​REVIEW
 
Let’s continue our new series that we began last week entitled “The Advantage of the Holy Spirit.” In this shorter series, we are continuing to establish the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how He actually serves as an advantage to us. And did you know that the Holy Spirit is who gives us an advantage in our Christian walks!?! Yes, He gives us an advantage over our flesh, this world, and even over the devil. But guess what that also means? It means that if we do not have the Holy Spirit or if we do not utilize His ministry in our lives, then we will be at a disadvantage. We don’t want that, saints.
 
So, let’s go back over to John chapter 16 and look at what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion concerning the Advantage of the Holy Spirit.
 
Again, we saw how Jesus had been preparing His disciples for His soon departure, but He said to them in verse 5 that none of them asked Him where He was going. We saw that they did ask Him questions along these lines but they did not ask these questions because they were concerned about Jesus and where He was going. They were only concerned with how His soon departure was going to affect them. And because of this, Jesus said in verse 6, sorrow had filled their heart. And we saw how this sorrow was a direct result of them only thinking about how His leaving was going to affect them. And in some respects, rightfully so—for during the last three years, Jesus had been their everything—He had been their Counselor, their Teacher, their Provider, their Inspiration, and their Best Friend. They had left everything to follow Him and had put their full trust in Him and relied on Him to be their provider in every area of life. He taught them how to pray and He prayed for them. He instructed them on what to say and how to act. He bailed them out of many different situations and circumstances. Yes, He was their everything. So, for Jesus to tell them He was about to leave them was indeed very saddening to them, I’m sure. But again, this sorrow, discouragement, depression, etc. was because they were only thinking of themselves and how this was going to affect them.
 
So, we saw how Jesus knew they needed to hear some good news at this point, and that is why He went on to say what He did in verse 7: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
 
First of all, notice again how He said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth…” Now the word “Nevertheless” here denotes something to the effect of Jesus saying to His disciples— “Hey guys, I know you are sad because I told you that I am leaving, BUT…” And then Jesus followed that by saying that this good news He is about to give them is Him telling them the truth. You see, we know that everything that Jesus says is the truth, but when Jesus says that what He is about to tell you is the truth, then that means it is something that you can take to the bank! And the obvious reason that He said this here is because what He was about to tell them might not seem true. But yes, you can bet the bank that this is absolutely true even though it might not seem like it on the surface. And I can assure you that to most believers, what Jesus was about to say would be considered blasphemy if it didn’t come out of our Lord’s own mouth.
 
You see, if you were to poll a large group of Christians, asking them if they would rather have Jesus physically present with them, you would get the overwhelming majority saying, “YES!” Yes, most believers would give anything to be able to go back in time and be one of Jesus’ disciples and physically be with Him for those three years. They think that nothing could be greater than having Jesus physically present with them. But did you know that Jesus actually taught us differently in this verse?
 
Yes, we saw that Jesus quickly made a radical statement in John 16:7 that if it did not come out of His own mouth would seem like heresy: He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away…”
 
Now we saw last week how this word “advantage” has been translated many different ways. Some versions of the Bible translate it as “for your good or benefit.” Others say, “it is best or expedient.” Therefore, we could say that Jesus was saying here that we would be “better off” if He left us. Now, again, I am so glad that Jesus was the One to say this and not myself, not Peter, and not Paul. No, it was Jesus Himself that said we were better off to not have Him present with us because this would appear to be “Error” with a capital E!
 
And I can just imagine what His disciples might have been thinking. Perhaps they were saying in their heads, “What do you mean it would be better for us if you went away!?! You have been our everything! And, in case you haven’t noticed, we have not done the greatest job of learning the lessons you’ve tried to teach us. How could your leaving actually be better for us?” This is why Jesus went on to say, “…for (or, because) if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” Ah, now we see why it would be better for us for Jesus to return to heaven. It is because then He would be able to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—from heaven to us!
 
Someone might ask— “How is that advantageous to us? Why is having the Holy Spirit better than having Jesus?” Those are good questions. I answered them last week by giving you the following hypothetical situation: Say Jesus would have still died on the Cross and been raised from the dead three days later, but instead of only staying for 40 days after His resurrection, He stayed on the earth permanently in His glorified body? What do you suppose that would have been like? Well, I can guarantee you that Jesus would have been a little hard to get to, amen? I’m sure His appointment calendar would have been booked solid for the next decade or two, wouldn’t you? I mean, if great multitudes were thronging Him during His three-year ministry, then certainly there would have been an exponentially larger crowd wanting to get in to see this Healer, Teacher, Miracle-Worker, Prophet, etc. who had been raised from the dead! For example, in John 12:9 we see that a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So, if people were coming to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead, you can be certain many, many more people would come to see Jesus in His glorified body.
 
My point is that getting in to see the Miracle-worker Himself would have been a miracle itself—for far too many people would have been wanting to come be healed by Him or to hear Him teach. Therefore, it would have been better, more profitable or beneficial, or expedient to have Him send us the Holy Spirit—the One whom He did the works He did through.
 
So, we then moved on to this word that Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit with here—the Helper. We saw that this was the New King James Version’s translation of the word Jesus used here, and If you use the original King James Version, you will see the term “Comforter.” Other translations use the words “Counselor” or “Advocate.” But what we did last week was we focused on the word “Helper.” And we saw that a “Helper” describes an assistant, associate, partner, or a right-hand man. But there is another synonym for “Helper” that we camped on—the term Helpmate (or helpmeet).  
 
We saw that after God created Adam, He then said, “It is not good for man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18). Now you could paraphrase this statement like so— “It is not advantageous for man to be alone…” or “It is not beneficial, profitable, or best for man to be alone…” Does that sound a little familiar (see John 16:7)?
 
Then the Lord went on to say in Genesis 2:18— “I will make a helper comparable to him.” Ah, isn’t that interesting that we see the same word “helper” used here? I believe that is strategic by the Lord to reinforce this truth from John 16:7—that it is to our advantage to have a Helpmeet in the Person of the Holy Spirit! Glory!
 
Now I made the point last week that although our spouses can be used by the Lord sometimes to offer direction, instruction, correction, etc. that does not make us the Holy Ghost. But we discussed last week that this is oftentimes what happens in our marriages: Either the husband or the wife tries to be “Holy Ghost Jr.” and do the teaching, the reminding, the instructing, the convicting and reproving. Church, let me give you a good piece of information for not only your marriage but life in general: Let the Holy Spirit do His job. We don’t need a bunch of Holy Ghost Jr’s running around trying to do His job.    
 
I mentioned that I believe this is one of the greatest hindrances to the Holy Spirit being able to perform His ministry in our lives—us trying to do His ministry for Him. Yes, we get in His way when we try to heap conviction upon people, try to tell people what to do, etc. Church, we need to learn to take our hands off the wheel and let the Holy Spirit do His work. When we—in our pride—try to make everything the way we believe it needs to be, we oftentimes don’t see a lot of fruit from that. But if we just pray to the Father, asking Him to work His will in all of those things that concern us, and take it to the Holy Spirit, inviting Him to do His work of perfecting those things that concern us, then we will see much better results.    
 
But like I said last week, that certainly does not mean that we never open our mouths and communicate with one another. It just simply means that we need to learn when it’s just us trying to make it happen and when we need to let the Holy Spirit do His job.
 
But the fact is, like it is with us and the Holy Spirit, we oftentimes do see the wife telling the husband something and he won’t listen. For example, how many of you wives out there have told your husband something like— “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”—and he did it anyways and either hurt himself or broke something else? Oh, that happens quite a lot, doesn’t it? Well, isn’t that what happens to all of us—men and women alike—with the Holy Spirit? We sense that we shouldn’t do something, go somewhere, or say something and then we override it, and experience the repercussions of not listening to Him.
 
But we saw that what God did after making this statement about it not being good for man to be alone was not immediately putting Adam to sleep, pulling his rib out, etc. No, in verse 19, the first thing God did was form every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Then Adam named all of these animals, but we are told at the end of verse 20 that there was still not found a helper comparable to him.
 
So, what is interesting about this situation is how God gave Adam alternatives to the true helper that He intended all along. Therefore, Adam could have settled, couldn’t he? God could have brought him all of those animals, and he could have said, “Yeah, that horse would be good. I could strap a saddle on its back and it could help me to go from one side of Eden to the other.” Or maybe he looks at the gorilla and would have said, “Well, this one right here might be useful if I run into someone who needs a beaten’.” But, thank God, Adam waited for God’s best.
 
Therefore, we learned that when it comes to the Helper—the Holy Spirit—we likewise need to learn to choose Him above all of these other things that tend to come to us before Him—our own understanding, our flesh, etc. For example, if we are presented with a problem that we need an answer to, our tendency is to lean on our own understanding or to try to fix it in the arm of the flesh. But that is when we need to wait on the Lord, enter into His rest, and let the Helper give us the solution that we need. Amen and Amen!
 
So, we must learn to “take advantage of the Advantage.” No, not “take advantage” in the negative sense, but taking advantage as in utilizing the help that God has made available for us to use. And the way we take advantage and utilize the advantages that the Holy Spirit provides us with is by not compromising and settling for something less profitable or beneficial. That could be anything from us getting in the flesh and trying to make it happen ourselves to us succumbing to the pressures of this world to make a decision before we’ve heard from Him. And if we will utilize the Advantage on the inside of us, He will lead us to always give the right answer and be at the right place. The Holy Spirit’s help is what provides us with the Advantage. Amen!
 
JESUS’ PRAYER FOR US
 
So, let’s look a little further into this truth of the Holy Spirit being an advantage to us by going back a couple of chapters and looking at John 14:16. 
 
Notice in this verse that Jesus begins by saying, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you…” Isn’t that a beautiful thought--that Jesus is praying for us? Yes, the Lord, as our Advocate, prays for you and I which gives us every advantage—including the Advantage Himself, the Holy Spirit. So, if you are ever tempted to think that nobody loves you and no one will pray for you, remind yourself of this very truth—that you have an Advocate in Heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous (First John 2:1), and He is your merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17), who ever-lives to make intercession for you (Hebrews 7:25)! Glory! 
 
And here is even better news: Jesus promised us that the Father will give you ___. Give you and I what? Whatever Jesus prayed for! Amen! So, not only do we have a High Priest in the heavens advocating for us, we also have a Heavenly Father who is “graciously granting” (Literal rendering of “give”) His requests! Therefore, God is graciously providing us with the things Jesus is praying for us! That means that we are not having to work for them. No, we are not having to pray hard enough, be holy enough, or jump through this hoop or that hoop. Jesus is our High Priest and, through His blood, has done it all! Praise the Lord Jesus!
 
So, us receiving the Holy Spirit was Jesus’ prayer, and that prayer was answered 2,000 years ago when He was poured out on Pentecost. Glory to God! Now the Holy Spirit has been graciously given to us by the Father! All we need to do is just receive His advantage in our lives!
 
But the question that still needs to be addressed is how is the Holy Spirit an advantage over having Jesus? For some, that is hard to compute because how can we say that the Third Person of the Godhead is better than the Second Person of the Godhead? One is not better than the other, are they?
 
Well, I believe that, in this statement in John 14:16, Jesus clears this up. Notice what He says: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—” Now notice that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “another Helper” in this verse.
 
So, if the Holy Spirit is “another Helper,” then that must mean that there was another Helper besides Him, right? In other words, since Jesus uses the word “another” here, then that indicates that the Holy Spirit is not the first Helper to come on the scene. So, who do you reckon was the original Helper? JESUS! Yes, Jesus was that other Helper! Therefore, Jesus was stating in John 14:16 that the Holy Spirit, who would come after His departure, would be “another Helper” like Him.
 
Now most people would conclude that the most important word to understand here is the word “Helper.” And while we are certainly going to camp on this word—looking at the original Greek word and other possible translations of it—I believe that an equally powerful word to understand here is the word “another.” So then, let’s look at this word “another”:
 
JESUS’ TWIN
 
The first thing we need to understand is that there are two different Greek words that were used to translate the word “another.” One was heteros and the other was allos: The word heteros means “another of a different kind.” This is where we get our English word “heterosexual” from, which is someone who is attracted to another (human being) of a different kind (of sex). The other word is allos and means “another of the same kind.” More specifically, allos described another of the same kind that is essentially an exact representation, a duplicate, or even a twin. This is the Greek word that Jesus used when He referred to the Holy Spirit as— “another Helper!”
 
A good Scriptural example of these two words is found in Galatians chapter one: Here, in Galatians 1:6-7, the apostle Paul said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble
you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
 
Notice that in verse 6, Paul calls this legalistic, law-based teaching that these Judaizers were using to proselyte the churches of Galatia, a “different gospel.” The word “different” here is the Greek word heteros, which again, literally means “another of a different kind.” So, Paul was describing this “gospel” the Jews were bringing to them as a totally different kind of “good news.”
 
Now they likely presented it like it was good news—perhaps in saying, “Hey guys! If you just do these things found in the Law of Moses, you are set!” But the truth is—that gospel was a totally different kind of gospel. The gospel of grace says, “Hey guys! Look at what Jesus did for you! You are already set! Nothing else needs to be done!” Amen.
 
But in verse 7, Paul wanted to further explain and correct his phrase at the end of verse 6, “a different gospel.” If he would not have made the following statement, it might have suggested that there indeed are various gospels in Christianity to choose from. So, he goes on to say, “which is not another.”
 
In the original King James version, this term “another” was not only used here in verse 7, but was also used at the end of verse 6 to describe “another gospel.” This has led to some confusion. The New King James version correctly translated the word Paul used in verse 6 by using the word “different.” Here in this verse, the word Paul used was allos, which is accurately translated “another.” And as we’ve seen, allos describes “another of the same kind.” So, what Paul was saying from verse 6 is that they had turned to another, different kind of gospel. But here in verse 7, he quickly corrected that statement by saying, “which is really not another kind of gospel (i.e. of the same kind). It is not even in the same ballpark.”
 
So, here is the best way I have found to describe the difference between heteros (another of a different kind) and allos (another of the same kind) is this: If I had an apple in one hand, and I told you that in my other hand was “another” piece of fruit. The word heteros would mean that I might have a banana or an orange in that other hand. But if I used the word allos, then that would mean that the other piece of fruit would have to be an apple, the same kind of fruit.
 
So, Jesus was not saying to His disciples that the Holy Spirit was just some other kind of Helper, but rather the Holy Spirit is the exact same kind of Helper that He had been to them for the past three years! In other words, the Holy Spirit is an exact duplicate of Jesus – His identical twin, if you would! Glory!
 
Let me put it this way: Just like when Jesus said in John 14:9 that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father, likewise, if you have seen the Jesus, you have seen the Holy Spirit! Yes, just as Jesus said in John 5:19, that He only did what He saw His Father doing, likewise the Holy Spirit only does what we see the Son doing. And just as Jesus said in John 12:49-50 that He only spoke what His Father told Him to speak, the Holy Spirit only says what we hear Jesus saying. In short, the Holy Spirit only does the same things Jesus did. He will not speak anything contrary to the things we see Jesus speaking. He is here to mirror the Lord Jesus Christ to us!   
 
You see, I believe we have the same problem today that Jesus’ disciples had then. They weren’t aware of who was on the earth with them! Through their carnality, they did not perceive the Glory that they had been with for the past three years. So, they wanted to see the Father. Yes, they wanted to see God in some supernatural, spectacular way. When the truth was, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person (Hebrews 1:3) was before them. Likewise, the Church today puts all the focus on Jesus (and rightfully so in many ways). But the problem is that the Church tends to look at the Lord out there somewhere—that is, in the heavens—when the Holy Spirit is right here with us today! Therefore, the truth is that if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Holy Spirit, and vice-versa. Yes, just as Jesus perfectly emulated His Father, the Holy Spirit perfectly emulates Jesus.
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
What that means is that anything you saw Jesus doing for His disciples while He was on the earth is exactly what the Holy Spirit is willing to do for His disciples today. Praise God!!! So, in order to see what the Holy Spirit’s ministry is toward us, we need look no further than the ministry of Jesus: When we see Jesus constantly teaching His disciples, that is what the Holy Spirit does. When we see Jesus guiding and directing His disciples that is what the Holy Spirit does. When we see Jesus always showing a willingness to minister to others that is what the Holy Spirit desires to do. And the list could go on and on. The bottom line is that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same and the Holy Spirit’s calling is to pick up where Jesus left off and continue His works. So, the Holy Spirit is to us today what Jesus was to His disciples!
 
This brings new light to the verse that we quote often today out of the Book of Hebrews— “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” How is He the same to us today as He was to them yesterday when He was physically here? He is the same today in that He is here in the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit who is doing the same works that He did 2,000 years ago!
 
So, let me encourage you to do a spiritual project: Go back and read the four gospels again but this time, put you and the Holy Spirit in them. What I mean is imagine that you are one of Jesus’ disciples in those stories and that Jesus is the Holy Spirit.

What this will do is it will certainly heighten your awareness of the Holy Spirit being an actual person in that we certainly see Jesus that way during His earthly ministry. But what else it will do is that it will teach you how to utilize the Holy Spirit in your everyday life.
 
So, just imagine right now some of the ways in which Jesus was a “Helper” to His disciples: One thing that is obvious is how they “followed” Him. When He called His disciples, what was the phrase Jesus used? It was “Follow Me.” And that is exactly what the Holy Spirit is here to do with you and I today—to lead and guide us. Amen? But what we must do in order to be led by the Holy Spirit is follow Him.
 
Now we will get more into this in the future, but learning to be led by the Holy Spirit is one of the biggest keys to the Christian walk. But the fact is, Jesus’ disciples followed Him throughout His three-year ministry, and we can certainly learn how to be led by the Spirit by how the disciples were led by the original Helper.
 
Another thing that you see Jesus constantly doing during His ministry here on the earth was teaching His disciples. Jesus spent countless hours instructing them in the things pertaining to God’s kingdom—showing us that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is no different. He is always there to teach us. The question is—Are we open to His instruction? Do we invite Him to teach us when we are doing our Bible reading? Are we open to Him teaching us through the everyday life experiences that we have? Church, He is always there to teach and instruct us just like Jesus was to His disciples. We just need to inquire and then listen.
 
Another thing we see in the ministry of Jesus is how wise He was. He knew how to answer any question and escape every snare the religious leaders set for Him. Whether it was “Moses said to stone her, what do you say?” or “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus always had the perfect answer. Likewise, the Holy Spirit on the inside of us has the perfect answer for all of life’s questions. Ask Holy Spirit for answers in your daily walk. He will help you and will make you look good. We don't have to know everything, we just have to know the One who does. A great example of this is, how do you show love for the person who says, “I'm a homosexual. Because you are not accepting me, you are not showing me love.” Well God actually gave me the answer for this question. He told me, “The question is not if you love them, but how are they loving Me or seeking to glorify Me in what they are doing.” Again, we just need to inquire of Him and let the Spirit of Wisdom pour into us the wisdom that descends from above whenever we need it.
 
So, my point is—read the Gospels through this lens, and begin to see how the Holy Spirit is meant to be your Rabbi today. Verily, verily, I say unto you—He is to you and I today what Jesus was to His disciples yesterday.        
 
HOW IS HAVING THE HOLY SPIRIT BETTER THAN HAVING JESUS?
 
So, we have seen why having the Holy Spirit with us today is just as beneficial as Jesus’ disciples having Him physically with them 2,000 years ago was, but if the Holy Spirit and Jesus are the same in their earthly ministries, how is having the Holy Spirit an advantage? That is a good question and the answer is quite simple. Here is the difference: Notice the end of John 14:16…
 
Jesus said at the end of this powerful verse that the Father would give us another Helper, “that He may abide with you forever—"
 
So, one of the things that makes having the Holy Spirit with us here on the earth better than having Jesus still with us is the fact that Jesus promised us that He would “abide” (remain or stay) with us forever. In other words, while Jesus’ time with us was temporary according to the plans and purposes of God, the Holy Spirit is not here with us for just a few years. He remains with us forever!
 
What an awesome promise! We don’t have to worry about the Holy Spirit coming and going anymore. He abides! He will stay with us no matter what. Therefore, once we get Him, we got Him!
 
The reason I bring this out is because there are Christians out there who believe that the Holy Spirit is easily offended and leaves us when we sin, when we aren’t living holy, etc. No, according to Jesus, He is with us FOREVER! So, no more fear of the Holy Spirit being flighty; He is faithful never to leave us nor forsake us!
 
But the main thing that I believe makes having the Holy Spirit better for us than having Jesus was to His disciples is what Jesus went on to say in the following verse: Notice Jesus said in John 14:17— “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”  
 
Notice that last phrase— “for He dwells with you and will be in you.” What Jesus was promising His disciples is that while the Holy Spirit had been by their side (“with you”—Grk. para), He would soon be on the inside of them! 
 
The reason why it is to our advantage to have Him is because Jesus—being in a physical body—could only minister to so many at a time. His fellowship would have been limited, but not so with the Holy Spirit! He was going to not just be with us in a limited way by being here physically. No, He was going to take up residence in them and in us and now it is like having our own personal “Jesus.”
 
So, in order to receive say healing from Him, we don’t have to press through some crowd somewhere to touch the hem of His garment. All we have to do is look inside and draw from the rivers of living water that are on the inside of us! You see, it is far better to have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us than to have Jesus physically living with us. The Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us, and He can heal one of us, give another revelation knowledge, and help someone else find a good parking spot at Wal-Mart all at the same time with no problem whatsoever.
 
So, learn to utilize this advantage on the inside of you, church! And know that the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus in every way. When you see Jesus, you have seen the Holy Spirit. And He is here with us to lead, teach, and pour into us just like Jesus did for His disciples. Amen! 

REVIEW & INTRODUCTION
 
So, we spent seven weeks talking about the Communion of the Holy Spirit—a series of teachings where we learned that the fellowship, partnership, intimacy, and contribution of the Holy Spirit is to be a part of every one of our lives. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead who is with us on the earth today and He is a Person with real personality traits. Therefore, our responsibility is to begin walking, talking, and communing with Him on a regular basis just like the Early Church did so that we can begin to experience His “Acts” in our lives today.
 
Now that leads me to this new series that I want to start today entitled “The Advantage of the Holy Spirit.” In this shorter series, I want to continue establishing us in the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how He actually serves as an advantage to us. And did you know that the Holy Spirit is what (Lit. Who) gives us an advantage in our Christian walks? Yes, He gives us an advantage over our flesh, this world, and even over the devil. But guess what that also means? It means that if we do not have the Holy Spirit or if we do not utilize His ministry in our lives, then we will be at a disadvantage. We don’t want that, saints. So, let’s go over to John chapter 16 and look at what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion concerning the Advantage of the Holy Spirit.  
 
WHERE ARE YOU GOING, JESUS?
 
First of all, Jesus said to His disciples in John 16:5, “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’”   
 
Now you would figure that Jesus’ telling to His disciples that he was leaving them should have led them to ask more questions than they did. Sure, we know that Thomas asked Him a question in John 14:5 but this was not a wise question.
 
You see, Jesus had just said to them in John 14:1-4— “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
 
Now we know that Jesus was referring to His crucifixion in verse one when He said, “Let not your heart be troubled…” So, Jesus was preparing them, telling them to not let their hearts become troubled when these things take place—for they needed to believe in Him like they believed in God. Then He proceeds to tell them that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house where there are many mansions. Not only that, but He promised to not only prepare a place for them in heaven, but also to return again and take them to heaven with Him. Praise God! I’ll tell you, saints, this is shouting ground—because Jesus has promised to all of His disciples to go prepare a mansion for us and to also return again and take us to it! Church, things like the promise of heaven, our inheritance that awaits us there, and Jesus’ Second Coming are things that our heart should just leap over! Yes, our blessed hope should yield so much joy in our hearts that there is no room for the troubling, unsettling, or sorrow of the heart!
 
But then Jesus ends in verse 4 with the following statement— “And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
 
Now let me give you a quick piece of advice: If the Lord tells you that you know where He is going and you know the way there too, don’t ever do what Thomas did here. Notice his response in John 14:5— “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’” Essentially, Thomas refused to believe what the Lord had just told them.
 
You see, if the Lord says, “You are a mighty man of valor” then I don’t care if you are still hiding in the winepress, you are who He said you are (Ex. Gideon). If the Lord says, “My sheep hear my voice” then don’t say, “I just don’t hear God’s voice well.” No, if God tells you that you are something, that you can do something, or that (like in this case) you know something, then, bless God, you know what He says you know. Now your mind might not have caught up with it yet, but just agree with Him and then the answers will more readily follow.
 
But my point is that although Thomas asked a question after Jesus told them He was leaving, this was not the right question because He was not concerned with where Jesus was going; he was only concerned with not knowing how to get there himself. And, of course, Jesus responds with that powerful truth in verse 6 saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”—meaning, that we don’t have to know the way, we just need to know HIM—for He is the Way. Amen.  
 
Now we know that Peter actually did ask this question— “Lord, where are you going?”—after Jesus had told them that He would be soon leaving them just earlier this same evening (see John 13:33-36). But the difference was this—they did not ask Him the question really wanting to know where He was going. In other words, they didn’t really want to know the answer but were only concerned with how this was going to affect them. We know this because of what Jesus said next in John chapter 16…
 
Jesus went on to say in John 16:6— “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
 
You see, the only thing His disciples were concerned with in Jesus saying that He was leaving them was how this was going to affect them. Now granted, for the past three years, Jesus had been their everything—He had been their Counselor, their Teacher, their Provider, their Inspiration, and their Best Friend. They had left everything to follow Him and had put their full trust in Him and relied on Him to be their provider in every area of life. He taught them how to pray and He prayed for them. He instructed them on what to say and how to act. He bailed them out of many different situations and circumstances. Yes, He was their everything. So, for Jesus to tell them He was about to leave them was indeed very saddening to them, I’m sure. Therefore, rightly so, they were a little troubled with His words that He was about to split—and this caused their hearts to be filled with sorrow. But again, this was because they were only thinking of themselves and how this was going to affect them. Likewise, Christians often get depressed because they focus on the negative in all the different areas, even in spiritual areas like the condition of the world. But we need to focus on the Good News, and what is promised, and the good that God is doing in you, others, and the world.
 
You see, the truth is that whenever we get enveloped in sorrow and grief over a loved one departing from us, it is because we are being self-centered. The reason I say this is because if our loved one has gone to heaven like we say we believe, why would we ever be depressed? If we were really considering how they currently “felt” more than how we “feel,” our emotions would be the opposite. That is why the apostle Paul teaches us that we do not sorrow like the world does when a believer goes on to be with the Lord. It is because we know where they have gone—and that place is “far better” than still being here on the earth. So, if we were focused on them and their current situation above how we are concerned about ourselves and our current situation, we could actually be filled with joy when a believer leaves their body and goes to heaven. No, not in a perverted way, but in a TRUE way because to depart and be with Christ is far better (see Philippians 1:23). Sure, we might have periods of grief and sorrow because that’s a normal part of death. However, we shouldn’t be wallowing in it—because our focus is on how good they now have it and not how we feel, our loss, what we lack, etc. Amen?  
 
NEVERTHELESS, I TELL YOU THE TRUTH
 
But the fact is, Jesus’ disciples were sorrowful at His words that He was leaving them. So, Jesus knew they needed to hear some good news. And that is why He went on to say what He did in verse 7: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
 
First of all, notice how He said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth…” Now the word “Nevertheless” here denotes something to the effect of Jesus saying to His disciples— “Hey guys, I know you are sad because I told you that I am leaving, BUT…” Now this is one of those times that the “But” needs to get in the way—for it is followed by some of the best news we have in the entire Gospel!
 
And then Jesus follows that by saying that this good news He is about to give them is Him telling them the truth. You see, we know that everything that Jesus says is the truth, but when Jesus says that what He is about to tell you is the truth, then that means it is something that you can take to the bank! And the obvious reason that He said this here is because what He was about to tell them might not seem true. But yes, you can bet the bank that this is absolutely true even though it might not seem like it on the surface.
 
And I can assure you that to most believers, what Jesus was about to say would be considered blasphemy if it didn’t come out of our Lord’s own mouth. Let me explain:
 
WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE’D BE BETTER OFF?
 
You see, if you were to poll a large group of Christians, asking them if they would rather have Jesus physically present with them, you would get the overwhelming majority saying, “YES!” Yes, most believers would give anything to be able to go back in time and be one of Jesus’ disciples and physically be with Him for those three years. They think that nothing could be greater than having Jesus physically present with them. But did you know that Jesus actually taught us differently in this verse?
 
Yes, Jesus quickly made a radical statement here in John 16:7 that if it did not come out of His own mouth would seem like heresy: He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away…”
 
Now the word “advantage” here has been translated many different ways. Some versions of the Bible translate it as “for your good or benefit.” Others say, “it is best or expedient.” Therefore, we could say that Jesus was saying here that we would be “better off” if He left us. Now, again, I am so glad that Jesus was the One to say this and not myself, not Peter, and not Paul. No, it was Jesus Himself that said we were better off to not have Him present with us because this would appear to be “Error” with a capital E!
 
And I can just imagine what His disciples might have been thinking. Perhaps they were saying in their heads, “What do you mean it would be better for us if you went away!?! You have been our everything! And, in case you haven’t noticed, we have not done the greatest job of learning the lessons you’ve tried to teach us. How could your leaving actually be better for us?”
 
This is why Jesus went on to say, “…for (or, because) if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” Ah, now we see why it would be better for us for Jesus to return to heaven. It is because then He would be able to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—from heaven to us!
 
Someone might ask— “How is that advantageous to us? Why is having the Holy Spirit better than having Jesus?” Those are good questions. Let me answer them by giving you a hypothetical situation.
 
Say Jesus would have still died on the Cross and been raised from the dead three days later, but instead of only staying for 40 days after His resurrection, He stayed on the earth permanently in His glorified body? What do you suppose that would have been like? Well, I can guarantee you that Jesus would have been a little hard to get to, amen? I’m sure His appointment calendar would have been booked solid for the next decade or two, wouldn’t you? I mean, if great multitudes were thronging Him during His three-year ministry, then certainly there would have been an exponentially larger crowd wanting to get in to see this Healer, Teacher, Miracle-Worker, Prophet, etc. who had been raised from the dead! For example, in John 12:9 we see that a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So, if people were coming to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead, you can be certain many, many more people would come to see Jesus in His glorified body.
 
My point is that getting in to see the Miracle-worker Himself would have been a miracle itself—for far too many people would have been wanting to come be healed by Him or to hear Him teach. Therefore, it would have been better, more profitable or beneficial, or expedient to have Him send us the Holy Spirit—the One whom He did the works He did through.
 
Now we will get more into why that is better in the coming weeks, but let’s move into this word that Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit with here—the Helper.     
 
THE HELPER
 
This word “Helper” here is, of course, the New King James Version’s translation. If you use the original King James Version, you will find a different word—the term “Comforter.” Other translations use the words “Counselor” or “Advocate.” But this week, I want to focus in on the word “Helper.”
 
Now what is a “Helper”? A helper describes an:

1. Assistant—that is, one who helps someone else in accomplishing a task.
2. Associate—that is, a coworker in business or a fellow worker at work.
3. Partner—that is, one who supports another and helps bear the load.
4. Right-hand man or woman—that is, kind of like an assistant and there to give you a helping hand.  
5. Helpmate (or helpmeet)—Now this last term is very interesting because I believe the Holy Spirit was foreshadowed in the Beginning…

 
Do you remember when God created Adam and then sometime after that, said, “It is not good for man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18). Now you could paraphrase this statement like so— “It is not advantageous for man to be alone…” or “It is not beneficial, profitable, or best for man to be alone…” Does that sound a little familiar (see John 16:7)?
 
Then the Lord went on to say in Genesis 2:18— “I will make a helper comparable to him.” Ah, isn’t that interesting that we see the same word “helper” used here? I believe that is strategic by the Lord to reinforce this truth from John 16:7—that it is to our advantage to have a Helpmeet in the Person of the Holy Spirit! Glory!
 
But what is interesting is what God did immediately after making this statement. What He did not do was immediately put Adam to sleep, pull his rib out, etc. No, in verse 19, the first thing God did was form every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Then Adam named all of these animals, but we are told at the end of verse 20 that there was still not found a helper comparable to him. (We will get back to this in a moment)
 
So, after this, the Lord caused that deep sleep to fall on Adam and after He made woman, He brought her to Adam. And verse 23 said that Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” You see, this is essentially Adam choosing Eve to become that helper that God said would be good for him. Therefore, the woman—Eve—was that helper.  In the same way, when we partner with other ministers and ministries, you partake of the blessings of them. You become a co-laborer with them. You rejoice with them when they prosper, and even reap spiritual blessings.
 
HOLY GHOST JR.
 
But let me caution you ladies—that doesn’t mean you are the Holy Spirit. But that is oftentimes what happens in our marriages today: Either the husband or the wife tries to be the Holy Spirit and do the teaching, the reminding, the instructing, the convicting and reproving. Church, let me give you a good piece of information for not only your marriage but life in general: Let the Holy Spirit do His job. We don’t need a bunch of Holy Ghost Jr’s running around trying to do His job.    
 
You see, I believe this is one of the greatest hindrances to the Holy Spirit being able to perform His ministry in our lives—us trying to do His ministry for Him. Yes, we get in His way when we try to heap conviction upon people, try to tell people what to do, etc. Church, we need to learn to take our hands off the wheel and let the Holy Spirit do His work. When we—in our pride—try to make everything the way we believe it needs to be, we oftentimes don’t see a lot of fruit from that. But if we just pray to the Father, asking Him to work His will in all of those things that concern us, and take it to the Holy Spirit, inviting Him to do His work of perfecting those things that concern us, then we will see much better results.     
 
Now that certainly does not mean that we never open our mouths and communicate with one another. It just simply means that we need to learn when its just us trying to make it happen and when we need to let the Holy Spirit do His job. For example, there are times where the Holy Spirit is speaking through us like, for instance, when Sarah wanted Abraham to kick Hagar and Ishmael out. Abraham didn’t like that idea one bit, but the Lord confirmed with him that this was the thing to do. So, in situations like these, we can see how the Lord puts His plans and purposes into the hearts of other people. Now I am sure that Abraham probably thought something like— “Aw, that woman is just being vindictive. She is just getting all emotional about how Hagar is acting and I am not going to let her feelings get in the way.” But, thank God, Abraham had enough wherewithal to listen to God telling him that this was His will.
 
And that is the lesson here: Can we hear what the Holy Spirit would say about what we are hearing from this person? Instead of just immediately writing them off because we “believe” they are wrong for whatever reason, will we take it to the Lord and listen to Him? 
 
But what do we see happening in many of our marriages today? The wife will tell the husband something and he won’t listen. And I believe that many husbands do the same thing that we Christians do with the Holy Spirit. Let me explain: You see, how many of you wives out there have told your husband something like— “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”—and he did it anyways and either hurt himself or broke something else? Oh, that happens quite a lot, doesn’t it? Well, isn’t that what happens to all of us—men and women alike—with the Holy Spirit? We sense that we shouldn’t do something, go somewhere, or say something and then we override it, and experience the repercussions of not listening to Him.
 
Now let me caution you—this is not where you get in the car after service today, turn to your spouse, and ask them— “Did you hear what pastor said today?” No, that would be you being Holy Ghost Jr. LOL! No, the point of all of this is simply to point you to applying these truths to your own life, not the life of your significant other. You be a doer of this Word, and don’t try to get others to do the Word you heard. Amen? 
 
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ADVANTAGE
 
Now back to Genesis chapter 2: What is interesting about this situation where God gave Adam alternatives to the true helper that He intended all along is that Adam could have settled, couldn’t he? God could have brought him all of those animals, and he could have said, “Yeah, that horse would be good. I could strap a saddle on its back and it could help me to go from one side of Eden to the other.” Or maybe he looks at the gorilla and would have said, “Well, this one right here might be useful if I run into someone who needs a beaten’.” But, thank God, Adam waited for God’s best. And we need to understand that we only see a perfect likeness of God in humanity (made in His image) when man and woman come together in proper unity. Also, one of the great advantages in marriage is "two are better than one" and we can benefit each other; we are less likely to miss God if we listen to each other.
 
Likewise, when it comes to the Helper—the Holy Spirit—we need to learn to choose Him above all of these other things that tend to come to us before Him—our own understanding, our flesh, etc. For example, if we are presented with a problem that we need an answer to, our tendency is to lean on our own understanding or to try to fix it in the arm of the flesh. But that is when we need to wait on the Lord, enter into His rest, and let the Helper give us the solution that we need. Amen and Amen!
 
For example, it is like when we get upset with our spouse because we thought they should have done something and they didn’t. Then we cop an attitude with them, and when they ask, “What’s wrong with you?” we tell them that we felt they should have done so and so. It is because we think that they should think like we think. In other words, we like to (at best) hold people to our own standards and we expect them to treat us the way we treat them. (I bet you didn’t think you were going to get some marriage counseling this morning, did you?) One of the problems both in marriage and in ministry is not letting the Holy Spirit do His job, and trying to jump in and fix people ourselves.
 
I’m going to tell you something—It does not work that way with the Holy Spirit. You are going to have to straight up ask the Helper when you want help! Why? Because He is a Gentleman and will not force His way upon you. He desires to be invited. Which leads me to my next point:
 
We must learn to “take advantage of the Advantage.” No, not “take advantage” in the negative sense, but taking advantage as in utilizing the help that God has made available for us to use. And the way we take advantage and utilize the advantages that the Holy Spirit provides us with is by not compromising and settling for something less profitable or beneficial. That could be anything from us getting in the flesh and trying to make it happen ourselves to us succumbing to the pressures of this world to make a decision before we’ve heard from Him.
 
Friends, Jesus did this! He didn’t answer people when they thought He should have (Ex. the story of the woman caught in adultery). He didn’t go places when people thought He should have (Ex. Lazarus’ death). No, He walked in the light, being led by the Holy Spirit. And if we will utilize the Advantage on the inside of us, He will lead us to always give the right answer and be at the right place. The Holy Spirit’s help is what provides us with the Advantage. Amen!

REVIEW
 
While we are going to continue looking at the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives over the next several months, today, I believe we are concluding our first series entitled “Communion of the Holy Spirit.” So, let’s review some of things we’ve learned in the first five parts of this teaching: 
 
We’ve used Second Corinthians 13:14 as our golden text for this series, as the apostle Paul was praying for his spiritual children—the Church of Corinth. And we saw that this was likely his last words to them. Therefore, this passage of Scripture holds super important truths, that not just Paul, but God Himself desires for us all to walk in.   
 
Again, the apostle Paul prayed-- “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (Second Corinthians 13:14).
 
So, we have seen that just as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father are critical things for us to walk in as believers, likewise the communion of the Holy Spirit is just as important. Yes, all three of these things—grace, love and communion—work together and are of equal importance just as the Trinity works together and all three members of the Godhead are of equal importance with one another. Yes, if the Lord Jesus is worthy to be praised and God the Father is worthy of all glory, then the Holy Spirit deserves some attention too. Therefore, if we know that both grace and love are important, then we ought to know that communion with the Holy Spirit is just as important.  
 
And one point the Lord has been hammering into us is that one vital part to enjoying this communion with the Holy Spirit is knowing that just as God the Father and the God the Son are individuals with real personalities, likewise the Holy Spirit is a person too. Therefore, we learned that the Holy Spirit is not a goose bump—because you cannot have fellowship with a goose bump! Nor is He a cloud, a vapor, or a feeling! Yet if you asked certain believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is exactly how they see Him. They relate to Him through these physical manifestations that He gives us—such as the goose bumps they feel, the cloud of glory they see, or the emotions they experience. But the truth is this: He is a real person with a personality and emotions.
 
And we have looked at some of these emotional, personality traits that He possesses such as His ability to be grieved (see Ephesians 4:30), similarly to how a betrayed spouse who has been hurt, wounded, betrayed, misled, lied to, and abused can feel because He is our partner and He hurts when we are unfaithful to Him. On top of that, we saw in James 4:5 that the “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?” And what we learned from that is that the Spirit that has come to settle down, make His home and permanently dwell in us, is bent with an all-consuming, ever-growing, excessive, passionate desire to possess us totally, and is envious and filled with jealousy toward anything or anyone who tries to take His place.
 
So, through having a personality, the Holy Spirit has the capability of being angry or sad. He is capable of being grieved or excited. Remember, He is the One who yields the fruit of the Spirit in us. Therefore, He is love, peace, joy, etc. In short, He is a Divine Person with a Divine Personality that we can and should have communion and fellowship with!
 
Therefore, I gave you a quote from the late Dr. R.A. Torrey who once said, “If the Holy Spirit is a divine person and we know it not, we are robbing a divine Being of the love and adoration which are due Him. It is of the highest practical importance whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we, in our ignorance and weakness, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal Being who is to get hold of us and use us...”
  
Church, it is time for us to recognize the latter—that He is indeed a Person who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, desiring to use us. And when we decide to invite Him into all of the rooms of our life and give this perfect Gentleman full access, He will then be able to give us a good house-cleaning and fill us up with the glory of God!
 
Now what we have spent most of our time doing in this series is looking at what this word “communion” means. So, let’s quickly go back through the various definitions and explanations that we have studied of this word:

1. Communion— We looked at the English word itself and saw what it means in order to get a better understanding of what the communion of the Holy Spirit is. So, we saw that as communion is the word used to describe the Lord’s Supper, it describes a uniting of two things or people together. Yes, it is a joining together of two parties to where they identify with one another and become one. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit could describe “the intimacy of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Common— We also looked back at the root word for the Greek word koinonia that is used in Second Corinthians 13:14 and saw that it means “common.” So, having communion with the Holy Spirit is us having something in common with Him. In other words, we have something in common with Him and share a common goal. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the similarity of the Holy Spirit.”
3. Fellowship— We also noted that the Greek word Paul used (koinonia) has several meanings. And we saw that in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, and likely is the best translation of this word. And we saw how enjoying “fellowship” with someone describes more than just having a relationship with them. It is something deeper, closer, and more intimate. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
4. Partnership— We then saw how the word koinonia can also be translated “partnership,” being used that way in Luke 5:10 to describe Peter’s “partners” in his fishing business. So, we saw how this word can mean being co-laborers or co-owners with someone. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the partnership of the Holy Spirit.”
5. Sharing— Then last time, we saw how the word koinonia is oftentimes translated as “sharing”—specifically as it pertains to the sharing of money and other material things. So, we saw how the Holy Spirit is also here to “share” and “give” to us when we feel spiritually bankrupt or we are simply at a loss. Yes, the Holy Spirit is there to “contribute” to our spiritual bank account no matter what the need is. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the contribution of the Holy Spirit.”  

 
So, there is obviously a lot to this “communion” that we have available to us with the Holy Spirit. He is there to join together with us to help us accomplish a common goal, and we can enjoy His fellowship, partnership, and all that He shares with us. Praise God, that is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God!
 
You see, the Holy Spirit is our helper, church! And when we begin to see Him as such and acknowledge this wonderful resource that the Lord has deposited into us, we will be “enriched” to be the kind of witnesses that the Lord has called us to be. One of the keys to us having an impact on the lives of others is forgiveness. Our forgiveness of others unlocks the Lord’s hands to move in their lives. And although forgiving others sets us free, it is even more important to set free the one we are forgiving than it is for us to be set free. Maybe the reason some haven't changed is because we have not forgiven them and released them to change. Amen.
 
THE EARLY CHURCH & THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
And that leads me to the point I have been wanting us to move into—How the Early Church walked in this communion with the Holy Spirit and the effect that they had on their known world at that time!
 
Now, if you recall, we have started in Acts chapter one looking at how the Lord spent 40 days after His resurrection, teaching His disciples things that pertained to the kingdom of God. And one thing that Dr. Luke specifically lays out to us that He taught them was about the Holy Spirit. So, let’s begin today by turning back over to Acts chapter one, and review very quickly what Jesus said to them.
 
Notice again that in Acts 1:1-2 that Luke said that Jesus did the things that He did and taught the things He taught “through the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, even He walked in the communion of the Holy Spirit—doing all of the mighty works that He did through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We went into some detail of that truth earlier in this series.
 
Then we saw how Jesus said in Acts 1:4 that He reminded His disciples how He had taught them about HIM. So, we looked at some of these verses and found that in just 9 verses contained in John chapters 14-16, He referred to the Holy Spirit with a personal pronoun 22 times! Therefore, when most of our translations say, “‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me.’” we saw how it would better be translated “Whom” and not “which.”
 
Then in verse 5, Jesus went on to tell His disciples how they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit like John had baptized in water not many days from then. Now we will get more into this in the future, but it is important for us realize that being baptized with the Holy Spirit is for all of the Lord’s disciples. As important as being baptized in water is, the baptism in the Holy Spirit yields its own wonderful benefits in our lives—and one of those benefits is found in the following verses.
 
But we saw how like so many in the church today, Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it here. They immediately transitioned to the natural side of things by asking Him if this was the time that he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel (see verse 6). But Jesus turned it back around to what was important when He said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.” (see verses 7-8). Let me paraphrase what I believe Jesus was saying here— “Times and seasons are not to be your concern. That is God’s sphere of authority, not yours. What is important, however, is that you understand what is in your control—and that is that you receive and walk in this power that the Holy Spirit will endow you with. For this is what enables you to be the kind of witnesses I need no matter what time or season you are living in.”
 
You see, church, so many people in the church today like to get into things like dispensationalism, end time events, etc.—trying to figure out when this is going to happen, what that is going to look like, etc. But what the Lord was communicating to His disciples, both yesterday and today, is that our focus needs to be on being quality witnesses for Him no matter what happens in the world around us. In other words, our attention doesn’t need to solely be on being able to tell what is going to happen; our attention needs to be primarily on being ready for whatever happens. Amen?
 
In fact, we see this illustrated in just a few verses when Jesus was supernaturally taken up and received into a cloud after He had spoken these very words to them. We are told that as the disciples continued to look steadfastly into the heavens that what were obviously two angels stood by them, asking them, “Why are you guys gazing up into heaven? The same way Jesus was taken up is the same way He will return” (see verses 9-11)
 
You see, too often believers put their attention on things that do no good. For example, there are those who keep looking for supernatural things that happened in the past (like His disciples were doing here) and become ineffective in the present. Others turn their attention to the heavens, only looking for His soon return, and are useless in the world we live in today. Saints, we certainly need to be cognizant of the fact that He is coming back soon and very soon, but not at the risk of taking our hand off the plow and seeking first the kingdom of God in our everyday life.
 
We need to be His witnesses in the time and season that we are presently living in, church! And the only way we can be effective witnesses for the Lord is by receiving this communion with the Holy Spirit! Now it is important to note here that it is when the power comes that we are enabled to be His witnesses. I bring this up because, how many Christians are trying to be witnesses for the Lord without ever receiving the power (or, ability) of the Lord? No, Jesus did not say that when we receive the Holy Spirit we will “go witnessing;” He said we will be witnesses! You see, witnessing is not just something you do; a witness is something you are. It is not just about going door to door, handing out tracks. Witnessing is testifying to something you have both seen and experienced. And the tragedy is when we go around trying to tell people about a Jesus that we’ve never experienced. Church, we need to see Him! We need to experience Him! We need to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives (see Philippians 3:10) so that we can be a true witness that Jesus is alive and still doing miracles in the earth today! When people see His goodness in and through us, it will validate what we are saying as His witnesses. That is what it means to be His witnesses! Amen!
 
And notice where Jesus went on to say that they would be His witnesses in the second half of verse 8: “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
 
Notice that the first place that Jesus mentioned for His Jewish disciples to begin was in the city where they were currently living—Jerusalem. Then He told them in all of Judea and Samaria, which was the surrounding country and region. And, last but not least, He included all of the earth so that they were not confused about His intention to preach the gospel to everyone everywhere.
 
But I believe this shows us a practical model for witnessing: We start where we are at—that being with our neighbors, in our city, or where we are at in our hearts. Then we move on to the next sphere of influences in our lives (i.e. our Judea’s and Samaria’s). And finally, we aspire to witness for Him even to the ends of the earth.
 
My point is this: The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us Christ’s witnesses! But, you know, many believers are terrified of witnessing. And why? One of the main reasons is because they are afraid they will not know what to say, but this is why we were given the Holy Spirit! He is in us to help us through those occasions where we are witnessing to an unbeliever. You see, He knows that person inside and out. He knows everything about them. So, all we have to do is approach the person when the Holy Spirit leads us to and then listen with the ear of our heart to how the Holy Spirit coaches us through it. He will give us creative examples to minister to them. He will bring Scriptures to our remembrance. He will prompt us when to listen and when to speak. He will guide us through the whole process if we will just depend on Him. I like to say that the Holy Spirit is witnessing made fun 😊! He will make us look good in witnessing (and in life in general) if we will just heed His instruction and learn to work together with Him. Amen.
 
But as one considers what happened beginning in Acts chapter two, they will see that His disciples got it! They truly became the witnesses God had called them be and turned their world “upside down” (Acts 17:6).
 
So now, I would like to conclude this series by us beginning to look through the rest of the Book of Acts and seeing how the Early Church walked in this communion with the Holy Spirit. 
 
So, I have made the following point already, but I feel it needs to be said again that most of our Bibles title this Book incorrectly— calling it “The Acts of the Apostles.” And the reason I believe that this is a misleading title is because it was not just apostles who did the things we see described in the Book of Acts. There were deacons, pastors, evangelists, and even children who were playing a part in turning the world “right-side up.” Therefore, I believe a more accurate title of this Book would be— “The Acts of the Holy Ghost through His Church.”
 
So then, seeing how the “Acts of the Holy Ghost through the Lord’s Church” illustrates to us not only what the Early Church did but how they did it, I want us to go through its various references to the Holy Spirit. Through it, we will see how they were a body of believers who were completely dependent on their communion with the Holy Spirit. Even though they did not have the privilege you and I do today of having the complete Word of God as through these 28 chapters, the New Testament had not even been written yet. Therefore, they were completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach and instruct them. Now through understanding this, compare the results of the early church with the results of the church today. It would be an understatement to say that they had more of an impact on their world than we are having on ours today. Amen?  It is for this reason that I believe the modern-day Church is not nearly as effective as the early, First Century Church was. Yes, it is because of the church of today’s lack of respect for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
 
THE EARLY CHURCH’S INITIATION
 
So, let’s begin this week going through some these examples:
 
Beginning in chapter two, we see them receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit when Pentecost had fully come. And then we see Peter standing before the people and preaching the good news of Jesus Christ and explaining to them about this outpouring of the Spirit that they were witnessing. So, this chapter is how all of these “Acts” began—through the Spirit coming upon all of those gathered together in the upper room! And that is how it will begin with us today too. We must receive this baptism in the Holy Spirit in order to see the rest of these “Acts of the Holy Ghost” in our lives.
 
Then in chapter three, we have the account of when Peter and John healed the man at the Beautiful Gate through the power of the Holy Spirit—for when Peter had this lame man look at him, he said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you,” and then he commanded him to rise up and walk. Now what Peter was basically saying here was— “I left my wallet at the house, but I have something else (more accurately, Someone else) that I’d like to give you instead!” Now if he hadn’t received the Holy Spirit in the previous chapter, he wouldn’t have had anything to give this man. But because He had the Power, he could give the power! And then of course Peter used that as an opportunity yet again to preach Jesus to the people that had seen this miracle.
 
Then chapter four basically describes another “dose” of the Holy Ghost as we see Peter and John’s arrest and addressing the Sanhedrin, them being warned not to preach in Jesus’ name any longer. It was at this time that we saw Peter, first, being filled with the Holy Spirit before he began speaking to Israel’s rulers and elders. And then we see the church’s prayer for boldness after they gathered together after Peter and John’s release, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit yet again. This teaches us that just as they needed to be refilled even after they had received their initial infilling of the Holy Spirit, likewise we will need to stay full of Him ourselves.
 
Then notice how after they were all filled with the Spirit (again), we see their supernatural grace to have all things in common (see verses 32-37). So, again, a product of the Spirit filled life is unity, commonality, etc. No, not “socialism”; but “Spiritism.” Therefore, when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, strife, contention, disunity with our spouses, our children, our church family, etc., will not be the fruit. Unity will be. Now, of course, the ungodly aren’t going to like it and will persecute us even further, but that is the difference in being in fellowship with one another. The reason we don’t share that is because we are full of ourselves instead of full of the Spirit. Amen?
 
So then, that brings us to chapter five, where we begin by seeing Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy Spirit by lying to Peter. Now I know we have mentioned this already, but it bears repeating that Peter was obviously walking in some serious communion with the Holy Spirit because this was a “word of knowledge” he was operating in through the Spirit. And by virtue of the fact that Peter equated them lying to him as them lying to the Holy Spirit shows me that he indeed saw he and the Holy Spirit as a team. In essence, he was saying, “Oh yeah, you think you are just lying to me, but you are also lying to the One who lives within me!” So, there is an obvious fellowship, communion, partnership going on here!
 
And then after everyone who was being brought to the apostles were being healed, the high priest and sect of the Sadducees had the apostles arrested, but after an angel came and set them free, they went back into the Temple and began preaching the words of this life. And when they went and arrested them again and brought them on trial, Peter said, “And we are His witnesses to these things (i.e. His crucifixion and resurrection), and so also is the Holy Spirit who God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)
 
So, here Peter is showing us that we are not the only witnesses that the Lord has on the earth; the Holy Spirit is also His witness—that is, He testifies of Jesus, glorifying Him in all things. And one of the greatest ways He does this is by the signs, wonders and miracles that He produces through Christ’s church. This is how He gives witness to the Lord’s resurrection—by exhibiting the same power in and through you and I today! So, Peter was basically saying here— “Yeah, we are doing our part in being Christ’s witnesses, but we are working together with the Holy Spirit who is doing His part in bearing witness of Christ’s resurrection!” Amen!
 
A GOOD REPUTATION, FULL OF THE SPIRIT AND WISDOM
 
For example, in the very next chapter, we see a man named Stephen being chosen to become one who would help handle the operational things in the church. Now in their day, this is what a deacon was—simply a servant. In the church today, a deacon is given perhaps a little more responsibility in areas, but that is neither here nor there. My point is that the apostles recognized the need to have others handle some of these operational things.
 
However, their criteria for selecting those to help in these “waiting on tables” issues was that they have a “good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (see Acts 6:3). Now in the church today, we don’t have many leaders who hold to this standard, much less with those who serve within our churches.
 
But what this should encourage us all with is that you don’t have to be called to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, or a pastor to possess these virtues! Amen! Every believer can have a “good reputation,” can be “full of the Holy Spirit,” and also be full of “wisdom” just like these seven were! Now it is not that God chose to endow these seven men with these virtues and everyone else God passed over. No, the fact is, these guys somehow, someway chose the things they were walking in.
 
For example, the first thing that the Holy Spirit inspired them to seek out among the disciples was that they have a “good reputation.” The word that is used here simply describes one who bears witness or has a testimony. In other words, this person must simply be a good, solid witness for the things of God. And it’s significant that this was the first thing they mentioned looking for in these men, even before the fact that they needed to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Why is this important? It is because if you do not have character, integrity and are not a good witness of the Lord in your everyday affairs, then your spiritual giftings and the wisdom you have accumulated are not going to be readily received. Yes, your good name is the first thing that qualifies you to be the Lord’s servant.
 
But most people only think one’s good reputation is what qualifies one for serving in the church, but obviously the apostles thought differently. They believed one must also be full of the Spirit and the wisdom that descend from above!
 
Now I want you to notice that they were not simply looking for believers who had been baptized in the Holy Spirit sometime in the past. No, they were looking for believers who currently were full of the Holy Spirit. There is a big difference in those two things.
 
You see, the church today tends to put the emphasis on whether you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit or not; but the New Testament puts the emphasis on whether you are full of the Spirit right now in the present moment.
 
Now this requires some explanation because most of us “charismaniacs” think that once we got Him, we got Him! And while that is true to a certain extent; there is another side to it that we need to understand. You see, there is a difference between you having the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit having you. The question is: Is He currently filling your body? Is He in control of your senses? Does He have room in your mind? All of these things are the fruit of being “Spirit-filled.”
 
You know, I have comically heard it put this way: A preacher steals the money from the church and runs off with the secretary of the church (That would be a double foul here😊), and people will say, “I just can’t understand that! He was Spirit-filled!” Well, not that day he wasn’t, and probably not a few days before that. You just don’t do things like that when you are Spirit-filled—again, not just when you have been Spirit-filled a long time ago in a galaxy far-far away, but when you are right now full of the Spirit.
 
How many of you have been to a church that was “full” of a lot of so-called “Spirit filled” people and you felt like you experienced a spiritual hornet’s nest and a brood of vipers? I’m sure, many of us have. And unfortunately, this has brought a reproach to the things of the Spirit. But this is when we must understand that just because somebody dances, shouts, and speaks in tongues, doesn’t mean that they are fully yielding to the Holy Spirit on the inside of them.
 
But again, even if your ministry is “waiting on tables,” you have the capability to have a good reputation, to be full of the wisdom of God, and to be full of the mighty Holy Spirit. No, it is not just those in the “ministry” that need these virtues in their life; we all are a part of this ministry together and need to first have a good reputation, a secondarily be full of the Holy Spirit of God and the wisdom of God.   
 
THE FRUIT OF BEING FILLED
 
So, let’s continue by looking at the life of this man named Stephen, who obviously lived a Spirit-filled life:
 
Then, in verse 5, after the whole multitude agreed with the apostle’s idea to select these “deacons,” they chose seven men, one of them being Stephen who was said to be not just full of the Holy Spirit, but full of faith too!
 
Now it is important to see that apparently one can be Spirit-filled and not be faith-filled—for none of the other six were said to be “full of faith.” Now what this indicates is that Stephen, on top of being full of the Holy Spirit was also full of the Word. Someone might say, “Wait a minute, Pastor! This verse said he was full of faith, not full of the Word.” Yeah well, how does one become full of faith? By hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), amen? So, it is to be assumed that if Stephen was full of faith, then he must have also been full of the Word—and this becomes rather obvious as you continue reading through Acts chapter 7. His heart was certainly filled with God’s Word!
 
So, we again see a healthy balance in the life of a believer—living in the balance of being Spirit-filled while also being full of the faith which comes through God’s Word.
 
Then, beginning in verse 8, we start to see into the life of this deacon Stephen as he, being full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then in verse 10 we see how those who came to dispute with him were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Notice that they were not able to resist not only the wisdom that he possessed, but also the Spirit by which he spoke—showing us that when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, that we can actually experience Him speaking through us.
 
I don’t know about you, but I have certainly experienced this—generally when I have stood in front of groups of people. It seems as though the Holy Spirit takes over and I am outside of myself listening in to what is coming out of my mouth. Now that is not just something reserved for your pastor. It should be the fruit of every Spirit-filled believer when we might be sharing one on one with someone. My point is that we all should be so full of the Spirit that our words confound those who oppose us. Like Jesus saying, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” or “He who is without sin throw the first stone.” This is both the wisdom and the Spirit we are all capable of speaking by! Amen!
 
Then when they brought Stephen before the council, God’s Word says that they looked at him and he had the face of an angel (vs. 15). Now that does not mean that he had a baby face and was clean-shaven. This is a reference to the Spirit that he was full of! So, what this means is that being full of the Holy Spirit will oftentimes change our countenance. He’ll make you better looking, praise God! But you know, people labor over all kinds of physical things to look better. I’m of the persuasion that the best form of “make-up” is the Holy Spirit! Amen! 
 
Then for 52 verses in Acts chapter 7, Stephen expounded upon the Word of God straight from his heart—which is another effect that being full of the Holy Spirit has on us, having a great knowledge and memory of God’s Word.  
 
Then finally, in Acts 7:55-56, after the council listened to Stephen’s long teaching and then his bold rebuke, they became very angry and gnashed at him with their teeth. Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So, by the wording here, we see that Luke was saying here that being full of the Holy Spirit is what enabled Stephen to perceive the spiritual realm. You see, many times we, in our carnality, have no perception of the spiritual realm whatsoever, but God wants us to be so full of His Spirit that we are more conscious of the spiritual realm than this physical realm.
 
So, all of these things point towards the fruit of a Spirit-filled life of communion between us and him: We will be bolder to both speak and share what God has given us. We will operate in union with Him—bearing witness along with Him. Our words will change. Our countenance will change. Our perspective will change. Yes, like King Saul did when the Holy Spirit came upon him, we will be changed into another man (see First Samuel 10:6)!
 
 
THE SPIRIT IN SAMARIA
 
So, let’s move on and look at some more of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Early Church.
 
As we move on to Acts chapter 8, we see how Saul then became the church’s greatest threat, being the one who consented to Stephen’s death. But as the church was scattered everywhere through Saul’s persecution, another one of those deacons named Philip began preaching the Word and performing signs and wonders, which teaches us an important lesson:
 
The beauty of the communion of the Holy Spirit, is that we are not man-dependent. Sure, Stephen’s death might have seemed to leave a big void in the Church because of the awesome reputation he had, the Word that He knew, and the signs and wonders he performed, but God raised up another one of those deacons to continue preaching Christ and operating in the supernatural. So, what does this teach us? It shows us that we should not put our trust in flesh and blood. Great men and women of God come and they go. And while we honor the gifts He gives us in these people, the Holy Spirit who anointed them to be the blessing they were is still here, and He can raise up another to take their place. Amen! So, I say this to say that we are not to look to man, but to the One who anoints them.
 
So, we see this man Philip going down to Samaria and spreading the good news in both word and deed, and he baptized many of them in water. So it was, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard of all of the conversions Philip was having, Peter and John decided to come and pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit.
 
Now this creates an issue with some of the belief systems out there that one receives all of the Holy Spirit that they need when they are saved, because these Samaritans were water baptized which shows that they were born again already. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that occurs after one is saved, not automatically as a result of one being saved.
 
So, after they preached the gospel in many villages in Samaria, we move on to the next event in Philip’s ministry where he shared with the Ethiopian Eunuch: Now we see how an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip in verse 26 to go south to a road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, this being a deserted place. This shows us the ministry of angels at work in our new covenant, which we should certainly be open to.
 
You see, Philip evidently needed these specific directions—for to go to a deserted place might seem a little strange and easily dismissed if these instructions had come in the more regular way that God speaks to us.
 
So, to Philips credit, “he arose and went” (vs. 27), and when he came to this road, he saw the Ethiopian Eunuch who just happened to be reading the Book of Isaiah. Then notice what happened… Verse 29 says, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake the chariot.’” That translation is somewhat difficult to understand, but basically what Philip was told to do was to “approach the chariot and be glued to it.” But my point is, who told him to do it? The Spirit said this to Him. We will get back into this in a moment, but first I want us to see what else happened in this story…
 
So, we know the rest of the story: Philips comes alongside of his chariot and hears him reading out of the Book of Isaiah. So, he begins a dialogue with him which results in his salvation and being baptized. Then notice how after Philip baptizes him and they came out of the water that the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away (the same terminology used in First Thessalonians 4:17 of the “rapturing” of the church at Christ’s Second Coming)—describing a snatching away of an individual with sudden force. So, here we see another potential ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
 
Now this does not mean that we need to go around “believing God” to start translating us physically from one place to another—for we don’t see any indication of Philip expecting this to happen. What it does mean, however, is that we need to certainly be open to this happening in our lives as the Spirit wills. And I believe that one of the ways that we can open ourselves up even further to this happening is by doing the things Philip was doing.
 
You see, Philip was busy! This guy would go anywhere the Lord told him to and do anything He told him to do. So, when we are about our Father’s business and are traveling from here to there, preaching the gospel and serving the Lord, we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Spirit of God giving us a little extra grace and helping us be even more productive. Never forget this one thing: If you and I are good stewards of the time we currently have, He will give us more of it (i.e. time)! And I believe that is exactly what the Holy Spirit was doing for Philip here—giving him more time in the cities from Azotus to Caesarea (see vs. 40).
 
But again, how did this supernatural experience come about? It was by Philip being sensitive to the direction God had given him and him being willing to work together with the Holy Spirit. Yes, when the Holy Spirit spoke to him, he obeyed. Amen.
 
THUS SAITH THE SPIRIT
 
In fact, we see this in other places in the Book of Acts. For example, if you look ahead to Acts chapter 10, you will find the story of God pouring out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius’ household in Caesarea. And do you remember what happened after God gave Peter the vision and he was sitting there thinking about what God had just communicated to him? Acts 10:19-20 says that as he thought about the vision, “the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing.’” So again, we see the Holy Spirit speaking directly to God’s children throughout the Book of Acts. 
 
Now, you know, when we hear the voice of God—receiving statements like this in our hearts—we need to understand who it is that we are hearing. In this case, it was the Holy Spirit. You see, I believe when we hear the voice of God (other than a booming voice from the heavens) that what we are hearing is the voice of the Holy Spirit—for He is the Member of the Godhead living within us. Amen! In fact, how did Luke know to say that it was the Holy Spirit who told Philip this? Why didn’t he say, “God said” or “The Lord Jesus said”? I believe it was because he apparently knew that this was not some audible voice from the heavens, but they were words that originated from within Philip.      
 
You see, church, the Holy Spirit desires to speak to us just like He did to Philip here—giving us specific directions and instructions. And the issue is not with Him speaking, but with us hearing. It is like with the example I’ve heard Pastor Robert use before of the man who wanted to test his wife and see how well she listened to him and so he, from the other room, asked his wife, who was in the kitchen, what was for dinner from the other room. So, when he didn’t hear her answer, he walked to just outside the kitchen and asked again. No answer. So then he came inside the kitchen and asked her again what was for dinner. Then his wife answered, “For the third time, chicken!” What is the moral of that story? It wasn’t the wife speaking that was the problem; it was his hearing that was broken.
 
Likewise, the problem is not with the Holy Spirit speaking. He is always desirous to speak to us and, in fact, is always speaking to us. So, it is not His transmitter that is broken; it is our receiver than needs fine tuning. Therefore, we ought not be praying— “Lord, please speak to me!” Our prayer ought to be— “Lord, help me to hear you speaking to me!”
 
So, I believe He wants to grant that petition right now: Let’s first look at Acts chapter 13 where I believe we can find one tremendous key to increasing our sensitivity to hearing His voice…
 
In this example we are looking at, we see Paul & Barnabas being set apart and appointed to the work God had called them to. Well, what we see in this is that it was the Holy Spirit who said to separate them for the work to which He had called them. But what was this group of men doing that initiated the Spirit saying this? Acts 13:2 says, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said…” So, I believe it was the fact they were both fasting and ministering to the Lord that positioned them to hearing the Spirit saying this to them. Therefore, learning to praise, worship and thank the Lord—ministering to Him through these things—and also fasting was what initiated this direction from the Holy Spirit.
 
Now how He said this, we are not sure, but I would venture to say it was through the prophets who were present. And that leads me to my next point…
 
I believe one of the biggest hindrances we have to hearing the Holy Spirit is in our belief system of how he speaks to us. You see, when we see Scriptures like these that tell us “the Spirit said,” we tend to look for his voice in a carnal fashion—meaning, we look for the words, sentences, and even paragraphs like we hear when speaking with one another. And while I certainly believe that the Holy Spirit speaks like this too—meaning, He we can hear His voice like Philip & Peter did in these examples—there are other ways in which He speaks to us that are much more subtle and can be missed if we are ignorant of these things. Let me give you some examples here in Acts:
 
In Acts 11:28 we see how a Prophet named Agabus, who came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, “showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world.” In other words, this prophet gave a word by the Holy Spirit which prepared the churches for this famine that was coming. We see more warnings like this from the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 21 when Paul was warned not to go to Jerusalem through the Spirit by some disciples in Tyre (Acts 21:4). In fact, we see Paul saying earlier in Acts 20:23 that the Holy Spirit was testifying in every city that he went, that chains and tribulations awaited him in Jerusalem. Then, just a few verses later in Acts chapter 21, that same prophet Agabus gave Paul a word in Caesarea that the Jews would deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (Acts 21:11). And in this example, we are told that when he prophesied this over Paul, he began by saying, “Thus says the Holy Spirit…”        
 
Saints, it is time that we begin to understand prophecy from a New Testament perspective, and not the Old: It is no longer God on the outside speaking from heaven saying, “Thus saith the LORD…” Now it is the Lord speaking from the inside of the hearts of men saying, “Thus saith the SPIRIT…”! Praise God! And He is still speaking today through the mighty Holy Spirit! He is still raising up prophets who are governed and inspired by the Holy Spirit, giving us warnings, directions, etc.
 
However, this is not the only way He speaks. Sure, the Holy Spirit will communicate words directly to us to where we hear His voice. Sure, the Holy Spirit will anoint men and women to prophecy in His name. But the Holy Spirit’s predominant way of communicating with us is through what I would call the inward witness. Let me show you a few examples of this in the Book of Acts:
 
IT SEEMED GOOD
 
In Acts chapter 15, we see that there was a big conflict that arose in the Church over the issue of circumcision. And after the council determined that the Gentiles should not be required to keep the law and become circumcised, they wrote a letter to the Gentile churches. And in this letter, they said something that I believe it very critical for us to understand. They said in verse 25 that it seemed good to them to send certain chosen men to them with Barnabas & Paul. Then, in verse 28, they said that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit as well as to them. Therefore, verses 25 & 28 both say that they made two major decisions based on the fact that it simply just seemed good to them and to the Holy Ghost.
 
Therefore, their decision to send these chosen men to these Gentile churches came as a result of it seeming good to them. But their doctrinal decision to not impose the burdens of the law on them was made because it both seemed good to them and to the Holy Spirit.
 
Now back up to verse 22 because I want you to notice who these chosen men were. Of course, there was Barnabas and Paul, but we are told that they also sent Judas (i.e. Barsabas) and Silas. (Remember this name Silas because he is a significant part of this chapter).
 
Then down in verse 28, we are told--“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” So, they also concluded that their decision to send them this letter and not heap their convictions upon them was not just what seemed good to them, but it also seemed good to the Holy Spirit as well. Amen!
 
So I want you to get this point right here: The church leaders were “led by the Holy Spirit” to both send chosen men along with Barnabas and Paul and also to make an extremely important decision in the time of the early church. So how were they led? By what seemed good to them and what seemed good to the Holy Spirit!
 
Now after this group of men were sent to Antioch to deliver this message to their Gentile brethren, they stayed there for a time exhorting and strengthening the disciples (see verses 30-33). But, this is another important point: After these chosen men decided to return to Jerusalem, we are told that it “seemed good” (again) to Silas to remain there (verse 34). Now it is important to note that Paul and Barnabas also stayed because they had already been called to that area before returning to Jerusalem earlier in the chapter with the prior issue.
 
Now a situation happened beginning in verse 36 where a contention arose between Paul and Barnabas: The background to this contention was that Paul suggested that they depart and return to every city where they had preached and see how these churches were doing. So Barnabas agreed, but he wanted to bring John (called Mark) along with them. Now Paul did not want to bring Mark because of how he departed from them on a prior mission. Well, the contention became so intense that Barnabas took Mark and departed from Paul. This, of course, left Paul alone. Who was he going to minister side by side with now? You got it! Silas—the one who had stayed in the area just because it seemed like the right thing to do!
 
So, let’s back up for a second: Why was Silas even sent to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to begin with? Verses 22&25 tell us he was one that was chosen to go because it seemed good to the leadership. And why was he still in Antioch even when the others had returned? Verse 34 tells us that it was because it seemed good to Silas to remain there. Amen!
 
So, what was the ultimate fruit of all of these decisions? Silas was in the right place at the right time to get hooked up with the great apostle Paul and to find the opportunity of a lifetime to travel and minister alongside of him! And he was put on the path God willed for him because, first, his leadership was led by the Spirit of God and, second, he was led by the Spirit of God. And again, saints, both parties were simply led by it just seeming like the right thing to do. So, we could say it this way: Silas was in a good place, at a good time, because it just seemed good. That is so powerful to me!
 
WHEN IT SEEMS BAD
 
But it is to be understood that if the Holy Spirit will bear witness with us when it seems good to proceed with something that He will also bear witness with us when it seems bad to proceed.
 
We see this in Acts chapter sixteen before Paul received his vision of the Macedonian man imploring them to come help them. You see, Paul and Silas would have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time (even though they were doing something good) if they would not have been walking in this communion with the Holy Spirit because we see in Acts 16:6-7 that, although they had originally intended to go to first Asia and then Bithynia, that the Scriptures tell us that were both “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” and that “the Spirit did not permit them.”
 
Now a good question at this point would be this: How did they know that the Holy Spirit was “forbidding” them to go into Asia and that He was not “permitting” them to go to Bithynia? Well, perhaps He spoke to them, but I believe (and have personally experienced) that the primary way that He does this is through that witness I’m telling you about.
 
You see, when I try to plan something and there is just this awkward, uneasy feeling in my heart, I have learned to pay attention to it. (And I am not talking about in my head, but in my spirit). How many times have you just known on the inside that you need to not go there or do that, and you did it anyways, and then it created all kinds of problems? Well, that “seeming bad” that you sensed was likely the Holy Spirit on the inside of you “forbidding” or not “permitting” you to do and you hit that proverbial override button.
 
Now the way that the Holy Spirit bears witness is perceived differently by each one of us. I have heard these “red lights” that He gives us as being a loss of peace, a scratching feeling on the inside, etc. To me, it is just a matter of if something seems bad or seems good. And I act only on what I am picking up on in my heart. So, however you would describe that Holy Spirit witness on the inside of you, the bottom line is that the Holy Spirit who dwells in our spirit is there to bear witness with us on the various steps we take in this life. So, it is up to us to learn how to discern His leading—not relying on our own understanding, but relying on what seems good in our hearts. This is the predominant way that the Spirit will direct us in our everyday lives.  
 
Therefore, we can clearly see the Spirit speaks, that He leads us, and that He helps us. And when we begin to work together with Him by learning to listen to Him, follow His impressions, etc., we will be in position to see the fruit that we so desire! And we see this in Acts chapter 9. So, let’s conclude this series by looking at Acts 9:31…
 
THE BEST CHURCH GROWTH FORMULA
 
Then after we see Saul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9, we see in verse 31 how “the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” So, notice how they were multiplied as they walked in both the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
 
Now we will get more into this in the future, but this “comfort” that the Holy Spirit was to the Early Church is what the Lord Jesus said He would be—the One called alongside of us to help us. This word describes His encouragement, strengthening, and assistance. And this help from the Helper is one of the ways in which the Church grew—showing us that the best “church growth plan” includes for each of us to walk in the help of the Holy Spirit. Far too many Christians and churches try to build things and grow in their own strength. And as the Scriptures clearly teach us—"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (see Psalm 127:1)
 
However, if we walk in the strengthening, leadership, and compassion—the communion—of the Holy Spirit, growth will always be the by-product. For example, if a church like us walks in communion with Him, we will always grow in numbers. Likewise, if an individual believer walks in this communion with the Holy Spirit, they too will grow. The increase comes from God, saints, and the Holy Spirit is who is working in us to both will and to do for His own good pleasure! Amen!