THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORKS

Pr. James Victor Lubwama

Jesus ministered among His disciples - He preached, taught and prayed with them on several occasions and also faced challenges with them. When Jesus called the disciples, they did not understand Him from the start; even though they followed Him, they took long to understand Him and His mission. 

Jesus, Born of God

Mathew 16:15-16 (NKJV)

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

One day, Jesus was preaching about His Father and Phillip asked Him in John 14:8-9 (NIV) that;

“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father’? 

Jesus noticed that after three years of ministry Phillip had not understood or got a revelation of Him. Perhaps you are like Phillip; you have never known that Jesus is God. In the world today most people know about Christ, few people know Him and fewer people know and do His will. There is a small portion of people like Simon Peter who know and have a revelation of who Christ is as evidenced by his answer in the scripture above

Jesus the son of God came in flesh but within Him was the Father and that is why He was given the name Immanuel, which translates God is with us. God decided to come and dwell with us through His one and only son. Matthew 1:23 (NIV) says;

 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us).”

Many scriptures and prophets, Isaiah inclusive foretold the birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14). All this meant that the child - Jesus is God incarnate. So here is Phillip asking Jesus to show them the Father, and Jesus asked him if he did not know he was the Father. This happened because God conceals godly things; divine things are concealed and it’s only the Holy Spirit that can enlighten the eyes of our understanding (Ephesians 1:18) and open our spiritual ears to reveal them to us. Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV) says;

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” 

Holy Spirit – Revealer of Truth

John 14:16-17 (GNT)

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God”

Just like Phillip, there are some Christians that are ignorant about Christ and His will. They follow Christ but have no revelation behind what they are following or believed. However, with the Holy Spirit, the secret things and truth about God is revealed unto you.

The reason why Phillip had no revelation of who the Father was is because he wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit, though he was a follower of Jesus. So is the same in church today; some Christians are spirit-filled and others are not; some understand mysteries of the Kingdom and others don’t; some say eternal life is real, others are not sure. But you need the Holy Spirit who reveals secret things and all truth about Jesus and His ways.

There are many things preachers don’t tell you during the sermons because they cannot extensively exhaust the bible in its entirety but if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and reveal the truth about God to you. The bible says in John 14:26 (NIV) that;

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

There are men of God who prophesied about this pandemic, one was in Uganda and another one in West Africa. They prophesied that there was a sickness that was going to come in form of flu. God revealed this season, He knew it was going to come and warned His children through His servants (Amos 3:7). If you have the Spirit of God, it becomes easy for you to understand the word of God because you have an interpreter and a revealer of God’s deep secrets. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NLT) that;

“No eye has seen, no ear has head, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.” 

Spirit At Work In Us

When Jesus was taken, it pleased God to give the world the gift of the Holy Spirit. I call it a gift because in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come and rest upon the prophets and then go back – for they were never filled with the Holy Spirit because the temple hadn’t been cleansed (Isaiah 42:1, Numb 11:25, 1 Sam 10:10). But thanks be to Jesus, the Lamb of God who died a sacrificial death (John 20:22) and shade His blood to give us an advocate (John 14:26).

Many people want and are questioning how they can be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the answer; if you accept Jesus as your Saviour and confess your sins, God will give you a gift of the Holy Spirit; He will cleanse your body and then come and dwell in you. For when you become born-again, the old ceases and you become a new creature (2 Cor 5:17) filled with the Holy Spirit and also bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22).

In the Old Testament, the bible says that their righteousness was mere rags (Isaiah 64:6); they could not reach God’s measure but when the Holy Spirit came, He gave us power to become the children of God. Its the Holy Spirit that can give you power to become what God purposed you to be. If you want to go to heaven, if you want to become what God wants you to be, accept Christ and be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will change you and give you the grace to stay the narrow path (Mathew 7:13) and walk the Salvation journey

The Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside-out. No one can work out salvation on his own; for it’s by grace that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). Its not because of your effort or strength; it can only be so by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

People usually say, Pentecostals are funny, even in difficult times they are happy and at peace but truth is, when the Holy Spirit dwells in you, He fills you with joy and peace – fruit of the Spirit, and takes away worry and fear. Therefore, even in times such as these, we are not scared because the Holy Spirit is in control within us. Some people talk about the Holy Spirit but they do not have Him, but I pray that God gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit because there is a difference between talking about Him and possessing Him. 

Awake and Listen

Matthew 11:15 (AMPC)

“He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing”

Time has come for us to return to return to the Lord. Let your faith and hope be rejuvenated by the word - the word which brings faith is that which proceeds from the Holy Spirit (Romans 10:17). The moment you receive the Holy Spirit, He will open up your spiritual ears and guide you in all truth; if you have the Holy Spirit, you will be empowered to hear, perceive and comprehend God’s mysteries and truth

Some people stagger off the salvation journey by disobeying and giving excuses. But thank God for the Holy Spirit, because when the Spirit is in you, He empowers you – for when we are weak, He makes us strong (2 Cor 12:9-10). Salvation without the Holy Spirit would have been hard and a burden; but when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He gives you grace and power to walk this Salvation journey With the Holy Spirit in you, pillars of Christianity  like prayer, praise, fasting, reading the bible etc. are made easy.

If you're not Spirit-filled, don’t expect the rapture, because it’s the Holy Spirit that connects you to the Creator of heaven and earth so that you can be transfigured and raised. It is evident that Jesus is coming back to take the church, but unfortunately, some Christians only believe in miracles not knowing that miracles do not take one to heaven. I can prophecy today and you get a child, job, build a house or be healed because of the anointing upon me yet you do not have the Holy Spirit. If the rapture happens and you have no Holy Spirit even if you got a miraculous car, you will remain on earth with your car. The bible reminds us in Matthew 24:40-42 (ESV) that;

“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 Therefore stay awake….”

These things will happen. Time has come for us to repent and put our lives in order, because Jesus is coming back to take a spotless church (Ephesians 5:27). 

Proclaim The Messiah

Acts 8:4-8 (NIV)

“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.”

On the day of the Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1). They were anointed and thus performed alot of miracles and wonders wherever they went to the extent that the disciples’ shadows healed the sick (Acts 5:15).

Due to persecution by Saul and the Pharisees, the disciples ended up running to other regions for safety. Jesus wanted them to scatter so that they spread the gospel to other parts of the world. God permitted believers to be persecuted for the advancement of the gospel. 

After he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, Phillip went to Samaria where he preached and performed miracles as seen in the scripture above. We see a different Phillip in Samaria alone preaching, performing miracles and casting out demons because at that time he was Spirit-filled, and had a revelation and understanding of Christ. The Philip of John 14 and Acts 8 are different – the former wasn’t Spirit-filled and the later was. I want to emphasize that you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The day you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, the gifts hidden in you will manifest, and you will also be impactful beyond.

The disciples preached Christ – the Messiah. The problem we have today is that we do not preach Christ, but instead preach other things to sway masses, but when you preach Christ, the anointing on Christ gathers people. It’s the anointing of Christ that brought the multitudes. Phillip had no signpost in Samaria but the anointing brought multitudes to listen to him. 

Phillip in Samaria preached Christ, what are you preaching? I want to advise you, preach Christ, the risen Savior. It was not easy to preach Christ during that time but the disciples and the believers did not stop even though they were persecuted and jailed; for they were not ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16)

May God touch you and fill you with the Holy Spirit.