An Open Door - Part Four

In the taking the gospel to the nations or across the street to our neighbors, the Holy Spirit is absolutely indispensable. To this statement, most Christians would agree. Yet the sad reality is that for many believers the Holy Spirit plays no active role it their conscious experience. This was not true in the early church. The early church knew the power of prayer and their desperate need for the Holy Spirit to empower and direct their efforts.

Take Acts 13:1-4 for example. The believers in Antioch was worshiping the Lord and fasting. While they were doing this the Holy Spirit spoke to them. The Spirit told them to set apart Saul (Paul) and Barnabas for a specific missionary task. There is no indication here that the church was holding a "brainstorming" session or had called in missions experts to give them counsel. No, the Holy Spirit spoke and they obeyed. It was as simple as that.

Or look at Acts 16:1-10. Paul is traveling from town to town strengthening the churches. They are experiencing daily growth. Notice Acts 16:6. They were going to go to the Roman province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit kept them from doing so. Look at that again. Paul, one of the greatest missionaries the church has known, wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit prevented him from going. Paul knew the work of the Holy Spirit as a living reality in his life.

They kept traveling, and tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. Now here is something new. In verse 7 the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus. It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-existent with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus.

Let's link these lessons together.

1. Jesus calls us to follow him and he will cause us to be fishers of men.
2. Jesus teaches that if we find ourselves in a position of being unable to meet the needs of others we are to seek God and he will provide what we need to serve others.
3. Jesus teaches that what God will give us is the Holy Spirit. He tells his followers to wait until they the Holy Spirit comes on them before they begin making disciples.
4. The Holy Spirit that leads and empowers the disciples in the book of Acts is nothing less than the Spirit of Jesus.

Therefore, the our task is the same task as the disciples: Follow Jesus and he will make us fishers of men. Only now, instead of following Jesus' physical presence, we follow the Spirit of Jesus...the Holy Spirit. As Paul puts it in Galatians 5:25: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." We are to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit just as Simon and Andrew followed Jesus.

Again, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?