The Twofold Work of the Holy Spirit Part 2 / Ladies Studies

The Twofold Work of the Holy Spirit Part 2

The Last few lessons we have been talking about the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have discussed the power of our prayer language and last month we discussed the Holy Spirit's work within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us in the rebirth of our spirits or our salvation experience. The Holy Spirit within us blesses us and the Holy Spirit upon us is so that we can bless others.

So, today, let's look at the Holy Spirit upon us or the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

John 4: 4: "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.''

This is describing the new birth, you salvation experience, it is the water of life that caused your spirit to be reborn with the life of God. It is the experience that deposited the characteristics of God into your spirit, as Described in Galatians 5:22.

John 7:37-39: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.''
But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Clearly we see there are two experiences for the believer, salvation and then baptism in the Holy Sprit.

Acts 1:4-8: And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which,'' He said, "you have heard from Me;

"for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.''
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?''
And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.''

It was not until after the remaining disciples and followers of Christ had received the baptism, that Peter preached that glorious sermon found in the Second Chapter of Acts.

It was after he had received the power promised before by Jesus that he led thousands to Christ in a single day.

Many teach that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not for today, that the Scriptures referring to it are in actuality describing the salvation and new birth experience. This is not the case as we can see in the Scriptures.

Acts 2:2: 1. Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

These were the original group of believers, the apostles and the other followers of Christ, they had already accepted and believed in Him as the Messiah, this was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to empower them to do God's Will.

Acts 8:5-8,12,14-17 : Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was great joy in that city. …..
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,
who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

This group of believers had been saved, and the Church in Jerusalem sent the Apostles Peter and John, to take them to a deeper level, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Clearly, both these Scripture references refer to an experience after salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is a real experience and it the will of God for each of us, the perfect Will of God.

It is to empower us to serve the purpose of Christ in God's strength not our own. It empowers us to grow into a deeper spiritual relationship with God, that we would not have with just the indwelling or the salvation experience alone. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is God's gift to us to enable us to do what he has called us to do both individually and collectively as the body of Christ.

God wants us to be ministers for Him, to go out and win souls, lay hands on the sick and cast out demons. He empowered us to do this.

Mark 16:15-18: And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
"they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.''

Every born again believer has the right to do these things, because the Word tells us we have. Sadly, most don't and it is because they lack the power in their life do follow these instructions. That is where the baptism in the Holy Spirit is so vital. Every believer is in the position to lead someone to Christ and to pray the prayer of faith and lay hands on the sick, to take authority over the enemy. Why.

1 John 4:4: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

You have the spirit of the Almighty God dwelling in you and the choice to have the spirit of the Almighty God upon you for this very purpose; to minister to others!

God wants each of us to be a blessing to others and He prepared a way for this to happen.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

Each of us is given a gift by God, to use to bless others and Glorify Him. It is not your gift but the gift of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit wills. It is not something you can turn on and off when you feel the need, like a light switch. It is a gift of God, to use to bless others.

Many of us, open our spirits, renew our minds and spend time with God, so that we can recognize His Voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit to be used to profit all the body.

As it says in verses 4-5, there are diversities of gifts, differences of ministries and diversities of activities but it is the same God who works all in all, for the profit of the whole body, not just you or one individual.

The Message Bible says it this way:

1 Corinthians 12 (The Message)

The Message (MSG)

The Message at Navpress NavPress

1 Corinthians 12

Spiritual Gifts

1.What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. 2.Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. 3.For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

4.God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. 5.God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. 6.God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. 7.Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! 8.The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, 9.simple trust

healing the sick, 10.miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits

tongues , interpretation of tongues.

11.All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

God decides who and what will receive each gift, to profit everyone. Not everyone will have a Word of knowledge or Word of wisdom, not everyone will give a message in tongues or the interpretation. Each of us has the capability, because we have the spirit of the living God in us and upon us, but we each have a different relationship with Him and yield to his prompting in a different way.

The Greek Word for gift is charisma, meaning specifically) a (spiritual) endowment, i.e. (subjectively) religious qualification, or (objectively) miraculous faculty: --(free) gift.

So we are given a spiritual endowment or a free gift to profit all.

The Greek Word for ministries is diakonia (Phonetic: dee-ak-on-ee'-ah)

It means attendance (as a servant, etc.); figuratively (eleemosynary) aid, (official) service (especially of the Christian teacher, or techn. of the diaconate): --(ad-)minister(-ing, -tration, -try), office, relief, service(-ing).

So a minister is a servant to aid, teach or offer relief to others.

The Greek Word for activities is energema: (Phonetic: en-erg'-ay-mah)

It means an effect: --operation, working.

Putting all three together, the Holy Spirit enables us to have special gifts, or services or workings that will bless and help the entire body grow and mature.

The Greek Word for Word is logia : (Phonetic: log-ee'-ah), meaning a contribution: --collection, gathering. The Greek Word for knowledge is gnosis, in the NT, "knowledge," especially of spiritual truth;. Brother Kenneth E. Hagin states in His book The Ministry Gifts, that the Word of knowledge is supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God of facts in the mind of God concerning people, places or things. It is always present or past tense.

The Greek Word for wisdom sophia, meaning wisdom (higher or lower, worldly or spiritual): --wisdom. Kenneth E Hagin again in the above mentioned reference states the Word of Wisdom is supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the divine purpose in the mind and will of God. Always speaks of the future.

Both of these should confirm something God or the Holy Spirit has dropped into your spirit. It should always serve as a confirmation, not direction. It should never take you by surprise.

All of these gifts function for the purpose of strengthening the body as a whole. It is a source of encouragement and confirmation, not direction or control. Just because someone lays hands on you and has a "Word" for you does not mean you should go off and act on it unless it is something The Holy Spirit has already shown you or led you. Do not plan you life around "Words". Know the Word and Confirm everything in the Word. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide not man.

Each of the other gifts listed are self explanatory, different people at different times will be given these gifts to bless the entire body, they will be manifested in the different offices as described in 1 Corinthians 12:28, which we will discuss next month and they can also be manifested alone in the individual member in a certain situation as the Spirit wills to glorify God.

Let's look at a few more verses in this chapter.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14: For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14.For in fact the body is not one member but many.

Each of us has an important place in the body of Christ, just as our body has the need for two hands and feet, or two ears and one mouth, the Body of Christ, the church, as the need for different types of gifts. Don't try to be a hand when you are really a ear. It won't work, God has called different people and even different local congregations to serve in different capacities. Our mandate as a church is to bring hope and life to the community. Hence our name. We are called to draw others to Christ and then help them mature into a full life in Christ. It takes people with certain gifts to do that. That is why different churches are formed, to meet these individual needs of the world. We as a church do not have, for example, a deliverance ministry per se. We are not known for casting out demons and dealing with the demon possessed. If someone came to the church with this need, Pastor Tony or the staff would be able to deal with it because Mark 16: 17 states that we will cast out demons. But that is not our ministry. We restore people to a right relationship with God, we help restore families and personal lives. And to that purpose God has called people with that calling to this body. People who are mature spiritually, who can lead, teach and advise in these areas. Each body and individual in that body has a place. Let God show you your place and do not try to be something you are not called to be.

Also remember, just because you recognize a need in the body, does not mean necessarily that you are called to fill that need, you may be just called to identify and intercede for God to send someone to fill it. The bottom line is, seek God with all your heart and He will direct your path. In other words, seek God, desire spiritual gifts, but wait on the Holy Spirit to empower you, don't try to assume a "role you are not called to play". Amen.!

Next month we will be studying the different offices of ministry.