HOLY SPIRIT---FIRE OF GOD
In our
second series of teachings we focused on Jesus and experiencing and
understanding His characteristics and inheritance and how His characteristics
can be manifested through us as love, compassion, patience, kindness, and the
list goes on.
Our
inheritance in Christ is the authority that we were given by Christ because of
His death and resurrection. As He stated
in the Scripture that not only would we do what He could do, such as healing
the sick and raising the dead but also we would do even more things because He
was going to the Father. Now He does His
work in and through each one of us if we are willing to have a relationship
with Him and receive and act on the authority He has given each believer.
Today we
will be focusing on the person of the Holy Spirit---His attributes, power and
gifts. The Holy Spirit was given to us
on Pentecost when He appeared as tongues of fire when the apostle, including
Mary, the mother of Jesus, received the infilling or the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit and on that day, the apostles were no longer afraid to preach the Gospel
and because of Peter’s bold proclamation to those who gathered in the city,
3,000 were converted that very day. The
Holy Spirit always points to Jesus. He
is the one who convicts us of our sin and draws us to Jesus to be converted and
saved by Him.
Prayer:
As we begin, let us pray:
Thank You God the Father, for Your
love and compassion. Thank You Jesus, for Your love and compassion and
sacrificing Your life in atonement for our sins and by whose resurrection we
are assured of salvation. Thank You Holy
Spirit, for Your guidance, power and manifestations that are an important part
of our spiritual walk and growth in our lives.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy
Spirit is a real person who came to reside within Jesus Christ’s true followers
after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. He is the third person of the Holy
Trinity. He is a person, not a thing. He is fully God and eternal, omniscient,
omni-present, and has a will and speaks through people. He is alive and He always bears witness to
Jesus.
Without the
Holy Spirit, there would be no Church or Body of Christ because He operates in
the believer. He is the giver of gifts
that helps the Body of Christ on its mission to evangelize and minister to the
needs of all people. He manifests
Himself in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we will talk about later in this
presentation.
The Holy
Spirit, Who is the third person of the Trinity, existed with God and Jesus from
the beginning of time. He was with all
the patriarchs of old and all the prophets who declared the Word of God. Jesus said in His Word in John 14:17, “The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to
its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him for He lives
with you (continually) and will be in you.”
The Holy
Spirit works in concert with God to manifest God’s love for everyone through
the workings of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit convicts people of sin and draws people to Jesus for the salvation
of their souls. He is the tangible
presence of God within us. The Body of
Christ would be dead without the Holy Spirit.
The Holy
Spirit teaches and guides us. He speaks
the truth and He has an intellect. He is
omnipotent and omnipresent which means that He has unlimited power and He is
everywhere. He intercedes for us and
gives counsel and comfort.
We can
receive the fruit of the Spirit which are love,
joy, peace, kindness, longsuffering, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control as we seek Him. We will
talk more about the fruit of the Spirit and why they are important for our
growth in our walk with Christ.
Without the
fruit of the Spirit operating in our lives, we really cannot represent Christ
living in us. We need to stand out and
be a “walking representation” of the living God. Jesus is the incarnate God. Someone once said that, “Jesus became one of
us so that we can become like Him.”
Jesus also said in John 14:7,
“If you had known Me (had learned to
recognize Me), you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.”
Jesus came
to show us how to live. He brought the
Kingdom of God with Him. We are to bring
the Kingdom of God to all people because this is what the will of God is. His will is that all should come to the
saving power of God in their lives and His desire is for all to be saved by the
power of the Holy Spirit through the shedding of blood on the cross by Jesus
Christ.
The Holy
Spirit is very important in our lives.
He is the breath of life. The
Holy Spirit is the fire of God that we will talk about in another
presentation. We will also talk about
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and how to receive the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
