Chapter 11

The Work of the
Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the One Triune God who is fully God with all of God’s attributes. The Holy Spirit is a Person, as the Father is a Person as the Son is a Person, with all the attributes of personality, especially of separate intellect, emotions and will. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father (Matt 10:20, John 4:23-24) and the Spirit of Christ (Acts 16:7, Rom 8:9, 2 Cor 3:17, Gal 4:6, 1 Pet 1:11). All of this is documented from the Word of God in the Chapter in this book titled "Theology: The Nature of God" and in Section 4 Chapter 3 of the Advanced Evangelism Textbook titled Relationship With Jesus the Key to Effective Ministry.⁴⁴⁶

A person is not saved when they receive the Holy Spirit, a person is saved when they believe on the Gospel. When a person has saving faith in the Gospel, God bears witness to the saving faith they already have by instantly giving them His Holy Spirit. Therefore a person receives the Holy Spirit automatically in evidence of the saving faith they already have in the Gospel, not as the means to their salvation. Therefore, when Paul wrote in Romans 8:9 "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him," he did not mean a person is saved when they receive the Holy Spirit. He meant that if someone claims to have saving faith in Gospel but shows no evidence of having the Holy Spirit in their lives, they are lying, they are not saved. Having the Holy Spirit is God’s witness to us to the saving faith in the Gospel we already have, not the means to our salvation.

Peter was sharing the Gospel with some Gentiles in Acts Chapter 10. In verse 43 he said "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name [Jesus’ name] everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." As Peter shared this with the Gentiles, they believed what he said in their hearts about Jesus and His salvation for them. When they did, God bore witness to their saving faith in the Gospel by automatically giving them His Holy Spirit. The next verse states "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message" (Acts 10:44). How does Peter later interpret this experience? Peter stated in Acts 15:8-11,

"And God, who knows-the-heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. . . . But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

Peter also in this passage affirms that they too were saved, not when they received the Holy Spirit, but when they had saving faith in the Gospel in their hearts and that when they did, God witnessed to the saving faith they already had by giving to them His Holy Spirit. Therefore, receiving the Holy Spirit is the result of our saving faith in the Gospel, not the means to our salvation. So a person receives the holy Spirit the instant they have saving faith in the Gospel in their hearts. Paul confirms this process of salvation in Ephesians 1:13-14,

"In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

Here Paul shows us the process of Salvation:

Jesus said in the Gospel of John,

"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." (John 16:7-11).

The Holy Spirit came to convict us of our sin and the penalty of sin, death, so we would confess and repent of our sins. Second, He then convicts us that the only way to pay sins penalty and receive God’s forgiveness is through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross. Third, He convicts us that we must receive Jesus Christ into our hearts as Savior from sin’s penalty and as Lord of our lives so that we will then become one spirit with Him in order for Jesus’ death to be applied to our sins and in order to receive His will and plan for our lives.

Second, the Holy Spirit came to convict us of the personal Lordship of Christ over our lives individually, to bring restraint in our lives concerning what that means since Jesus' presence is not here to give us this restraint personally, and to show us that looking to Jesus is the answer to our sanctifying needs.

Jesus states in the Gospel of Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall injure you." Jesus has given us authority over all the power of the enemy. As we exercise this authority in the name of Jesus within the will of God (James 4:7), the Holy Spirit carries out in power our commands to the enemy.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John,

"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you; and will be in you." (John 14:16-17)

The Holy Spirit came to literally live inside us and be one with our spirit and be our helper forever (1 Cor 6:17).

Jesus said in John, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (Jn 14:26). One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to bring to our minds relevant Scriptures according to Jesus' personal dictates to our lives, confirmed within the total context of Scripture and authority.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John,

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you." (John 16:13-15).

How does the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus? He does it the same way Jesus glorifies the Father. Jesus said in the Gospel of John,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." (John 5:19).

And in another passage, the high priestly prayer, Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You. . . . I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do." (John 17:1, 4).

Jesus glorified the Father by doing the works that the Father created Him as a man to do and He did this by not acting or speaking out of His own initiative, but only out of the initiative of the Father.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in the same way. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by representing only Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not speak nor act without the explicit instructions of Jesus first. Therefore, for us to reject the full work of the Holy Spirit in our lives personally is not to reject the Holy Spirit's working but Jesus’ personal working in our lives. This is because the Holy Spirit came to glorify Jesus and He does this by representing Jesus only. The Holy Spirit will never tell us to do anything out of His own thoughts or initiative but only out of the instructions of Jesus. For this reason we need not fear any of the Holy Spirit’s workings in our lives, for to fear the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives is to directly fear Jesus’ workings in our lives. No believer would ever admit to being afraid of Jesus. If this is true, whether we understand all of the Holy Spirit’s actions or not, we should have no fear of Jesus’ ambassador the Holy Spirit since His actions are only out of the initiative of Jesus Himself.

The Apostle Paul commands in Ephesians 5:18, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit."

The Apostle Paul commands in Galatians 5:16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts,

"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:49)

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

Basically there are three levels of maturity in the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives: Being Filled With, Walking, and Being Baptized in the Holy Spirit. A Christian cannot really understand what it means to walk in the Spirit until he first understands what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A Christian cannot understand the value of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as related to ministry outreach and release until he first understands what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and what it means to walk in the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is allowing Jesus to be Salvation, Lord, and Source of life to others through our lives. As Jesus Himself said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me" (John 14:6).

When we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives and obey the individual dictates of His Holy Spirit, we are filled with His Holy Spirit or under the control of the Holy Spirit.

When we feed daily on Jesus and look to Him and Him alone for the answer to our needs and then follow His answers to our needs through the Holy Spirit, we are walking in the Holy Spirit.

Though it can take place at the moment of Salvation as well, usually the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate work of the Holy Spirit. I knew the Lord for three years before I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I know I was filled with the Holy Spirit up to that time. I had been involved in much evangelism, very burdened for the lost and the Lord showed me I needed the Baptism of the Holy Spirit if he was to use me fully as he desired. Being filled and walking in the Holy Spirit is an inward sanctifying work of Jesus to conform us to His image to bear fruit in our lives. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is also a Sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives but with the specific purpose of thrusting us into ministry outreach and release. I talk about this fully in Sections 5 and 6 of my Advanced Textbook on Evangelism.

The Trinities Involvement in Ministry

In 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 the Apostle Paul explains to us each part the trinity plays in ministry outreach and release. He wrote,

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Adonai. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

The Holy Spirit’s job is to give gifts and manifestations. Jesus job is to determine what ministries each of us individually are to have. The Father’s job is to determine the effects of our ministry, how it is to be manifested and ministered.

While ministry callings are permanent, manifestations of the Holy Spirit are not. In my own experience of walking with the Lord for 38 years, I never was able to manifest the nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit mentioned in this passage until after I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is my conviction that this is part of the benefit of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. The reason these nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit are part of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is because there purpose is to give us the ability to minister to any given need in ministry outreach and release.

The purpose of these manifestation gifts are for discerning the root cause and root solution to any spiritual, soulish or physical need. In some instances all nine may be manifested. Usually in community one has a message in tongues, another an interpretation, another the manifestation of faith and healing to minister the solution to the person being ministered to. I have on occasion seen all nine manifested through myself at one time to meet a need; but only as the Spirit willed until the need was met and then they became dormant until the Holy Spirit willed again in another ministering opportunity. These gifts and manifestations cannot be exercised at will, but are manifested by the Holy Spirit as they are needed. The prayer language of tongues, to be distinguished from the ministry gift of tongues that accompanies the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, however can be exercised at will.

A ministry calling, which is the job of Jesus, usually comes years later after a person is saved when they are mature enough to receive it. Once given, they are not taken back. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:29, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." In my own experience, God called me to the ministry before I was saved, but my specific calling as an Evangelist Overseer Teacher did not come until after I had known the Lord for eights years and came as a result of walking faithfully and in obedience to the Lord up to that time. Matthew 25:14-23 talks about this aspect of Jesus ministry work in us.

How Jesus’ specific ministry callings in our lives is worked out is determined by the Father. For example: Both Billy Graham and Bill Bright were called to be evangelists. This is manifested in Billy Graham’s life through primarily preaching in the pulpit while Bill Bright was called of God to primarily manifest this through training laymen to do evangelism. Both have the same Ministry calling, but different ways in which the Father has chosen to manifest that calling. In my calling as an Evangelist I am called to motivate, train and equip God's people to do Evangelism work.

For further information about my doctrines and beliefs about the Holy Spirit, see my Advanced Textbook on Evangelism titled Relationship With Jesus the Key to Effective Ministry.⁴⁴⁶