WBS.188
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE HOLY
SPIRIT - VIII
Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
This life is about a conflict of Kingdoms. Most disciples never quite “get it.” This isn’t about getting “saved” and “going
to Heaven when you die.” This isn’t
about seeing who can prosper the most in this world and die with the most
toys. It is about allegiance,
commitment, loyalty, service and, yes, it is about combat. It is about rescuing men and women from a
dark kingdom, and bringing them into the light.
The wonderful thing is, there is no power or authority that can stand
against the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Might of IAUE, Himself.
Over the past three weeks we have discussed
the reason why Messiah told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem. Before they did anything to propagate the
good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, they needed to be endued with the power of
the Kingdom of Heaven in order to demonstrate the nature and power and
supremacy of the Kingdom of Heaven to their audience.
Luke 17:20 And
when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of Elohim should come,
he answered them and said, The kingdom of Elohim cometh not with observation:
21 Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of Elohim is within you.
Before we discuss more aspects of the nature
of the Holy Spirit and further examine His ministry to us and through us; it is
important that we understand the Father’s perspective on the Holy Spirit in our
lives. This is a concept that is often
overlooked by the church. Notice how the
Master referred to Him in one of his last messages to his disciples before
ascending to sit at the right hand of IAUE.
Luke 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon
you…
Here, the Holy Spirit is referred to as “the promise” of IAUE. We find that also in the following Scriptures.
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of
me.
Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of IAUE exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as IAUE
our Elohim shall call.
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Yahushua Messiah; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit
through faith.
The Holy Spirit is referred to as “the promise”
of IAUE. This word “promise” (epaggelia)
does not mean “to make a promise” in the sense of the word’s usage in the
English language, today. (i.e., I promise to pick you up at 6:00 PM,
today. I promise to buy you an ice cream
cone if you come with me.
I promise not to do that again.
Such usage means to guarantee something.) Epaggelia means “to announce, or to declare one’s intention.” In that sense, by virtue of it being the
intention of IAUE, we can understand it to have roughly the same consequence as
a promise; but what is really happening in this usage is the Father is revealing
what His intention is regarding the Holy Spirit and His man.
Let’s look at another way IAUE perceives of
the Holy Spirit with respect to His man.
John 4:10
Yahushua answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of IAUE, and who it
is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Yahushua Messiah for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:2 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of IAUE may be purchased with money.
Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 11:17 Forasmuch then as IAUE gave them the like gift as
he did unto us, who believed on the Master Yahushua Messiah; what was I, that I
could withstand IAUE?
1 Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee,
which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the
presbytery.
2 Timothy 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of IAUE, which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands.
The Holy Spirit is the GIFT of IAUE. Stated more plainly, the Holy Spirit is the “present”
IAUE desires to give to man. [Because of
the common use of the term “the free gift”
(which refers to eternal life and not to the Holy Spirit), we need to clarify
that the Holy Spirit is a present from IAUE; not the unmerited and unearned bestowal
of eternal life given in response to faith in Messiah Yahushua.] The Holy Spirit is something IAUE earnestly
desires to give to man. He has
repeatedly declared His intention to do so; but there is a reason why He cannot
arbitrarily give man this present.
Yahushua explained in a parable (Matthew 9:17;
Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37) that you cannot put new wine in an old wine skin. The two are not compatible. New wine in an old wine skin will cause the old
skin to burst. You must first have a new
wine skin before you can receive the new wine.
Man is not qualified to contain the gift of IAUE until he is born again…until
he becomes a new wine skin. This is why
when the masses were hearing the 120 disciples speaking in tongues and every
man was hearing the praises and mighty works of IAUE in their own language
(Acts 2); they were told by Peter that this is what Joel the prophet had
declared centuries earlier…that IAUE would pour out His Holy Spirit upon all
flesh. This is why, when the masses
asked Peter what they must do; he said they first had to repent. Then they needed to be baptized in water. If they would do that, they would become new
wine skins and they could receive the gift of IAUE.
In Acts 8, we see where Phillip fled to
Samaria to escape the persecution in Jerusalem. There he preached to the people
about the Kingdom of IAUE and the name of Yahushua; and he healed their sick
and cast out demons. In response, the
people repented and were baptized; but they did not receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit until Peter and John came up from Jerusalem and laid their hands on
them. I share this passage of Scripture
simply to note the distinction between being born again, and receiving the Holy
Spirit. They are not simultaneous
experiences; and unfortunately, they have become so separated from each other that
the majority of Christians, today, have never received new wine into their new wine
skins. This is why the church throughout
the world today, for the most part, is powerless; and why they hear the Word of
IAUE Sunday after Sunday and do not DO the Word of IAUE. They have no faith to do the works of IAUE
because they have no power/might to do the works of IAUE.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
IAUE. The Holy Spirit is the very
essence and life force of IAUE. IAUE
earnestly desires for man to become one with Him. It is His declared intention…His promise. The Holy Spirit is the present of IAUE that
demonstrates His great benevolence, kindness, goodness and love which He has
for man.
John 17:22 And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one; and that the world may know
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Ultimately, when we understand the objective
of IAUE regarding His Holy Spirit, we see that the sacrifice of His Son on man’s
behalf was not just to forgive man of sin. It was not just to provide for man
to be born again. The true objective was
to redeem man unto a condition where IAUE could GIVE man His Spirit. Forgiveness and the new birth were necessary
to make that possible. Man had to become
a new wine skin; and what is the purpose of a new wine skin? It is to hold new wine.
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children: how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
IAUE resolved through the course of millennia of
human history the outworking of a plan revealed as early as Genesis 3, that He
would redeem man so His Spirit could be in man; so man could again be one with
Him.
The sad thing is, even for disciples who have
received the gift of IAUE, many/most have little regard or respect for the Holy
Spirit within them. It is not unlike a
person who is given a gift of a priceless Ming vase; and they toss it in the
back seat of their car and drive home with it.
They treat it as something common; failing to recognize the value of the
gift. It is like discovering you have a
Rembrandt painting in your attic only to leave it there to collect dust.
We do not recognize the value of the gift of
IAUE. We do not understand that the very
intention declared by IAUE that He has made the Holy Spirit available to us assigns
to the gift a greater value than we can even measure. We do not begin to comprehend the purposes
for which IAUE has bestowed this gift upon us.
Have you ever experienced a time when you
received an abundance of cash, far more than you ever would consider carrying
with you? Maybe it was a couple of
hundred dollars; or a thousand dollars, or ten thousand dollars. Do you remember how you felt walking out of
the door with all of that money in your pocket? You were so conscious of it being in your
wallet, being in your possession. You
knew that everyone would want it if they could get their hands on it. Everywhere
you went, every store you entered, every place you stopped, you were conscious
of the large amount of money you were carrying.
You would not rest comfortably until you got home to put it away, or got
to the bank to deposit it. That amount
of money transcended the level at which your life was comfortably
experienced. Let’s say that was $1,000.00
that you were carrying. There are those
who carry that much money on their person all the time. They don’t think twice about it. Why?
It is because their life has risen to the level in the world where that
is not considered a great enough sum to be concerned what others might do if
they knew they had it on them. They have
not lost respect for the value of $1,000.00.
They have simply learned to live at a level where carrying that much
money is useful to them. They operate
their life at that level.
The value and ability of the Holy Spirit so
far transcends a large amount of cash. The Father would have our lives ascend
to embrace the value of the Holy Spirit and to walk conscious of Him inside of
us, fully in agreement with what He wants to say or do through us. IAUE wants us to recognize that as His sons
and daughters, WE are a people who should be comfortable with carrying on our
person something of such great value; and to live our lives on that level.
2 Corinthians
4:7 But
we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may
be of IAUE, and not of us.
The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift IAUE can
give to His children. He does not want
us to receive the Holy Spirit and become callous toward Him and disregard His
presence within us. He also does not
want us to receive His gift and be intimidated by its power and
capabilities. He wants us to receive His
Spirit and rise to the occasion, allowing the Spirit of IAUE to do through us
what He did through Yahushua. He wants
the Kingdom of IAUE to be manifest in our lives everywhere we go, and to
influence everything we do. He wants us
to be one with Him; and to understand what that means.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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