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The Amish Voice 3

Spirit of God that Jesus drove out demons

(Matt. 12:28), and by that same Spirit,

Jesus was raised from the dead (Romans

8:11).

The night Jesus met with Nicodemus, He

taught Nicodemus that no man would

enter the kingdom of God except he was

born of water [first birth] and the Spirit

[second birth] (John 3:5).

Jesus also taught:

If any man thirst, let

him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the

scripture hath said, out of his

belly shall flow rivers of living

water

(John

7:37-38).

Concerning rivers of living

water, John adds:

But this spake

He of the Spirit, which they that believe

on Him should receive.

The Holy Spirit took over when Jesus

returned to the Father. At age thirty, Jesus

went into full-time ministry. People

began to follow Him and listen to His

teachings. Many of His followers thought

Jesus was the one who would deliver

them from the Roman government and be

their next king. What a surprise, when

Jesus said in John 14:28:

Y e have heard

how I said unto you, I go away. . .

because I said, I go unto the Father

(John

14:28).

Jesus’ disciples were dumbfounded. In

one short moment, their whole world

turned upside down. They had given up

everything and followed Jesus. He had

taught them for three years. They knew

no other master. Peter said he would give

his own life for Him. Thomas asked Jesus

to let them go with Him.

I share all this to bring you to John 16:6-

7, where Jesus makes a powerful

statement about the coming Holy Spirit:

It is expedient for you

(meaning to your

advantage or for your own gain)

that I go

away: for if I go not away, the Comforter

[Holy Spirit]

will not come unto you; but

if I depart, I will send Him unto you.

Jesus is telling His disciples: “Hey, it is

for your own gain that I leave, because as

soon as I leave, I’ll send the Holy Spirit

in my place.”

It was to our advantage that Jesus left and

sent the Holy Spirit, because Jesus was

fully human and could only be at one

place at a time. However, the Spirit could

be everywhere at the same time. Also,

Jesus ministered to people from the

outside in, whereas the Holy Spirit

ministers to people from the inside out.

When the Spirit finally showed up in

Acts chapter 2, more happened in a few

hours than happened in all of Jesus’ three

years of ministry. Since that time, tens of

thousands of Holy Spirit empowered

missionaries have been sent throughout

the world. As a result, millions of lost

souls have been brought into the kingdom

of God.

The Holy Spirit was involved in the new

birth. We are, by nature, children of

wrath (Eph. 2:3). David says in Psalm

51:5,

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

We come into the world, and from the

beginning, are bent on being independent

from God and running after the things of

the world. Something has to happen to us

if we are to be saved from the wrath of

God (1 Thes. 1:10). We must be changed.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit reproves

[convicts]

the world of sin, and of

righteousness, and of judgment

(John

16:8).

The new birth is the result of the work of

the Holy Spirit enabling us to see our sin

as God sees it and to see our desperate

need for a Savior. The work of the Holy

Spirit quickens [makes alive] a spiritually

dead person (John 6:63). Paul writes:

the

letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life

(2

Cor. 3:6).

When a spiritually dead person is made

alive (born again), the Holy Spirit: seals

the believer (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2nd Tim.

2:19-21; Rom. 8:14-16; Gal. 4:6),

empowers the believer (Acts 1:8; Rom.

8:2; 9-11; 12-13), is the earnest

(guarantee) of the believer (Eph. 1:13-

14), and becomes the believer’s partner in

prayer (Rom. 8:26-28).

The Holy Spirit gives supernatural gifts

to every believer. Gifts of the Spirit are

special abilities given by the

Holy Spirit to believers for the

purpose of building up the body

of Christ. The list of spiritual

gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10

includes wisdom, knowledge,

faith, healing, miracles, prophecy,

discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues,

and interpretation of tongues. Similar

lists appear in Ephesians 4:7-13 and

Romans 12:3-8, and include apostles,

prophets, evangelists, pastors, and

teachers.

The gifts of the Spirit are simply God

enabling believers to do what He has

called us to do. Ephesians 4:12-14 says:

For the perfecting of the saints, for the

work of the ministry, for the edifying of

the body of Christ: Till we all come in the

unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of

the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto

the measure of the stature of the fullness

of Christ: That we henceforth be no more

children, tossed to and fro, and carried

about with every wind of doctrine, by the

sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,

whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

The supernatural gifts have long been the

subject of controversy in Christian

circles. They have caused family

members to turn against each other and

churches to divide. Some Christians

believe and teach that certain gifts

(speaking in tongues, interpretation of

tongues, prophecy, healings

and miracles) ceased after

we received the New

Testament in written

...the letter [law, rules] killeth, but the

Spirit giveth life. —2 Cor. 3:6