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While a person can serve Jesus without the empowerment of The Holy Spirit. They cannot minister as Jesus wants them too two reasons:

They must use reason and the bible to guide them in ministering as they are out of the Will of God for them (ministering without authorisation) and cannot hear the Holy Spirit’s guidance as they need to for the ministry they are doing. The Holy Spirit’s main concern will be to get them back on track and not guide them further in to error before He can use them for ministry as they should be used.

Without the anointing (empowerment) of The Holy Spirit you cannot demonstrate the Kingdom of God with signs and wonders. This is why the apostles had to tarry in Jerusalem until the were empowered for ministry. This is why Jesus began His ministry only after John baptized Him and The Holy Spirit came down on Him.

The church that denies the baptism (empowerment) of The Holy Spirit is powerless in the spiritual realm which is why many church groups are weak and dying and must turn to man’s methods to try and survive.

Too many people go out and minister in the wrong area as they have a piece of paper that authorizes them to minister in that area but they are not where God wants them to minister and so do not have the empowerment (anointing) of The Holy Spirit and the blessing of God on that ministry. They have not sought God’s Will as to where they are to serve and thus are not where God wants them to be and they wonder why they are ineffective in ministry or struggle so much. They are ineffective because God cannot Bless or guide that ministry as it is not in His Will. Why do some of these ministries prosper? Because they use man’s methods and at times the devil helps them prosper and keep the incorrect ministry going so the minister believes God is blessing that ministry and is encouraged to keep going in it..

Before you minister ensure you know where God wants you to minister and seek His empowerment (anointing) for that ministry.

To illustrate what happens when man uses reason and is not guided by The Holy Spirit an example is given.

Acts 1:23-26 records the selection of the apostle to replace Judas. Note the apostles had narrowed the field to two people through reasonings that these two were the most suitable. Then they prayed to get God’s guidance and of course picked Matthias. If they had been guided by The Holy Spirit they would have waited until He told them who to select and there would not have been a choice but they did not do so. Matthias is not heard from again in the New Testament in any capacity. The question arises then as to who actually guided them as The Holy Spirit would not have condoned the choice of Matthias and would not have approved of him.

Using reasoning (that Judas needed to be replaced) resulted in wrong choices and gave Satan a chance to sidetrack the work of God. The Holy Spirit does not give a choice as God knows whom He needs, where He needs them and when He needs them. In fact He waited three years to replace Judas with Paul.

In the upper room at Pentecost there were men and women gathered there (Acts 1:14). All received The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and anointed for ministry - not just the men. Why were women anointed for ministry if God was not going to use them to minister His Love and truths to people both in and out of the church.

God has a special place for women in His heart which is why he appeared to them first. They can love others in a way men can’t which makes them more fragile and easier to be emotionally bruised and damaged than men.

A single woman does not minister to a single man

They are anointed to minister in that ministry

Their house and marriage is in order (although this is probably more for leadership that preaching and teaching).

Notice v1 that they were all in unity waiting on God. This is the first requirement for God to work, a oneness of spirit with Him and each other. There was no wind, only the sound of a wind so those that "breathe" The Holy Spirit on people are incorrect as there was no wind in the room. The Holy Spirit made His presence known through using cloven tongues that were like a fire. Note: Like a fire not a fire as there was nothing to burn which a fire requires.

There is no statement He actually entered them. He did not need too as He was already in them or they would not have been followers of Jesus and marked as such by The Holy Spirit in them.

The anointing does not enter you. You may feel the presence of The Holy Ghost and it may affect your body but He does not enter you to anoint you. It is not necessary, as the empowerment is from Him as you declare the Will of God.

Then the gift of tongues came forth from those in the upper room as The Holy Spirit fell on them. This was not angelic tongues but tongues of other people’s languages so that they could understand the apostles when they preached to them (Acts 2:4-12). Remember they were being commissioned to spread the good news of Jesus throughout the world and it was necessary for people in other cultures and of other languages to be able to understand them so the disciples were given this gift of speaking in their own language but begin understood in the language of the person they were speaking too.

Demons can do a similar thing. Note that there is a demon called a scrambler demon who can make a person hear the opposite of what is actually being said. This is to start division between people.

Anyone teaching that tongues other than this type were present at Pentecost is incorrect.

These ‘tongues’ got the attention of peoples from different races and cultures who could not understand how these Jews could speak in their language. Some thought they were drunk with wine so Peter got up and preached in his own tongue to all that were there and all the different nationalities understood what he said in their native tongue. So another mark of the tongues that occurred at Pentecost is that it was not incomprehensible to the speaker as it was in His own native language that he spoke everyday.

Note that tongues was given to promote the Gospel not to prophesy or edify people. It was to show forth the marvellous works of the Lord Jesus.

The Gift of Tongues at Pentecost was one of the manifestations of The Holy Spirit but there were others all designed to encourage people to believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour (v21). Signs and wonders are for the promotion of Jesus and His Gospel not to give the church or any of its members prestige or importance.

In v22 Peter declares that these signs and wonders were a continuation of what Jesus did in the midst of them in spite of which they put Him to death. Peter then declares Jesus was raised from the dead and that the signs and wonders He did continues in the followers of Jesus. In v23-36 Peter explained whom Jesus was in terms of the Messiah in the Old Testament and people responded and wanted to know what to do to follow Jesus.

His response was that they should be baptized in the Name of Jesus (so they identified with Him and revoked any baptism to other gods they had worshipped before) and accept what Jesus had done at Calvary (the remission of sins, redemption etc.) and that they would also receive The Holy Ghost.

3000!! I repeat 3000!! of all different nationalities believed what was preached, were baptized and became followers of Jesus from that one demonstration of signs and wonders and that one sermon (v41).

The unity continued as did the Miracles and daily worship (v42-47) and would do so as long as they followed the teachings of Jesus. So why do we not see the same thing happening today? The answer is simple. We are not following Jesus as we should.

Mark 8:1-1 - KJV (Mark 8:1 KJV) In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him , and saith unto them,

People who seeks signs will not find them unless they serve God’s purposes. This is because God wants you to seek Him and not His works.

The devil will give you the signs you are seeking so you will follow his brand of Christianity which divides and destroys the Body of Christ.

This is the danger in Pentecostalism and why there are so many leaders who fall and churches die! They stop seeking Jesus and glory in the signs.

When you stop seeking God and look only for His works you have a form of idolatry. Satan then has legal access and soon error creeps in, ministers fall and churches die.

Signs are used by God for His purposes and not to fulfil our desires for them. He does not have to perform them and will not if they are sought instead of Him. A revival starts then people come looking for signs rather than Jesus and the revival fades away. Satan creeps in and soon the revival fellowship is destroyed.

The danger of signs and wonders is that they replace He who gives them (as people become blinded by the miracles and lose sight of the miracle giver).

"The Jews seek a sign and the Greeks seek knowledge but we seek Christ crucified" said Paul. It is well to heed his warning!

LITV Mat 12:32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, not in this age nor in the coming one.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says: Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mat 12:31, Mat 12:32; Ma _3:28, Mar 3:29; Luk 12:10) is regarded by some as a continued and obstinate rejection of the gospel, and hence is an unpardonable sin, simply because as long as a sinner remains in unbelief he voluntarily excludes himself from pardon. Others regard the expression as designating the sin of attributing to the power of Satan those miracles which Christ performed, or generally those works which are the result of the Spirit’s agency.

blas´fe¯̇-mi (âëáóöçìéìá, blasphe¯mi´a): In classical Greek meant primarily "defamation" or "evil-speaking" in general; "a word of evil omen," hence, "impious, and irreverent speech against God." In the New Testament blasphemy, substantive and vb., may be (a) of evil-speaking generally.

It appears blaspheming someone is to speak evil of them or to take away something from their sacredness. To Blaspheme The Holy Spirit is to talk evilly of Him or to remove some of His Characteristic as God, such as ignoring or negating His role in the working of the church through His Gifts or empowerment.

The Holy Spirit is so important as your guide that deliberately rejecting Him in any way leads to loss of your salvation. When you deliberately reject His Guidance because you want to do want you want to do, you become your own God. You reject The Holy Spirit as God and by this also Jesus as The Holy Spirit represents Jesus to you. Heb 6:4-6 will eventually apply as you have tasted the goodness of God and continually rejected it.

This rejection is of the person of the Holy Spirit and not just wilful sin you can repent of after being convicted of it by The Holy Spirit. It is rejecting The Holy Spirit by wilful unrepented sin that sears your conscience so that you can no longer hear Him and have become your own guide determining what is right or wrong.

Usually others cannot see this rejection as it is hidden at first so the maligning of Him is in the spiritual. Afterwards it is evidenced by you life in the natural. By their fruits you will know them and the fruit of rejecting the Spirit and the resultant blasphemy of Him is a reprobate mind.

To Blaspheme The Holy Spirit you first of all must have been led by Him or know who he is.

People who follow Satan often do so as the church was not there to help them and have no idea who The Holy Spirit is so cannot Blaspheme Him as they do not have knowledge of whom He is to be able to reject Him.

Because of this Jesus accepts them when they turn to Him and The Holy Spirit as they chose Satan because they knew nothing else but what demons had told them and when they knew the truth they embraced it.

Sin requires knowledge so until you have knowledge of whom The Holy Spirit is you cannot sin against Him.

People talk about ‘blaspheming the Holy Spirit’, but what about blaspheming God?

Whenever you speak disrespectfully about God or something He has made or allowed, you cause Him grief by calling His Love into question and you also bring His Name into disrepute - both in the spiritual realm and the physical realm.

This is why we are to do all things with thanksgiving, without complaining or being critical of whatever happens to us as God is in charge of all our circumstances and is working for our good through them!

Blasphemy of God means to call into disrepute His character or person or to denigrate Him in some way.

Is the church guilty of blaspheming The Holy Spirit by ignoring negating His power and Guidance through saying that His power and guidance are no longer a relevant to this day or church age?

If questioning and ignoring the power of God is blasphemy then the church may be guilty of blaspheming God. I can’t say either way but it is logical.

If ignoring the requirements of God in regard to His will and commands is blasphemy, then the church may be guilty of it.