The Ministry of the Holy Spirit II - Living Grace Fellowship

Wednesday 11/06/13

Topic: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Series – The Fear of the Lord:

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.mp3

Key Text:

John 14

John 15

John 16

John 17:1-5

Jesus passes the baton to the Holy Spirit…

This week we read through and commented on John chapters 14-17, where Jesus talks with His disciples as they walk from the upper room where they just took the Seder meal, to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was to be betrayed.

It seems clear that the disciples must have known that something was up. Yes, Jesus had been telling them for weeks that He was going to be betrayed into the hands of sinners and die, but they scarcely seemed to believe it. In their world, Jesus seemed larger than life and had always been untouchable up until this point. These facts and their recent revelation of Jesus as the Christ made talk of His demise seem unlikely, yet, here they were walking from the upper room with a shadow cast upon what should otherwise have been a joyous evening.

That they were sad, was apparent by the first words Jesus spoke to His disciples on their track from the upper room to the garden. He began with, “Don’t let your hearts be trouble and don’t let them be afraid…”

It was during this talk that Jesus outlined to them His Own departure and the entrance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He told them He was going to have to go away to His Father and that it was actually to their advantage to have it so. He promised that He would not leave them orphans bu that He would come to them in the person of the Holy Spirit and that even though He was gone, they would come to know Him better than they had while He was physically among them.

These words seemed unbelievable and rather than their hearts being encouraged their hearts became all the more despondent.

Phillip had asked the Lord to reveal the Father to them. Jesus spoke lovingly but very direct to Phillip and sked Him in apparent astonishment, “Have I been such a long time with you Phillip and yet you have not known Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father!”

He Then began to speak to them of His oneness with the Father and that when He left, though they could not imagine it now, the Holy Spirit would cause them to really know what Phillip had reveal he sis not know – that Jesus and the Father where ONE. however, Jesus did NOT stop here – he went on to tell them…“At that time you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you.” – John 14:20

Then He began to tell them of this new union they would enjoy by way of an analogy. He told them,

“I am the Vine–the True Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.” ~ John 15:1

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” ~ John 15:5

After explaining the nature of their soon to be “new relationship” with and in Him, re returned to the subject of His immediate departure.

Sprinkled throughout this entire dialog, Jesus kept on mentioning the Holy Spirit and His role as the “new” paráklētos… “The Comforter” Whom Jesus was promising to send in His Name (meaning representing all that He is). He would abide with them forever. He was the spirit of Truth Whom the world could not receive because they could not see Him nor progressively and experientially know Him!

Jesus ended His dialog with the disciples by praying to the Father out loud before them. They heard Him speak these words…

“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” ~ John 17:1-5

This was the One Whom Jesus would pass the baton of Divine earthly ministry into the hands of – once for all!

This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit!

What we took from these chapters were the following:

The Holy Spirit is ALL ABOUT revealing Christ – John 16:14
He is here to convince us of our reconciliation or oneness with Jesus and the Father – John 14:20
- He convinces us of the abolition of death – Eph. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:10
- Death (separation) has been swallowed in victory – 1Cor. 15:54
- He has brought judgement to victory (vanquished separation)- Matt. 12:20
He is here to co-partner with us in establishing the Kingdom of God.
- 1st within by our victory over sin – (will cover next week).
- 2nd without by our active and fervent love of our brothers (-will cover next week).

This is the beginning of the Ministry of the Holy Spirit!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!