Video Transcript: Holy Spirit in Action

Day 21 to 30 – Unit 03 Indwelt and Sanctified by the Spirit

Video Transcript: The Holy Spirit in Action (Dr. Feddes) 

A boy was trying to fly his kite on a windless day. He stood on a long grassy stretch laying out the tail of the kite, adjusting the bow of the crosspieces, making sure the guide string had just the right amount of slack. Then he ran across the grass and as he ran, the kite climbed into the air. When the boy reached the end of the grass, he stopped, and the kite came fluttering to the ground. The boy rewound his string and studied the kite. He checked the tail across pieces in the guide string, he decided the tail was too long, so he shortened it. Once more, he took off across the field and again the kite began to fly. But the moment he reached the end of the clearing, and stopped, the kite flatter to the Earth once again. Oh, still not ready to give up, the boy again examined the kite and this time he increased the bow in the cross pieces, he was bound and determined to fly that kite, and he was obviously an expert on how to adjust the thing for better flight. Again, he poised himself and charged across the field as fast as he could run. The kite lifted a little higher than it had before. But the moment the boy stopped running, the kite dropped to the ground. Another boy was standing at a distance watching all this, he called out, you've got to wait for the wind. I know, I know. said the boy with the kite. But the disappointment on his face was obvious. It frustrated him that all of his efforts were not enough to keep the kite flying. You've got to wait for the wind. 

That's true if you're trying to fly a kite. And it's true if you're trying to get your spiritual life off the ground. Human preparations are no substitute for divine power. You can read the latest books and try all sorts of things to improve yourself. And if you're the leader of a church or some kind of Christian outreach, you can try new strategies and techniques to be more exciting and more effective. It may even seem to work for a little while. But without God's Holy Spirit, everything you try, will eventually come fluttering back down to the ground. Unless the breeze of God's Holy Spirit is blowing. Nothing of lasting spiritual importance can happen in any individual or in any church. Jesus himself made this clear after his resurrection, and shortly before Jesus ascended to heaven, Jesus told His followers that they would be his witnesses to the world. However, they would not be able to do it without empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. 

Jesus also said do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised. Jesus was saying to wait for the wind. Jesus didn't have many followers and the ones he did have weren't very impressive or influential, there was no way they would accomplish anything worthwhile through their own efforts. He might as well go fly a kite without any wind, as tried to win people to Jesus without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The church would never soar upward and stay aloft merely through the efforts of those ragtag disciples. That's why Jesus told them to wait. He promised them that soon, the wind of the Holy Spirit would begin to blow and then amazing things would begin to happen. Jesus told the disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit is the one Jesus told his disciples to wait for. Jesus didn't say to wait for a sensational preacher. He didn't say to wait for a well planned mission strategy. He didn't say to wait for an exciting new music director. He didn't say to wait for a great scholar to give convincing arguments in favor of Christianity. Jesus didn't say to wait for a new daycare center or a helpful support group to attract people to church, Jesus said, to wait for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit in power. These other things might be okay, but for genuine spiritual life and power, the greatest need is for the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

The Bible says that that power of the Holy Spirit came mightily on the outpouring that came with Pentecost when the day of Pentecost arrived. They were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven us like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The disciples began praising and preaching as they were filled with the Spirit. And by the time the day was over, about 3000, people put their faith in Jesus and were baptized into the church. And now less than two months earlier, many of those same people had been part of the mob that called for Jesus to be crucified. But suddenly, 1000s of them were crying over their sins and trusting in the risen Lord Jesus, God's Holy Spirit, touch their hearts and change their lives. It's as true today as it was back then, that the church can flourish and do the Lord's work only through the Holy Spirit. That's true, not only in the church as a whole, but also of every individual. And so let's think about the Holy Spirit and in particular, the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in action. 

And the first thing I want to highlight about the action of the Holy Spirit is that he enlivens he gives life, Jesus said, that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit did not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. And Jesus went on to explain that the when the Spirit blows wherever he wishes, and so it is with everyone born of the Spirit of God, Jesus teaches a religious leader in this case, that you must be born again. And this comes only through the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, the Bible teaches already at the very beginning, in Genesis chapter one, that before anything living existed on Earth, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. And when God spoke, then it was the work of the Spirit, to bring life. And so even physical life, in one sense comes from the work of God, operating through His Holy Spirit, but eternal life, spiritual life, the kind of life that God gives, enabling someone to live with Him forever, has to come through rebirth. And it is the Holy Spirit who enlivens he gives new life. Jesus says, It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all. The things that we do in our own efforts can't contribute at all, to making us spiritually alive. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. And the life he gives his abundant life. The latter kills says the Scripture, but the Spirit gives life commands and orders, and ideas do not give life in and of themselves taken by themselves. That kind of stuff just kills, law kills, Spirit makes alive. 

That's the first thing that we need to know about the action of the Holy Spirit that He and only he can give true life. A second thing about the Holy Spirit is that He indwells He lives within those to whom He gives life. And that means he's near to us. Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? It is a tremendous thing, to have the Holy Spirit not just nearby, but right within you. You can't get any nearer than having someone live right inside. And the Holy Spirit wants to be enjoyed, and to be noticed. How do you feel if you're in a room, and someone else is in the same room with you, but they will not look at you. They always look in the other direction. They won't get into a conversation with you. They try to pretend you're not even there. Tell a good many of us, I'm afraid go through life, as though the Holy Spirit is not even there. And even some Christians, it's easy for us to get our attention off of the presence of God with us. And so his nearness is something not just to receive as a fact but to pay attention to from moment to moment. Another tremendous thing about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that he brings us an outpouring of God's love. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

The Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to experience the tremendous love of God the Father, and the love of the Son of God, Jesus Christ poured out upon us and the Holy Spirit takes all of that love and pours that love into our hearts. And he fills us with a sense of the love of God. This is a tremendous blessing. The apostle Paul prayed that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith, that the Holy Spirit would strengthen us for that And then we'd have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And it's the work of the Holy Spirit to help us experience this tremendous love of God. And along with that love and that nearness comes assurance, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, we speak to God as our Father, our daddy, the one who loves us. And we can do that and have that assurance that we belong to him, because his Holy Spirit seals that on our hearts. Another thing that Holy Spirit does, a vital action of the Spirit is that he reveals he is the one who shows things to us. He shows us Jesus, Jesus Himself said, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine, and declare it to you. And this means that the Holy Spirit's ministry is to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive what the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to accept all the truth that comes to us in Christ. Nowadays, spirituality is in.

I'm a spiritual person, lots of people like to say that. But spirituality is not just some vague fog bank, the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of the cosmic fog bank. He's the spirit of truth. He's the spirit of truth. He's the Spirit of Jesus, who keeps pointing people to Jesus, and any kind of spirituality that doesn't lead to the truth. To the one who said I am the truth, Jesus Christ is no good spirit at all. He reveals Jesus that Spirit does who comes from God. And he also reveals the Bible, every word of the Bible came by the work of the Holy Spirit. No prophecy of Scripture was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere, in Second Peter three, verse six, they are in Second Timothy three, verse 16, it says that all scripture is God breathed. And God breathed, the word for spirit really is just breath or wind. And so all scripture is God spirited breathed out by God, and the Bible is given to us by the Holy Spirit. And then not only does he give us the words of the Bible, but then he enables us to understand what the Bible says He opens our minds enlightens our minds. And that's a great ministry, the Holy Spirit, so that the Bible isn't just words on a page, but it comes to life. And it becomes understandable to us by the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us, He gave us the words, and then it gives us the ability to grasp and understand and apply those words. And the third thing the Holy Spirit reveals, in addition to showing us Jesus, and revealing the Bible is that He guides us on our personal path. 

The Bible gives examples of this, I'll take just a few from the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 11, the apostle Peter was specifically told to go and visit a Roman army officer named Cornelius. And so Peter did that. And that was a very important moment in the advance of the church. In Acts 13, verse two, the Spirit revealed to some people who were praying and fasting in the church at Antioch, set aside, Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I've called them, and they were sent out on their missionary journeys. In Acts 16, the apostle Paul tries to go to one place, but the Spirit of God won't let him go there, that he tries to go to another place to bring the gospel, but the Spirit of God won't let him go there either. And then one night, Paul has a dream. It's a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And Paul takes that as the Holy Spirit's leading, and he goes to Macedonia, and is the first missionary to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to Europe. And so there was a particular strategy and action that the Spirit wanted Paul to take. And he led him to take it. And at crucial junctures in our lives, there may be things that God wants us to do, but they're not things that are directly revealed in Scripture. 

Now, God will never lead us to do something that goes against his teaching in Scripture, but sometimes such as the person you're going to marry, or the kind of work you're going to do, or a particular important decision you're making in ministry. Oftentimes, you'll just think about that, and the Lord will leave it up to you as guided by sound thinking, but sometimes he will really lay something on your heart as the thing he wants you to do, or the person he wants you to see. He will give particular guidance for your personal path. I know in my own case, it was the leading of the Holy Spirit that got me out of being a mathematics major, and into preparing for seminary and the gospel ministry. And at that time, if I had just been thinking about it, my best grade was in mathematics, my worst grade was in speech. So it took some definite nudging along my personal path for the Holy Spirit to get me to do that. I'm just saying that in addition to revealing Jesus and the and the words of the Bible, we should also look to the Spirit to guide our steps and be sensitive to him. 

Sometimes you'll leave it to us to make the final decision. But sometimes he'll make it very clear by his inner nudging, and by our circumstances, what he wants done, and then we must follow him where he leads. Well, in addition to those things, another action of the Holy Spirit is that he transforms and one way he transforms is by showing us the glory of Jesus Christ. This is obviously related to his work of revealing, we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. So the spirit is showing us the glory of Jesus Christ. And as that glory becomes more and more evident to us, it has an impact on us, just as Moses was up on the mountain with God and came down with his face glowing. 

So people to whom God has been revealing the Lord Jesus through His Spirit, are set a glow with that same spirit, and we become more and more like Jesus, there is the beauty of the Lord that's resting upon us. There is the radiance of the Lord that shining from us. And this comes from the work of the Spirit, he puts us in contact with Jesus, and Jesus rubs off on us, Jesus shines from us. And that's all part of the transforming work. And it's so vital, therefore, that we be spending time with the Lord, that we be listening to him and opening our lives to the work of the Spirit as He shows Jesus to us. Another aspect of this transforming work that the Bible talks about is the fruit of the Spirit. 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, what a beautiful picture of what it's like to be filled with the Spirit and to have his fruit in your life. It doesn't say fruits. There are nine different things about the fruit of the Spirit mentioned here. But they're all one fruit and that fruit is the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit shows us the glory of Jesus and helps us reflect that glory. The Spirit puts the life of Jesus inside us, the life begins to flourish in us, and it grows into beautiful fruit, the fruit of Jesus Christ, taking shape in us through the Holy Spirit. Another aspect of the Holy Spirit's work is that he empowers he gives strength. In the Old Testament, it speaks almost of the Holy Spirit coming in force on someone you read again and again, the Spirit of the Lord rush store came upon in the book of Judges Gideon, Jeff, Samson to take just a few examples. Later on, the Spirit came on Saul who became king of Israel and David who became another king. And so you have this power coming on people. Gideon defeats an enormous army with only 300 men. 

Jeff has kind of a ragtag band, but the Spirit of the Lord comes on him and he wins a mighty victory. Samson is meeting up with 1000 Philistine enemies who want to do a man and kill him. And Samson grabs the jawbone of a donkey that's lying nearby and kills 1000 enemies with the power of the Spirit upon him. Saul is going to rescue the people of Israel from a vicious enemy who wants to gouge out the eye of everyone in Jabesh Gilead if they if they make a treaty with him. And so Saul gets the people together. But he does that after the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. The same is true of Dave, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him and anoints him powerfully for his tasks. So in the Old Testament, the spirit is operating in power, but usually the languages of him coming upon people and sometimes he'll withdraw again after he's given them, that kind of empowerment in the New Testament. It's more typical to speak of being filled with the Spirit. It's not just a power on you, but the Spirit coming into you and empowering you from the inside. Jesus is supremely filled with the Spirit, and we read of him again and again being filled with the Spirit as He carries out the various works of His ministry. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. 

His mother, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit as she spoke and his father Zachariah, John's father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, Jesus disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Um, seven deacons who were selected to help out in distributing goods to the widows. How do we men follow the Holy Spirit and faith? A one of those was Stephen. And when he was about to be killed, he gave a speech to the people speaking of Christ, and the Bible says he was full of the Holy Spirit, Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit and faith and was a mighty encourager, Paul, the great missionary says the Bible was full of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible urges us in the writings of Paul to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

So you have in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit coming upon, and bringing great force and power, but in the New Testament, coming within, and filling and giving us power from within. And as part of his empowerment, he gives spiritual gifts, particular abilities that we can build others up with, that we can extend the kingdom of God and spread his gospel with. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, Pursue love and earnestly desire, the spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts is a very large topic, all by itself. And I'm not going to get into it in detail here. But it's very important that you know what some of your spiritual gifts are, because we all have gifts from the Spirit, if we are Christians at all, and we're meant to use those. And we are at our best and our most powerful when we're using the Spirit's gifts in devotion to Him. Now, as we think about this whole idea of empowerment, let me just say something, don't base your assurance of salvation, on gifts, or on empowerment. Judas had great empowerment, to drive out demons, and Judas is in hell. King Saul had great power come upon him, but he grieved God, and he did not walk with the Lord, and ended up being tormented by evil spirits. Instead, he had the power and the ability to do certain things in the strength of God. But he never had the life of God and the character of God in Him. Another one balem, in the Old Testament was a man who prophesied because he had a special gift from God, to foresee some things about the future. But he was not a true man of God. And Jesus says, On the last day, there are going to be people say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in Your name, drive out demons and perform many miracles, but Jesus is going to say, I never knew you.

So it is a tremendous thing, to have God's power on you and God's gifts to do certain things. But those are not the key to a relationship with God. When Jesus disciples came back, after driving out demons, and performing miracles of healing and preaching, Jesus said, don't rejoice that the demons submit to you rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And so it is a wonderful thing at one level, to have the strength of God with you, and the gifts of the Spirit to do things. But let me just warn you very solemnly, especially those of you who are going to be Christian leaders. There are people who have preached the real message of the gospel, and people have been saved through their preaching. And those people themselves who preached it, were not truly born again, to be used by God is not always the same as to be saved by God. And so it's vital that we be born again, and that we be transformed, and not just be satisfied with oh, I succeeded at this, I did mighty things there, God is really with me. Well, sometimes the power of God can be with somebody to carry out purposes. But that person himself is not truly born again than walking with God. So it is a tremendous blessing and activity of the Holy Spirit that He empowers, but don't take empowerment as an end in itself. A final aspect of the spirits action is that a unifies for in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, and all were made to drink of the one spirit. The purpose of the spiritual gift is to build one another up in unity. And the Spirit brings people together Jesus Prayer was that with the coming of the Holy Spirit, His people bill would be one, just as Father, Son and Spirit are one. A blessing of the Scripture is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. The fellowship, the Koinonia the communion, that togetherness, the oneness, the Holy Spirit binds people together in love, maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

There is one body and one Spirit. The Holy Spirit gathers in people of all kinds of racial backgrounds of all different ages, male and female and binds them all together. in one body in Jesus Christ, that too is the blessed work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit and action just in summary, he enlivens he causes you to be born again to new, abundant life, He indwells you, so that you experience His nearness, the love of God, the Father, have the assurance of belonging to God and of being saved forever. He reveals Jesus, he helps us to understand the Bible, which he himself inspired. He helps you to walk the personal path and the purposes that He has for you as an individual, he transforms by giving you glimpses of the glory of Jesus Christ, and bearing the fruit of Jesus Christ in your life, He empowers with his great force with his fullness with the spiritual gifts that He equips you with, and a unifies all of his people together, these are just some of the works of the Holy Spirit. 

In a sense, everything God does is accomplished through the executive activity of the Holy Spirit, the father plans it, the son enables it with the spirit carries out so much in our lives. And so as we think about the Holy Spirit in action, let's remember that he is the blessed third person of the Holy Trinity, and that he does mighty deeds, and that we depend on him entirely. Now, many churches today have resources that the early church didn't have. We've got money. We've got technology, we've got seminaries, we've got study committees, and not only that, we have surveys to tell us what people are looking for in a church. And for a business to succeed, you just have to identify what the customer wants and provide it and for a church, to increase its list of customers, the church just needs to follow the same basic business principle. We actually have the ability today to get people interested in church, without any help whatsoever from the Holy Spirit. We just have to give people what they want.

Now, we may be able to produce satisfied customers by that approach, but only the Holy Spirit can produce change lives. Sometimes Christians with excellent intentions of leading other people to Jesus, frantically try this and that. And the other thing to get people involved in church and some of the things they try are good, the church should seek to be as attractive and helpful and hospitable as possible. And we should use every resource at our disposal. But let's not fool ourselves. When we coax people into churches, by our own efforts, what we end up with our churches full of happy, well adjusted sinners, not spirit filled saints, we may be giving people just enough religion in their lives to make them immune to the real thing. 

They may join a religious club, but the reality the vitality of the Holy Spirit just isn't there. Now, if we call that a successful church, we're offending the Holy Spirit. We're deceiving ourselves, we're shortchanging those who need what only the Spirit of God can give them. So if you're involved in the leadership of a church, I challenge you to put away all of your how to manuals for successful church leadership for a while. Ask yourself what your church needs more right now, one more program that worked for some growing church in some other place, or a spiritual revival and renewal in the Holy Spirit. In Acts 19, the Bible tells of some people who had received some good teaching, but had never been taught about the Holy Spirit. When they were asked if they had received the Spirit. They replied, we've not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Well, there is there is a Holy Spirit, and we need him desperately. He's the third person of the Trinity, and he does amazing things. 

I focus with you on the doctrine of the Spirit and on the activities of the Spirit. But I don't want to just have the doctrine of the spirit, but dependence on the spirit. So I encourage you an urge to fall before the Lord in prayer and plead that the Spirit will dominate every part of your life and ministry. teach others about what the Holy Spirit does and urge them to turn to Christ and to have the Holy Spirit taking action in them. Jesus says that the Father will give us the Holy Spirit if we just ask what father among you if his son asks for a fish will instead of the fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg? We'll give him a scorpion. If you then who are evil, says Jesus know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Jesus on another occasion stood up and cried out if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture is said, out of his heart will flow, rivers of living water. Now, this, he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. Jesus has this invitation, and it's still extended to us today. If you're thirsty, drink from Jesus. And as you drink from Jesus and drink the Spirit that Jesus gives, then the Spirit will not only flow into you, but then he will also overflow from you, and bring life and truth and joy and blessing and power into the lives of other people. 

What a tremendous invitation Jesus gives us. And here is the invitation of Pentecost Peter said, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promises for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. If you're thirsty, drink, if you need forgiveness, ask. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And after you believe in the Holy Spirit after you receive Him, and after you receive Christ, then as you communicate with others, proclaim Jesus and tell them that they too, can have this blessed Holy Spirit, and all the wonderful things that he does in our lives for our good and for the glory of God the Father.