit or The Holy Spirit Himself into a person as Jesus alone gives The Holy Spirit on behalf of The Father and The Holy Spirit releases the gifts as needed by a person and not as the person asks or thinks they need.

So you do not need to breathe on a person for them to be sealed (receive) by The Spirit at salvation or to receive The Spirit at any other time. It is something Jesus does and not you. Breathing on a person does not baptize them in the spirit (anoint them for ministry ). Jesus does that and you have no part in it except by faith to breathe on them as a witness to God’s working so to breathe on a person for any other reason is idolatry as it is from you and not from God.

To breathe on a person without the direction of The Holy Spirit is not of God and may allow Satan in as the person is receptive to a spirit entering and it is not The Holy Spirit who is entering so it can only be a demon.

To breathe on a person anyway because of Pentecost is wrong as it says there was a sound like a wind and not that there was a wind blowing so to try and imitate this wind is also incorrect.

Jn 14:15-17 If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.