There was a group of ministers getting ready for a city-wide evangelistic meeting many years ago. They were talking about having D.L. Moody as their evangelist. One of the young ministers stood up and said, “Why Moody? Does he have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?” There was silence and then an older pastor stood to his feet and said, “No, he does not have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on D.L. Moody.”
In John 14:16-18 and 16:7-15, Jesus begins to get specific in His description of the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. He reveals that the Holy Spirit’s ministry will look very much like His, except that He will indwell all believers at once, and, if we’ll let Him, empower those believers to live and look like Jesus. Unfortunately, many believers have reduced their daily life by participating in safe endeavors and operating in human strength. Someone once said that if the Holy Spirit ever left the earth, then about 98% of what Christians would attempt to do would be unaffected. A.W. Tozer once said, “Satan knows that Spiritless evangelicalism is as deadly as modernism or heresy, and he has done everything in his power to prevent us from enjoying our true Christian heritage.” In other words, doing things apart from the Holy Spirit is ineffective. The Holy Spirit not only wants to dwell in us, but He wants to be on us in power. He wants to empower us for the task at hand each and every day. He is a person, just like Jesus, who has a mind, will, and emotions and wants to gift and enable every Christian for kingdom living with a supernatural outcome. Look at what the Holy Spirit does: He is our Helper (Comforter) John 14:16 He is our Guide (Counselor) John 14:26 He is the Foreteller (Revealer) John 16:13 He is the Empowerer (Source of Power) Acts 1:8 He is our Advocate (Lawyer) Romans 8:26-27 He is our Enabler (Gift giver) 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Be faithful and open your life up to the Holy Spirit through your radical obedience. On Sunday, we will complete the book of Acts as we look at the last half of chapter 28. Just over two years in the making. I pray that you have been as enriched as I have been. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike
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Rev. Mike McClurgSenior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene Archives
March 2020
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