Ministering: Oluwatobiloba Thompson

Date: 8th May 2023

Topic: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit I

Good evening everyone, I hope we all had a great day. So let’s get right into it. Jesus, thank You for leading and teaching us by Your Spirit.  Thank You, Lord. Amen. Tonight, we’ll be looking a bit into THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  This is particularly important because we are in the dispensation of the Spirit.

In the Scriptures, we see two major covenants God had with men:

1.  The Law, of which the man Moses was the Mediator.

2. The Spirit, of which the Man  Jesus was and is the Mediator. This is the covenant God revealed to Abraham in Genesis 15.

You’ll see that both covenants were actually with men.

Now, both covenants have certain beings that were given to see the fulfillment of both.

The Law given to Moses was under the custody of angels. So angels were to ensure the old covenant was followed to the letter. Most of the happenings under the Old Covenant were by the wisdom of angels. Okay?

[Hebrews 2:2 NKJV]

FOR IF THE WORD SPOKEN THROUGH ANGELS proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

The word spoken here refers to the Law, and that’s why you see a whole lot of angelic encounters in the Old Testament.

Please, the angelic ministry is still mightily at work today o.

Can I shock you? The Law wasn’t given to the Israelites to fulfill. It was given to them to show them and ALL men the need for God.

The Law was actually given so that the Man, Jesus could fulfill and bring all men into a better and perfect covenant.

So we see that it was when Jesus came that for the first time, men found out that love which comes by the Spirit is actually the fulfillment of the Law.

In order to fulfill the Old Covenant, Jesus had to come in the might and power of the Spirit, every other person was led by the hand of an angel but Jesus was led by the Spirit Himself.

That’s why I said earlier “Love that comes by the Spirit” is what fulfills the Law.

Are we following?

But the Law was just a revealer of the sin-nature and therefore couldn’t bring men into salvation. Paul writing to the Corinthian Church said sin found expression through the Law.

[I Corinthians 15:56 NKJV]
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But wait, does that mean God empowered sin against men? Noooo!

On the contrary, God used the Law to reveal the evil nature of sin, and it is still the Law He used to destroy sin!

God ehn! Truly He is the Almighty.

Jesus, after fulfilling the Law by the power of the Holy Spirit, also destroyed mortality through His mortal body. In doing that, sin lost its power and dominion over mankind forever!

Hebrews 10:19 – 20 NKJV 

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

See this also,

[II Timothy 1:10 NKJV]

but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death (sinful nature) and brought life (Spirit) and immortality (Spirit) to light through the gospel,

Now the Spirit that enabled Jesus to fulfill the Law and bring to Life the New Covenant is also the same Spirit Jesus said would be given to whosoever believes in Him.

[John 7:37 – 39 NKJV]

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 

[Acts 2:38 – 39 NKJV]

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Please pay attention o. I want to lay a solid foundation tonight

Now I must say this, as at Acts 1….the disciples already had THE INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit but until Jesus had ascended to be seated, He couldn’t find expression yet!

Before Jesus died, He wanted to tell the disciples certain things but He said they weren’t able to understand, why?

Spiritual things can only be discerned and taught to spiritual men i.e. men of the Spirit.

[John 16:12 NKJV]
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

But Jesus said something afterward,

[John 16:13 NKJV]

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Are you still following?

Let’s go back to John 7 real quick, the giving of the Spirit was predicated on the RESURRECTION, not ascension

[John 7:39 NKJV]

But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, BECAUSE JESUS WAS NOT YET GLORIFIED.

The glorification of Jesus is His Resurrection, that’s why Paul said,

[I Corinthians 15:12 – 17 NKJV]
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

So the day Jesus resurrected, was actually the day the Apostles and all other disciples that believed in Jesus before His death became born again i.e. New Creation.

Are you still following?

To show you the disciples were already born again as at  Acts 1:

[Acts 1:2 NKJV]
until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,

Jesus was now talking to the Apostles as New Creation, and not as old creation i.e. men with the IN-DWELLING of the Holy Spirit.

But then He said, wait o ..until you’ve been brought under the influence of the Holy Spirit which is what we call IN-FILLING or SPIRIT UPON, you can’t do anything for Me.

[Acts 1:4 – 5 NKJV]
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So Acts 2, was actually the fulfillment of instructions He had given them earlier. The fulfillment couldn’t be done unless the Spirit had taken hold of them or better put, it was the fulfillment of their Apostolic ministry.

In doing that, the Apostles and disciples were then inaugurated and revealed to the world as THE CHURCH, which is the body of Christ and as souls were won unto the Lord, the body of Christ began to expand.

Is that clearly understood?

That goes to say if the Spirit of God has not empowered you to do a thing, you can’t do it!

The Spirit is the Empowering Force to do anything for God.

Let’s end here tonight, we shall continue next week on THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRT.

Father, we thank You for light and understanding, thank You for we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Please, we can ask questions. God bless you.

…………………..

Sister O:
You used the word Fulfill here… Is fulfilling different from obeying in this context, Sir?

Oluwatobiloba Thompson:
Okay, thank you very much for this. Yes, there is a slight difference. Fulfill here means to OBEY COMPLETELY TO THE SATISFACTION OF God.

Though men tried to obey, they stumbled in the obedience at one point or the other (which is exactly what God wanted them to know) but JESUS OBEYED ALL and LEFT NO STONE UNTURNED.

God has really high standards and no one could fulfill those standards on their own but we see Jesus did that, and now He has paved the way for many to also be fully pleasing to God.

Sister O:
Thank you very much for the clarification, Sir. I now understand it better. God bless you.

Oluwatobiloba Thompson:
God bless you too Sis.