Revealing the works of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Pentecost in the New Testament is the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus. It is the Greek name for Shavuot, the spring harvest festival.
The term Pentecost comes from the Greek Pentēkostē meaning “fiftieth”. It refers to the festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, it also known as the “Feast of Weeks”.
Acts 2:2-4
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Here, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself as wind and fire…
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of ‘Truth’, He is the 3rd Person of the Godhead, or we can also say that He is the third revelation of God – 1st is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but they are One.
The Holy Spirit is the Chief executor of the estate of Christ, He is God.
Being Chief Executor, that would explain why He is the only One who can reveal Jesus the Christ to us.
Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot know Jesus; without Him there can be no progression of truth…When you remove the Holy Spirit, we cannot know God!
God the Father is the Anointer, Jesus is the Anointed, and the Holy Spirit is the Anointing Himself…
Outside the anointing, we cannot do anything.
The Holy Spirit chose to reveal Himself as wind and fire, and from that revelation of God we can see what are the works that He does for us in order to prepare us for the last days.
We will be looking at some of the characteristics of the wind that somehow we may be able to catch what He desires for you as a person, the church, and the nation in general.
The Wind
In Hebrew, His name is Ruach Hachodesh, the Holy Spirit. In Greek, He is the Pneuma, breath, soul, life.
Pneuma: root word for pneumatic machines which are air machines.
A pneumatic device is any of various tools and instruments that generate and utilize compressed air.
Ex. rock drills, pavement breakers, riveters, forging presses, paint sprayers, blast cleaners, and atomizers.
These machines can break the hardest rocks, or bring healing to the most delicate and sensitive tooth.
The Holy Spirit can be rough on you or be very sweet to attain His goal of fulfilling the purpose for your life.
The Holy Spirit can also bring times of refreshing to us as a gentle breeze blowing in our lives…
Acts 3:19
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…
When the wind of the Spirit blows, often it causes confusion and disarray, most of the time our eyes are blocked from seeing the truth and all we see is darkness…that’s what we think.
The Holy Spirit is actually cleansing our lives, and teaching us valuable lessons. He is getting rid of all the dirt that has accumulated – we may not see or understand what is going on but we need to trust that it is all for our good!
Sometimes He comes to judge, and by judging He destroys.
He will never do anything to hurt us, He does things so we will wake up from our slumber. He reminds us that the final judgment is coming and it is inevitable, and that we must prepare while we still have time.
FIRE
It is the Greek word ‘pur’ or fire as a part of daily life; fire as a symbol of Heavenly fire, a) Fire in the heavenly realm, or b) Fire coming from the heavenly realm to earth, or the fire of hell.
Like the wind, fire manifests characteristics that also reveal to us the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as a person, a church, even as a nation. First of all, fire illuminates.
When there is darkness brought about by the world or by demonic activities, the fire of the Spirit would let us see and understand what is happening and He will give instructions as to what we must do.
He also enlightens us, giving us greater knowledge of His Word and His revelations, He is the Anointing Himself that is the function of God to us.
Ps 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
When there is light, all fears are taken away – there is confidence and the assurance, we are safe with the Lord by our side.
Fire also purifies as the Spirit also purify.
1 Peter 1:7
These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Only after passing through the crucible can gold be categorized as with higher value or carats because more of the impurities were taken away!
Matt 24:12-13
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
We cannot stand firm on our own, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts again, though wickedness may abound we will not be taken in. Like the wind, fire can also be used as a form of judgment. The Holy Spirit can come and destroy everything that hinders us from obeying the truth. He is not the fire that destroys in hell, He is the fire that convicts so we will never have to go to hell.
The Spirit says “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying”, can you hear Him? If we don’t hear… The enemy will try and deceive you by making you think that things just happen, that simply by becoming born-again, everything will fall in place.
Well they don’t just happen, you need to do something now, God is waiting for our response to what He is doing to us, even to the nation. How we respond reveals the kind of faith and the depth of our trust in God, the Holy Spirit speaks to us but it is us who make the choice – the choices we make are important to Him.
We must be able discern if the wind of the Spirit is blowing to bring times of refreshing or would it be like a tornado that is ready to bring judgment and destruction.
Or is He burning to enlighten and guide you, or will He be like a consuming fire?
We are at the crossroads of this age, the choices we make today are crucial whether we would be categorized as wise or foolish.
The Tests Are Coming!
To learn how to do things, you need a teacher, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Teachers will teach, train, rebuke, instruct, and they will also test. During the test, teachers are silent, only after the test do they give you their evaluation and your grade – they can move you toward your future. When you pass the test, that shows you have potential to face the next test – till you are ready for the finals. Our final exam is the ‘great tribulation’, if we get ready now, if we prepare now, there is no reason we can’t make it thru the final test.
John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. NKJV