His Work in a Believer

The presence of The Holy Spirit in us sets us apart for God by marking us as belonging to God

His presence sanctifies us (1Pe 1:2). It sets us apart for God and this should be shown by our lifestyle (fruit of Holy Spirit and attitudes of God in us) that we belong to Jesus and His Kingdom..

His presence shows we are justified (in a correct relationship) with God (1Co 6:11. He declares we are worthy to approach God because He is in us and we are righteous (in a correct relationship with God).

His presence renews and regenerates us (Tit 3:5). He restores us to a correct lifestyle when we decide to follow Jesus and renews us when we fall away into sin if we repent and once again endeavour to follow Jesus.

His presence changes us into the image of Jesus as we follow what He teaches us as well as letting Him work in us changing our attitudes and habits (2Co 3:18). Hence the warning in Gal 3:3;

"Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

His presence bears fruit in us (Gal 5:22,23.) I will deal with the fruit in detail later as it is how we represent the character of God in this world.

His presence in us allows God’s goodness to be directed towards us and guides us to the correct relationship for this to happen (Eph 5:9).

His presence gives us the patience to pursue complete righteousness in faith. (Gal 5:5).

God’s Love is in The Holy Spirit and His presence in us allows God’s Love to be in us and not just directed towards us (Col 1:8). This is the difference between a Christian and non-Christian. A Christian has God’s Love in them because The Holy Spirit is in their spirit. A non-Christian can only have God’s Love directed to them and cannot really display it to others in the way a Christian can.

His presence gives us peace and joy

As we labour as a citizen of The Kingdom of God (Rom 14:17)

Through His power in us (Rom 15:13)

Even in trials (1Th 1:6)

His presence stops us being sensual (Jud 1:19) enabling us to avoid the lusts that attempt to snare us (1 Jn 2:15,16).

His presence strengthens the inner man (Eph 3:16) so we can do the things God wants us to do.

His presence guides us to understand the truths God wants us to teach us so we can love others truthfully and not from wrong motives (1Pe 1:22).

His presence in us helps deliver us from trials (Phi 1:19) as He sustains us and guides us through them so we complete them and are delivered from them.

His presence removes us from observing the requirements of The Law (Gal 5:18) as we are now under the forgiveness Jesus obtained for us at Calvary. We are no longer under The Law but under The Grace of God (Acts 15).

He marks us as belonging to Jesus

The Father adopts us as His own and sends The Holy Spirit to mark us and evidence to this (Rom 8:15) and because of this we have access to he Father (Eph 2:18).

His presence in us also places God’s Love in our hearts so we can show it to all (Rom 5:5). This goes with the new heart we are given and occurs because The Holy Spirit sheds God’s Love into our new spiritual heart.

He guides us in worshipping and obeying God (Phil 3:3) so that we have no trust in fleshly ways of doing things. Remember, worship is by the way we obey Jesus in all we do and The Holy Spirit Guides us in this.

He keeps the good things of God in us that God has committed to us (2 Tim 1:14)

He lives in us and shows by this we belong to Jesus (Rom 8:9)

He brings back physically dead people to life (Rev 11:11).

He unifies the body of Christ and builds it into a place for God to live in and use and by our unity with the ‘Body of Christ’ showing we are also are living as we should in relation to God (Eph 2:22), (Eph 4:3), (1 Jn 4:13).

We have the Earnest (God’s guarantee) of The Spirit to indicate God has bound himself to us (an earnest is something of value given by one person to another to bind and evidence a contract (2 Cor 5:5). There is nothing we can give God to show this relationship except our Love and Obedience so once again (in His Grace) God shows His Love to us and gives us something tangible instead to evidence this relationship (The Holy Spirit).

The Holy Spirit lives in us showing that we are God’s Temple (1 Cor 3:16). There is a warning not to defile the Temple of God in us (our spirit) which is where the Holy Spirit resides (1 Cor 2:17). We have the Holiness of God in our spirit which should fill us with awe and make us want to separate from us all that destroys this Holiness. We are also not our own to command as Jesus has purchased us with His Blood (1 Co 6:19) and should flee that which tries to make us reject the rulership of Jesus.

If we obey and serve Him, He Rewards us with everlasting life as well as other rewards in heaven. (Gal 6:8).

Work in non-believer or backsliding Christian

We see in the lives of these people nothing happening but in reality The Holy Spirit is trying to convict them of their wrong doings and their need to repent and seek Jesus. We need to have faith in The Holy Spirit and His working as being God He is doing the best that can be done to draw these people back to Jesus. We need to be patient and conduct spiritual warfare as He instructs us too so the enemy cannot interfere in the work of The Spirit in these people.

He is patient. It is we who are impatient expecting Him to work overnight and do miracles. We need to have faith in His working and His doing what is best and just wait in this faith for Him to do what He can with these people. We also to be available when He asks us to do something in regard to them.

He fellowships with us

Through fellowshipping with The Holy Spirit we fellowship with each other (Phil 2:1)

He motivates people (not forces) to confess Jesus has come in the flesh and by this show they belong to Jesus (1 Jn 4:2-3 ).

He helps us with our problems when we do not know what to do as He knows what God wants and can intercede on our behalf with God for what we need (Rom 8:26,27) to deal with our problems.

He guides us

The Holy Spirit in us verifies we are God’s children by adoption and shows this by leading us in our daily life, if we allow Him too (Rom. 8:14,16).

The Holy Spirit in us also guides us as to what we should be accepting as inputs into our life (Rom 8:5).

He talks to us in a way we can hear (Heb 3:7).

He also talks to churches if they will listen to Him (Rev 2:29).

He tells the Future and warns us of dangers (1Ti 4:1)

He inspires people to write about the things of God (2 Pet 1:21 )

The Holy Spirit gives us visions of spiritual things (Rev 4:2

He reveals the deep things of God as He knows the mind of God (1Co 2:9).

He reveals what God has freely given us (1 Co 2:12)

He reveals The Father and gives us knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17).

He reveals The Gospel and empowers the presentation of it (1Th 1:5

He revealed the suffering and Glorification of Jesus before it happened (1Pe 1:11)

He teaches us how to compare things that are spiritual with each other (1Co 2:13).

He teaches us the Mind of Christ (1Co 2:16).

When He ‘controls’ us we can tell of mysteries of God (1Co 14:2). This occurs when we are "in the spirit" (Rev 1:10)

Witnesses to God and Jesus

He witnesses Jesus has come to earth and died in a human body (1 Jn 5: & 8).

He witnesses to the trinity in Heaven (1 Jn 5:7)

He witnesses to Jesus and gives us the knowledge and understanding to call Jesus our Lord. (1 Cor 12:3).

He bears witness to the truths in our conscience as we speak about Jesus (Rom 9:1).

He unifies the body of Christ and because of this we are able to have fellowship with God and others (1 Cor 12:13, 2 Cor 13:14).

His Love and Presence brings unity (Rom 15:30). There is only one spirit, one faith, one body (Eph 4:4) and one gospel (Phil 1:27).

He assists in preaching the Ministry of The Kingdom

He empowers the presentation of The Gospel and works with us to present the Gospel with heavenly wisdom and not just man’s reasonings (1 Cor 2:4, 1 Pet 1:12).

He reveals the Gospel (the good news of what God has done for us) (Eph 3:5).

He assists in preaching The Gospel, evidencing the truth of the preaching with signs and wonders (Rom 15:19).

He gives Gifts to the followers of Jesus (1 Cor 12:4-11), for the purposes of confirming the Gospel (Heb 2:3,4), and establishing the followers of Jesus (1:11).

He empowers us and matures God’s Love us, as well as a giving us a sound mind because of the truths of God in us (1 Tim 2:7).

John 16:8-11 He convicts people of sin

To convict people they have fallen short of the requirements of God and as such are in rebellion to Him and are also not following Jesus as Lord of their life.

To convict people of their incorrect relationship with God, that eternal life is found in a proper relationship with Jesus and The Father (Jn 17:3)

To convict people of the judgment of Satan and his kingdom, that there is a judgement of those who reject God and are by default members of the kingdom of Satan and that they too are under judgment

It is The Father who gives a person an understanding of their need for Jesus and draws people to Jesus. Once they accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour then The Holy Spirit ministers to them.

What is our role in evangelism?

We are to be available for The Holy Spirit to speak the words He needs to use so He can convict people of the three things above. If He does not do this then it is done through the wisdom of man and words and not the Power of The Holy Spirit.

Commands in respect of The Holy Spirit

We are to use the Sword of The Spirit, which is the Bible, as it contains all the truths at we need to do the work of God (Eph 6:17). We are to use our reason to understand the things of God and not to add to them.

We are to walk in the Spirit (be guided by Him) as then we will be doing what God wants us to do (Gal 5:25 26, 1 Pet 4:6) and we will no longer be condemned by The Law (Rom 8:1,2) and will fulfil the righteousness The Law requires (Rom 8:4). Because The Holy Spirit is in us (Rom 8:10,11) and helps us put to death the flesh (Rom 8:13) we have freedom in The Spirit (2 Cor 3:17) to do the spiritual works of God and will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:16,17)

We are to wholeheartedly love others with a pure heart (1 Per 1:22)

We are to be continually filled with The Spirit (The things he desires for us as well as his presence, Eph 5:18) through faith and praying as guided by Him (Jude 10). We are to pray always guided by Holy Spirit then we know we are praying in accordance with the Will of God and our prayers will be answered (Eph 6:18 ) and our faith encouraged.

Do not grieve (Break the heart of; cause to feel sorrow) The Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) or quench (Suppress or crush completely) the Holy Spirit in you (1 The 5:19)

Other activities of The Holy Spirit

In heaven The Holy Spirit and Church work as one (Rev 22:17).

Jesus offered His Blood through The Holy Spirit (Heb 9:14)

He Justified Jesus (1 Tim 3:16)

He raised Jesus to life (1 Pet 3:18).

The Holy Spirit in The Old Testament

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Our understanding of the things of God comes from The Holy Spirit in us (if we are willing to listen to His teaching).

(Jdg 3:10 and many other references)) When The Holy Spirit was on people they were empowered to do things for God. This is the same as The Baptism of The Holy Spirit in the New Testament except the effects of the Baptism are permanent where in The Old Testament the anointing may have only been for a period. Anointing’s in The New Testament are cumulative (the build on the previous gifting and anointing) where in the Old Testament they were not.

(1Sa 10:6) And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

(1Sa 16:13) Anointing for service to God

(1Sa 16:14) They could lose the anointing of The Spirit through Sin

(2Sa 23:2) The Holy Spirit told people what to say

(1Ki 18:12) He directed people where to go

(Isa 40:7) The Spirit carries out judgment

(Isa 40:13) No one can guide or teach The Spirit ( a He is God)

(Isa 59:19) He is with them in battle against the enemy (Satan)

(Isa 61:1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

(Isa 63:14) Leads the people of God in a way that will bring God Glory.

(Eze 37:1) Gives prophetic visions

(Mic 3:8) Empowers His prophets to call His people to repentance

(Gen 1:2) He was there when the earth was created and took part in it.

(Gen 41:38) Spirit led people will stand out from the crowed

(Exo 31:3) And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

(1Sa 10:10) Guides people to prophesy for Him

(1Sa 11:6) Convicts people of their sin

(Job 27:3) All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

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

God Creates (Gen 1:1) man can only build on what He has created. God gives lifer to His creation (Gen 2:7) which is why the spirit/soul and the fleshly body can be treated separately by God so He can restore the spirit in this corrupted body of flesh and later in heaven give us a pure (resurrection) body to replace this corrupted body of flesh.

It can be seen the work of The Holy Spirit in The New Testament is a carrying on of His work in The Old Testament with one difference. He now lives in the people of God so there is no diminishing or reduction in His work as it is permanent building on the past unlike the Old Testament where He may only have resided on a person for a period then left.

The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts.

The book of Acts is a history book and could have been written without reference to The Holy Spirit so the writing of Arts was not to give a history of the early Christians as much of it is left out. The thing that distinguishes the book of Acts from other histories is the role of the Holy Spirit in the early church and this is the main reason I believe that we have the book of Acts.

The first mention of the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts is as a guide of Jesus as He instructed the Apostles as to what He wanted them to do after He was gone (Acts 1:2) This is mentioned first as it is the primary Task of the Holy spent, namely to guide us so our Christian life so that we are always doing the Will of Jesus. If we are always doing the Will of Jesus than everything else we need to do for Jesus will follow. That is why these that are led by The Holy Spirit are called ‘adopted sons of God’ is they are all ways doing their Fathers Will!

In Acts 1:8 is the next thing we are taught about the Holy Spirit. He empowers us to do the work of Jesus. It is only as He guides us can we help others and do the miracles God wants to use us to do. He does then for us when they are commanded in accordance with the Will of God which The Holy spirits tell us so that we know what to command in the delegated authority Jesus has given us.

The disciples were empowered to do the work of Jesus (Acts 2:3-5). Note the following:

In 20:23 they had received the Holy Spirit so they were identified as belonging to Jesus but had not yet been anointed to do His Will. (Acts 1:8).

After they were anointed and the first thing they did was to proclaim Jesus using the true gift of tongues demonstrated here in Acts 2 where they preached to people from foreign lands using their own Language and these foreign people heard them in their own language.

Note the Baptism was given so they could preach and teach Jesus and was a result of being His followers through their earlier salvation.

They had been ‘saved ‘earlier and there was no mention of tongues earlier in the Bible than Acts 2 so no tongues had occurred before that or God would have recorded it as the first event of anything in the Bible is important and indicative of what the event is to be used for.

Jesus never recorded tongues being used in His Ministry and the salvation He offered did not have tongues as a requirement so to say The Baptism of The Holy Spirit necessary for salvation is incorrect according to Jesus.

Many signs were done by the apostles as a result of this baptism so that people were afraid to resist them (Acts 2:43).

The book of Acts continues to demonstrate the effect of the anointing on people.

The Holy Spirit anoints people to:

Be able to guide them to follow Jesus

To empower people to preach Jesus, Teach Jesus and to demonstrate the Kingdom of God

From importance of The Holy Spirit in Acts it can be seen that you cannot live the Christian life as God wants you too if you are not led and empowered by The Holy Spirit..