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THE HOLY SPIRIT AND EVANGELISATION
Song: Send down your Spirit oh my Lord Send down you power oh my Lord We need your Spirit oh Jesus Send down your power of my Lord The purpose of this message is to show you just how important it is that every believer comes to know the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her Christian experience. "Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1: 4-5). It is amazing that some Christians do not still know who the Holy Spirit is and the need for him in their lives. Ironically for those who know about him either because they were told that he came upon them when they were baptised (which is true) or taught about him in the Church still do not appreciate his role in their lives vis-à-vis spreading the message of the good news. Worst still are those who see it as alien when they see fellow Christians talk about the Holy Spirit and manifest some gifts of the Holy Spirit. The fact remain that without the Holy Spirit, Christianity is empty and perhaps more of a mechanical thing. Paul himself recognised this fact when he met some committed disciples in Ephesus: 1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" 3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" 4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all. (Acts 19:1-7). A. The Necessity of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit "Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1: 4-5). Just before He left his disciples to go back to his Father in heaven Jesus strictly charged them not to undertake the work to which He had called them until they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. 1. The disciples themselves needed to be baptised with the Holy Spirit for their ministry The disciples had spent three years with Jesus and had been enrolled in the best Bible School ever. They had been taught by the master of all teachers and had received the best in on the job training. They had been eyewitnesses to His life, His preaching, His miracles, His death and His resurrection. He had commanded them to go into the entire world and to make disciples of all men everywhere. They felt the urgency to do what He said yet we find Him telling them to wait in Jerusalem until they had been clothed with power from on high. In other words He told them not to attempt anything for God until they had been baptised with the Holy Spirit. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8). "You are my witnesses of these things. And behold I send the promise of My Father upon you; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:48-49). The disciples would need more than just their spiritual and theological training. They would need more than just human wisdom or human methods of persuasion. They would need to be armed with spiritual power from on high. The word used for "power” is the same word from which we get the word "dynamite" i.e. "explosive spiritual power." Without being clothed with ‘explosive’ power from on high they would never be able to succeed in what they were called to do. “The Second Vatican Council called for a renewal of Catholic preaching of the kind that has usually accompanied and inspired times in genuine renewal in the Church. The Council’s call implied a shift from the sermon understood as an exposition of Catholic doctrine, devotion and discipline to the homily understood as an exposition of Scripture.” (Culled from GoodNews Magazine, page 21, March/April 2009). 2. Jesus Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit for His ministry "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because Me has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus embraced the power of the Holy Spirit and walked in the Spirit as a man even though He was God in the flesh. He never laid aside His divinity but laid aside His Divine right to use that power. He could have performed miracles, healings and deliverance by virtue of being God's Son but He chose to operate as an ordinary man controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. After His baptism in water the Holy Spirit came upon Him in power for his ministry. "Jesus was baptised too, and as He was praying the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove." (Luke 3: 21-22). From that moment on everything He said and did was done in the Spirit's power as an ordinary man and not by virtue of His Divinity. "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him." (Acts 10:38). 3. As believers in Christ we need to be baptised with the Holy Spirit for witnessing and Christian service If the Lord Jesus needed the Spirit's power for His ministry and if the apostles themselves needed the power of the Holy Spirit for their ministry who are we to attempt anything for God until we like them have been clothed with power from on high. Many Christians are graduating from Bible school, gaining degrees in theology, going to the mission field or entering the ministry or full-time work who have never been baptised with the Holy Spirit for the ministry to which God has called them. If our churches everywhere especially those nations whose people have become ungodly were really empowered by the Holy Spirit we would see people being saved everyday. This was happening in the first century church. "And the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47). It is rash presumption to encourage Christians to enter any form of Christian service or ministry without making sure that they have been equipped for the task by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, it is futile to encourage Christians to witness without having been baptised with the Holy Spirit. There are five basic reasons why many ministers, missionaries, full-time workers and Christians find real spiritual power lacking in their service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Firstly, they have never been called to the work that they are involved in and they do not have the gifts needed for the task. Secondly, they have already chosen their own ministry instead of the one that the Holy Spirit has chosen for them. Thirdly, they have been called and even trained but have never been baptised with the Holy Spirit. Fourthly, they have a doctrine that does away with such an experience and go struggling on in their own strength. Fifthly, they once had the power of the Holy Spirit but have lost it through pride, disobedience, and sin or simply through neglecting prayer and Bible study. If you have known the power of the Spirit but have lost it then you need to find out what it is that's hindering God's power in your life. Once you know what it is you need to get rid of it and asked God to refill you with the Spirit. So then, it is absolutely necessary that we be baptised with the Holy Spirit for witnessing, ministry and service. B. The Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit "The promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are afar off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:39). Now this verse asks two questions. Firstly, what is 'The Promise' mentioned here? And secondly, to whom is 'The Promise' made? Firstly: what is 'The Promise' mentioned here? "Therefore being by the right hand of God exulted, and having received from the Father (Jesus at his own baptism) the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see and hear." (Acts 2:33). "The promise" in (Acts 2:39) is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptizes with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit." So then the promise of the Father is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Jesus is the one who gives it. (Acts 1:4-5). Secondly: To whom is 'The Promise of the Father' made? (Acts 2:39)"The promise is for you (The Jews present) and to your children (Their children) and to all who are afar off (The Gentiles) and for all whom the Lord our God will call.". (Every believer in every age.) So then, the same Baptism with the Holy Spirit that Jesus and the apostles received is also available to every believer today, right now in fact! We don't have to wait any longer because the Holy Spirit has been given. His power is available to us right now. Our responsibility before the Lord is to make ourselves totally available to the Holy Spirit to use us anyhow, anywhere and in anyway He chooses. He has a specific task for us as believers and will give us the gifts we need to complete that task. Are you prepared to be filled with the Holy Spirit and start enjoying your Christian life instead of enduring it? Then Jesus is inviting you: 37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39). 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17). Your faith is so to speak formless and empty until the hovering Spirit of God find a place in your life. He is there for you: “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2). To receive the Holy Spirit, all you need do is to simply believe the gospel and accept it verbatim. You do not receive the Holy Spirit by observing any special law or following any special doctrine: “I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2). The Baptism with the Holy Spirit will bring us joy and peace but it isn't primarily for our enjoyment but to bring honour to Jesus and to lift him up before others. If we want the Baptism with the Holy Spirit to merely gratify some selfish desire or to have certain gifts then we will not receive the real experience. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in this whole matter of spiritual power and will only give us those gifts that are in line with his will for our lives and ministry. “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:11). So then, the Bible is absolutely clear and remarkably definite that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a necessity and possibility for every Christian in every age. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is the only group that best represents the church in a miniature form. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a miniature church in the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI, addressing two charismatic groups, affirmed and promoted the charismatic emphasis of the young movements in the Church on October 31, 2008: “The ecclesial movements and new communities, which bloomed after the Second Vatican Council, are a unique gift of the Lord and a precious resource for the life of the Church... They should be welcomed with trust and valued in their various contributions… The charisms arise as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit, not as a historical event of the past, but as an always living reality…” “The Spirit himself, soul of the Church, acts in her in every age, and his interventions, mysterious and efficacious, manifest themselves in our times in a providential way. The movements and new communities are like an inrush of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in contemporary society …” “One of the positive elements and aspects of the communities of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely the importance given by them to the charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit and their merit lies in having reminded the Church of the actuality [of these gifts]…” The Pope emphasised the value and the importance of the new charisms in the Church, whose authenticity is guaranteed by the willingness to submit themselves to discernment from ecclesiastical authorities. God bless you Evang.Oseh J.B |