The Holy Spirit: Up-close and Personal!

By Neil Earle

As you know these past weeks we’ve been learning more and more about our wonderful, peacemaking Friend, the one Jesus called the Comforter. We began with a brief Old Testament survey:

Acts: The Spirit
Micro-survey

Acts 2:17 – The Spirit is to fall on “all flesh”

Acts 2:33 – Note a “triad” mentioning Father, Son and Spirit together

Acts 2:38 – Conversion is receiving the renewal of the HS

Acts 5:1-8 – Ananias and Sapphira – the Spirit keeps order

Acts 6:1-6 – The Spirits selects seven deacons

Acts 7:51 – Jewish leaders resisted the Holy Spirit

Acts 8:14-19 – The Spirit leads Peter to block an attempted infiltration

Acts 10:19/11:12 – The Spirit tells Peter to baptize Gentiles

Acts 10:38 – Jesus was anointed with the HS to “do good”

Acts 13:2 – The HS sends out Barnabas and Saul

Acts 15:28 – James discerns the HS’s involvement in a key decision

Acts 16:6 – HS forbids Paul to enter Asia

Acts 20:22-23 – Paul feels bound in the Spirit to go ahead

Acts 20:28 – The HS chooses overseers

Acts 28:25 – The HS foretold the Jewish rejection
Fiery Pentecost – Disciples vs. Pharisees, no contest!

The Young Church In Action

Now we move into the Book of Acts which some call “the Acts of the Holy Spirit.” He is present it seems at every major move the church makes, whether virtually thrusting the disciples into the streets for a public witness to Jesus’ resurrection or straightening out the doctrinal question as to whether the Gentiles are included in salvation (Acts 15 – YES!). The Spirit which led Jesus (Matthew 4:1) now leads the Church, the church of which Jesus is Head.

Notice how in Acts 1:2-8 the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times. Jesus underscores how important are his instructions to WAIT for the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 we see why. There are a series of unrepeatable events going on here. They are all Jews in an upper room in Jerusalem about to speak to Jews from all over the world (Acts 2:5). The theme is the importance of each listener personally and directly accepting the truth about Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection (Acts 2:36).

In order to equip them for this all-important task of witnessing the Spirit appears in a form reminiscent of the pillar of fire by night and the strong wind opening the Red Sea back at the Exodus (Exodus 12). In the upper room in Jerusalem the Spirit appears like a sound of rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire over them. This never happened before or since. It was God’s way of showing the special nature of what was happening – a new age was beginning in the history of His work with humanity – the era of the Church.

It started with a bang – at least 3000 people responded to Peter’s fired up sermon (Acts 2:41). If I had to cover such a huge book as Acts in a single bound I would cluster it under five heads.

Number One I have already covered – the New Testament Church begins with a startling series of unrepeatable events.

A Spirit of Effective Witness

Number Two – the Spirit is the Spirit of public or private witness to Jesus and the resurrection. Peter early takes the lead but in Acts 4:8 and again in 31 they are all involved in spreading the Good News about what God has done in and through Jesus. In Acts 8 the young Deacon, Philip, is told to approach a man in a chariot who happens to be an important official from Ethiopia. He hears Philip and is baptized.

Our situations may be somewhat different but in a skeptical age such as ours we can all be good friends and neighbors and lay a groundwork for being willing to discuss the things of God when we are asked or when we sense the Spirit giving us an opening. (See gci.org website – “Sharing Your Faith”). Many times people offer to pray for other people at work when they hear about a sick friend or relative. That is sharing faith. “I’ll take that to my prayer group” often generates some lively discussion about the Christian life.

Paul to Rome – the Holy Spirit moved the Church forward!

I firmly believe that Americans are not that far off from their Christian roots. It often doesn’t take much to get them going. You’d be surprised. Now, you may not reach 3000 people in one day but disciple-makers know it takes 5-6 contacts before someone turns to Christ. You may be 4 or 5 on the list.

The Number Three cluster of ideas in Acts sets forth the Spirit as the Spirit of Order and Protection. In Acts 5 Peter sorts out a couple angling for position in the early church. Acts 8 sees Peter exposing the magician Simon Magus as a false disciple.

Meanwhile Acts 6 shows how the church ran into an organizational snag – some were being left out of the food bank distribution. Peter again moved to set up a new office especially to deal with the material needs in the church – the office of Deacon. Later on there were Deaconesses (Romans 16:1) and they helped prepare a reorganized church for even greater public outreach. Church historians tell us that it was a hallmark of the early church for many many years that they were known for looking after their own and even those outside their fellowship when the need arose, just like the Salvation Army and other Christians today.

A Spirit of Attraction

Acts 13:52 shows the spirit of exuberant joy was a hallmark of all that the young church did. They had their problems, yes, as we have seen above, but that could not stop them from moving forward with unquenchable optimism propelled by the Holy Spirit. This is Custer Number Four. A happy person is always attractive, such as Barnabas in the early church to whom they gave the name “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). No wonder he was such an effective evangelist later on. Too many Christians let down the side on this one. They either try to overcompensate by coming on too strong or they exhibit the tact and diplomacy of a Sherman Tank when certain “hot button” subjects come up. Nether extreme is a mark of the Spirit. Its clear earmarks are love, joy and peace and if I were searching for a church I would look for those traits (Galatians 5:22).

Cluster Number Five relates to the Spirit as the Church’s Teacher and Counselor. Jesus predicted that (John 14:26). He knew he could not reveal everything that had to be given to that small band of believers. The Spirit’s gift for teaching shows up in Acts 15 where James confirms the reports of Peter and Paul among the Greek and Romans – those who were not Jews had received the same Holy Spirit as the believers in Jerusalem. Therefore they are included. Brethren, we’re all included. We’re all in on the promises of Abraham through faith.

That is really Luke’s main purpose in writing Acts. He places Chapter 15 almost smack in the middle to show us that. The Gospel doors swing widely. They include those who heard the message in the First Century and they include our audiences today. Are we ready? One, two three – GO! Brethren let’s be about the Father's business by the power of His Spirit.