BETHESDA CATHEDRAL – WORD EDIFICATION (1 Nov 2013)
Announcements
1. Prayer & Praise: Every Wed, 8pm, Chapel.
2. Growing your Oikos / Growing our Church.
3. Saturday Worship Service: 5pm, Daniel Hall, 2nd Floor.
Word Released
“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14
Word Edification: What is the Holy Spirit to you? Speaker: Pastor Tay Cheng Kee
Introduction
Most of us know the Holy Spirit to be the Third Person of the Godhead but what does He
mean to us and what do we know about Him? We know that He has the attributes of God
but do we have a personal relationship with Him? The Holy Spirit is not just an influence or
power coming from God but He is a divine Person.
What did Jesus say about the Holy Spirit?
1) The Holy Spirit is our Counsellor
John 14:16 “I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, that He
may be with you forever,” The word “another” means “of the same kind” just like Jesus.
This was the promise of Jesus to His disciples. What Jesus was to the disciples, the
Holy Spirit would be to them. Just as the disciples communicated with Jesus and asked
Him to teach them to pray when He was with them, we are to communicate with the
Holy Spirit and ask Him to be our divine Teacher. The word “Counsellor” came from the
Greek word “Parakletos” which means coming alongside to help with His arms around
us. The Holy Spirit is our Counsellor, our Strengthener, our Comforter, our Helper and
our Friend and He shall be with us forever. Have you experienced Him?
2) The Holy Spirit is our Teacher
John 14:26 “But the Counselor, 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.” We need
His counsel and His advice. It was the Spirit of God who spoke to Pastor Tay to release
the Word during the Worship Service. It was after the baptism of the Holy Spirit that
Pastor Tay had a greater sense of relationship with Him. Pastor Tay received a vision
from the Holy Spirit the type of church God wanted to be built, with the Corinthian pillars,
steeple and arches. The church was to be a landmark and light to the darkened
neighbourhood. He faced many obstacles as he embarked on this building project. It
was humanly impossible as the entire project cost 8 million dollars and the church had
only $130,000. The Holy Spirit reminded him that this was His project and God was his
provider and He would supply all the needs. We need to take God at His word.
3) The Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of their need to know Christ
John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment:” We can never bring about conviction of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment to our hearers with our knowledge and wisdom. We
need to work in partnership with the Holy Spirit. We can be a spokesman for Him, to
enable a person to have a glimpse of his sinful nature and the knowledge that God is a
loving God and there is a way for salvation. It was the Holy Spirit who directed Philip to
go near the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch to explain to him the scripture which he was
reading (Acts 8:29-38). For all of us who are engaged in evangelism, we should seek
direction from the Holy Spirit with regard to the person whom we are going to share the
gospel with. Pastor Tay would wait upon the Lord and wait for His enablement; to be
directed by Him for the right timing to release the verse or passage on Sunday so as to
lead people to receive Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings conviction to the unbelievers
of the need to repent and to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
4) The Holy Spirit guides and reveals to us things to come
John 16:13 “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.” He will give us advance information for our security.
The Holy Spirit warned Paul through the prophet Agabus that he would be taken over by
the Jews at Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles (Acts 21:10-11). As a church,
the Holy Spirit has given us the advance information that we will be a church of 7000
strong. In 2001, Prince Kudolo gave the prophetic word “Expand Your Sanctuary”. It
would cost the church 6 million dollars to extend the sanctuary and there was a balance
of only $300,000 in our bank account. The Holy Spirit gave a new direction not to
borrow from the bank. By faith, 6 million dollars was raised and the work of extending
the sanctuary was completed. Praise the Lord!
5) The Holy Spirit empowers us to be a witness for the Lord
Jesus did not begin His public ministry until He was filled with the Holy Spirit and His
power (Luke 3:22). It was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that enabled Him to
preach the good news, to heal the sick and set the captives free (Luke 4:18) Jesus
commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the
Father which was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If the disciples who were equipped for
the work of the ministry needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and with power, how
much more of us? Are we obedient to the Holy Spirit? Do we have a relationship with
Him? The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to be with us forever. We are to place our hand
in his hand and allow Him to lead us each step of the way.
Application
1. Share with each another an incident when the Holy Spirit spoke to you.
2. How can we develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit?
3. How can we work in partnership with the Holy Spirit in reaching out to our pre-believing
FRANs?