the work of the holy spirit on the apostles

There is the possibility at least of his asking, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? In this verse, the Holy Spirit is equated to the power of the Most High. It is made possible for the one to whom the call comes to accept. No one, without the help of the Holy Spirit, can say that Jesus is the Christ; but with his help all can say it, and He wants to help every one to say it. This work of calling the children of men into God’s kingdom is still going on. The Holy Spirit has Himself anticipated all the modern ingenious and wholly unbiblical and false theories regarding His own work in the Apostles. When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. ii.13, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Jesus sends His disciples into the world to witness under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had repeatedly told the disciples that He was going to die and be raised from the dead, but th… It is quite probable that Paul expected that he would be alive to the coming of the Lord, but if he did so expect, he did not so teach. The Gospel call, though always accompanied by the Holy Spirit with all His converting power, is not irresistible. The Seventy Disciples and Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ are those Whom our Saviour chose in addition to the Twelve and sent forth unto the work of preaching. And it explores the work that the Holy Spirit did in the past, and that he continues to do today. We read in 1 Cor. There is not one of the most distinctive and precious doctrines taught in the Bible that men have ever discovered apart from the Bible. iii.3-5, R. V., "By revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy Apostles and prophets in the Spirit." So that with the Lord’s invitation there goes, hand in hand, a constant gathering of souls as recruits for the Lord’s army. Text taken from John 14:26. “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Take the parallels of Luke and Acts and discern the work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the relationship of Jesus Christ's work. So, by alluding to this verse as an example of the Holy Spirit's work, the Apostles' Creed affirms the Spirit's full divinity. He has prepared for us a perfect righteousness. ii.13, A. R. V., "Which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth combining spiritual things with spiritual words." In man’s original state of integrity he unquestionably lived in the sphere of faith, his whole life was a life of faith, of receptive dependence on God; but when sin came faith died. The work of the Spirit in the world may surprise you. We Christians believe that there is a God one of the persons of which Being is properly called the Holy Spirit. Are all prophets? Sometimes there is a certain reaction; a certain operation of God’s Spirit on our spirit produces a result, and that result opens the way for still larger results. Jesus loves you #Passerby That which was all-sufficient for the poor malefactor will be efficacious for every one. Just as the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit will give eternal life to believers in Christ. Jane Williams. Indeed, many of them are going on concurrently. Not in the least. It produced works with evidences (Acts 4:14-17, 5:14-16) c. It empowered the believers to witness (Acts 4:19-20). I doubt not that the early disciples, in spite of their lack of understanding, and exhibitions of weakness, had as large a measure of the Holy Spirit when they stood on Olivet as the average Christian of today; but they went back to Jerusalem to wait, and watch, and pray for His larger coming. The capacity for faith is in every human soul, but it is not self-generated or developed, as are the faculties of the mind. There is nothing in the Bible more inspired than the tabernacle, and if the Destructive Critics would study it more, they would give up their ingenious but untenable theories as to the composite structure of the Pentateuch. Of the seventy or so occurrences of the … Christians talk about the Holy Spirit, but rarely know how to recognize the Spirit's presence and activity in the world. It was not mere architecture. But this is not to assert that he would remain alive until the Lord came. Today on Groundwork, let's discuss the meaning packed into these two simple lines and exactly what we're professing belief in when we recite them. Everywhere throughout the Gospel reverberates the cry, “repent and believe the Gospel.” Everywhere, in one or another form, stands written the promise: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). There were times when it was sent directly to others. Without this work no one can be saved. This is the unmistakable teaching of God’s Word. The work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets is an entirely distinctive work. The answer to this is very simple. Christ’s last commission was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” This duty still rests on the Church, on the Church as a whole, and on each member of it. The Saviour was constantly emphasizing the fact that His call was for all, that all were welcome, were really wanted. 4. Mar 22, 2019. SUBJECT: Godhead TITLE: The Work of the Holy Ghost in the Primitive Church PROPOSITION: In this lesson we will study the role of the Holy Spirit in the early church. Luke was one of the followers of the apostles and was closed to Paul. 2. Everywhere, in past and present times, the world has been full of people eagerly alive to the opportunities which the world affords, pleasure and gain; but averse, wholly dead, to the things of God. This may have been due to their slowness to believe all that the prophets had spoken, especially the truths related to Messiah’s suffering (Luke 24:25-26). In comparison with the unutterable darkness which prevailed before it would not be without justification; but it is enlightenment only as the mastery of the alphabet opens the way to the great field of literature. The work of the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity in the plan of salvation. We read in Eph. They ministered chiefly to the chosen people, but the message was not confined to them. So that it can be said of us, as of the Ephesians: “Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord” (5:8). This is the reason we confess, as the Third Article teaches us, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, or come to Him.” This is not a flattering confession. If our consciousness differs from the statements of this Book, which is so plainly God's Book, it is not yet fully Christian and the thing to do is not to try to pull God's revelation down to the level of our consciousness but to tone our consciousness up to the level of God's Word. Before He ascends to the Father, Jesus breathes on His Apostles and imparts to them the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to growth in grace. And this work He does in the person of the Holy Spirit. At first he sees spiritual things much after the fashion of the blind man who, after Christ’s first application, saw men as trees walking. Another Person than themselves was thinking and speaking and they were seeking to comprehend what He said. And as He went about on earth He was constantly inviting, urging men to come to Him that He might enrich them by the bestowal of His blessings. We read in 1 Cor. It overlooks the fact so clearly stated and carefully elucidated that while there is "the same Spirit" there are "diversities of gifts" "diversities of administrations" "diversities of workings" (1 Cor. As he was still living when he wrote the words, he naturally and properly did not include himself with those who had already fallen asleep in speaking of the Lord's return. Nothing could be plainer than Paul's statement "in words which the Spirit teacheth." Without this nothing would be accomplished by all the preaching that could be done, for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 12:3. What good does it do us while we are ignorant of its existence? It considers his personhood, noting that the Holy Spirit is a true person and not simply a divine force. This is the unmistakable teaching of God’s Word. We read again in Acts xxviii.25, R. V., "And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken the word, 'Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers saying, etc.' The first step is a call to the spiritually dead. The Acts of the Apostles has sometimes been called the "Book of the Holy Spirit" or the "Acts of the Holy Spirit". The more carefully and minutely we study the wording of the statements of this wonderful Book, the more we will become convinced of the marvellous accuracy of the words used to express the thought. Clearly then, the prophet was simply an instrument in the hands of another, as the Spirit of God carried him along, so he spoke. This article is more than 11 years old. The result of their work, the New Testament, is our complete rule of faith and practice, and provides all the guidance we need to please God and go to heaven. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.". These who are only embittered and hardened withdraw, or appear only to oppose; those who are attracted, who begin to recognize in what God offers in His message that which fits to the needs of their souls, come out more and more decidedly on God’s side. The utterances of the Apostles and the prophets were the Word of God. Do all interpret?" There is much more which an intelligent confession of this part of our Creed should embrace than it was possible to set forth in that one address. But faith is not a natural or inherent gift or possession of man. Without this work no one can be saved. It contains truth that men never could have discovered if left to themselves. Just as fully God as the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is unseen, yet very active, empowering individual believers and the Church alike. The folly of all this is evident when we bear in mind that the revelation of God transcends human reasoning, and that any consciousness that is not the product of the study and absorption of Bible truth is not really a Christian consciousness. In the many Bibles that I have read and worn out, I have marked with a red pen countless references to the Holy Spirit in both the Old and New Testaments. It may have come with the thunders of Sinai, but the heart of it was always the message of mercy. To give us the eyes to see, the heart to appreciate, and the hand of faith to grasp the riches in Christ Jesus, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. A community of God’s children is established. The first faint, flickering consciousness of sin; the first dimly seen vision of Jesus as a Saviour; the first faint heartbeat of a desire to be rid of the darkness and to live in the light; this is the beginning of enlightenment. The doctrine is becoming very common and very popular in our day that the work of the Holy Spirit in preachers and teachers and in ordinary believers, illuminating them and guiding them into the truth and opening their minds to understand the Word of God is the same in kind and differs only in degree from the work of the Holy Spirit in prophets and apostles. What good does the heaven and earth filling riches of Christ do those who are ignorant of His true value, or dead to all power of appropriation? The Holy Spirit as “Helper” did the work of revelation, making known to … In Jesus the world was privileged to see the glory of God’s grace as well as His truth. With the passage of time, others were added to their number by the Holy Apostles, who, with the accompaniment and assistance of the Seventy, were preaching the Gospel of Christ in various lands. The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts . Very often the solution of an apparent difficulty is found in studying the exact words used. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of the Pentecost is described by the Evangelist Luke in the opening chapters of his book of the “Acts of the Apostles.” God decided to make this event a turning point in world history. In the parable of the wedding feast He shows how deeply grieved He is at the empty seats. x.15, 16, "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. Jesus Himself tells us that it was largely His mission, on going back to heaven, to send the Holy Spirit to teach us all things, to lead us into all truth; that is, of course, all truth needful for our salvation. It is sometimes said that Paul taught in his early ministry that the Lord would return during his lifetime, and that in this he was, of course, mistaken. Do we yield to His gracious solicitations? Faith is not only the means whereby man passes through the portal into the kingdom of grace, faith is itself a gift of grace. by Dennis Pollock . By God's grace, each week LutheranLibrary.org will present a new message on the basics of the Evangelical Christian Faith. Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit. The child that has just laboriously learned to read a few sentences in its primer has not gone very far in comparison with a Shakspeare or a Goethe; but these men began in this way, and without it they could not have reached their later estate. The revelation made to the prophets was independent of their own thinking. Some in the church see the Spirit as the dispenser of spectacular gifts. A very scholarly and brilliant preacher seeking to minimize the difference between the work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets and His work in other men calls attention to the fact that the Bible says that Bezaleel was to be "filled with the Spirit of God" to devise the work of the tabernacle (Ex. The apostles by the help of the Holy Spirit completed their task. This is particularly true with that step which we call enlightenment. All, let it be constantly borne in mind, the result of the operation of the Spirit of God, brought to bear on the minds and hearts of men through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, and the administration of the Divinely ordained sacraments. Jesus is the world’s only Saviour. This passage clearly teaches that the words, as well as the thought, were chosen and taught by the Holy Spirit. 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