Greetings in The Name of Jesus Christ, The Understanding High Priest,
In dealing with the topic of The Holy Spirit, we are dealing with the nature and character of God. The Holy Spirit is God.
” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8 NKJV
Jesus gives us a brief glimpse into personality of The Holy Sprit. When God, in the person of The Holy Spirit, fellowships with believers, there is mystery. This mystery suggests that there will probably be differences of opinions, between fallible men, concerning The Holy Spirit. There are two facts that are undeniable concerning The Holy Spirit. Search The Scriptures for yourself. The Holy Spirit produces righteousness and He provides power. He produces fruit and He provides gifts. There is a filling, The Spirit within, and there is a baptism, The Spirit upon.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 NKJV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV
” for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. ” ” 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. ” Acts 1: 5, 8 NKJV
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. But one and the same Spirit works all things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:4, 11 NKJV
Fruitless debate rages and separates christians concerning the correct terminology when talking about The Holy Spirit and His relationship to us. Do you need righteousness? You need The Spirit within. Do you need power? You need The Spirit upon. Each is absolutely necessary if we are to be Christ followers.
Remember our third foundational truth, The Incarnation of Jesus Christ. When Christ walked among us, He was absolutely righteous and He executed absolute power. He spoke of the importance of both. We cannot emphasize one over the other.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NKJV
If you are a born-again believer then “The Holy Spirit within,” is already present. To be filled with The Spirit is a matter of our obedience and the yielding of self-control to The Holy Spirit’s control. Concerning “The Holy Spirit upon or baptism,” some christians believe The Spirit comes upon at salvation and some believe it is a separate experience. The question is, do you have supernatural power? Do you have the same signs of the baptism the early church had? Have you experienced what the first church experienced in the book of Acts? Power and gifts are the evidence of the Spirit upon.
” Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12 NKJV
You cannot live the christian life in your own self-sufficiency. You are totally dependent upon The Holy Spirit to provide righteousness and power.
In future letters, we will go into much more detail about the supernatural aspects of The Holy Spirit.
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. 1 Corinthians 16:24 NKJV
your brother in Christ
P.S. Jesus Christ is coming soon