The Ministry Of The Holy Spirit

[0:00] The ministry of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah 4 verse 6 tells us this, that he answered and! We have a topical study, it's a topical subject and we're going to have a topical study of this question of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's very important that we look at this matter and see what does the Bible actually teach us about this subject which is so important, so important that we know about the Holy Spirit and we can learn of him and his work. So the Bible speaks along of the Holy Spirit. So the first question, the first point I'd like to make here tonight is who is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. There's many terms, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of Christ, there's many terms that speak of the Spirit of God and simply that is that he is a person. He is a person. Someone downgraded the Holy Spirit and referred to the Spirit of God as it, as a force, as something impersonal. But no, the Bible clearly tells us that he is a person. God the Holy Spirit, one of the Godhead. He is a person. And the Holy Spirit, he lives within us, we that believe. He helps us to live for Christ. One of the names of the Holy Spirit is that he is called the Spirit of truth. We see that in 1 John 4 verse 6, where John writes, he says, 1 John 4 verse 6, we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.

[2:08] So one of his titles, his names, is the Spirit of truth. God's Spirit, one of his functions is to guide us into all truth. So truth is the hallmark of his working. It's one of the hallmarks of the Holy Spirit that he will always operate in accordance with the truth of the Bible. The word of his truth. He will operate according to the Bible. Because friends, there is importantly two spirits. More really, but certainly in that sense of the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, then there's the Spirit of error, all kinds of spirits of error, you could say. The Spirit of error would guide people into error. But the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth will guide us into truth. So it's a great defining difference there. And our Lord warns us of the last days, of the end times, of that time, that it will be times of deception, with false spirits at work, other spirits at work. And I know when we converse with people, as we might be witnessing here and there, some people would almost claim or brag that they are spiritual. They have a spirituality. They believe in spirituality. But when you dig deep and get beneath the surface of that kind of statement, you see that they really don't know the Lord.

[3:42] They really don't know the Saviour. They really have not been born again, which is the fundamental essential. And so despite all this much talk about spirituality, we must be sure what spirit is it. Is it? Is it that spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, or is it a spirit of error?

[4:03] The Word of God tells us that in the last days there will be such a manifestation of such spirits which are false. We see 1 Timothy 4 verse 1. It says, Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving hereto seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Notice these are not just doctrines that might be different or doctrines that might be just a different slam on Bible teaching, but they're actually doctrines that are originating from the devil, from devils, from demonic forces and such, from seducing spirits. So we need to be very hearful of that. This is not just a question of different interpretations or different teachings, but doctrines of devils. These will be manifest.

[4:56] And seducing spirits is saying, leading people into plain error and falsehood, seducing them. We see John also warns of such. He says in 1 John 4 verse 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

[5:20] And friends, this is very needful, I put to you today, in this day in which we live, and in talking with different ones, they've made the same observation that, and as I've said before too, at times many of the books in the Christian bookstores are tainted with error. There's error there.

[5:48] And the teachers that are often the popular ones today, have got to be very careful and discerning and cautious. And try the spirits. Test it out. Discern. Test it. Try it.

[6:02] Is it of God? We must try the spirits. The Bible says, John says, try the spirits. He commands us. He declares that we must, we ought to try the spirits.

[6:15] And how do we try the spirits? It's by the Bible. That is our basis of truth. This is our plumb line. That by which we measure what is truth and what is not truth.

[6:29] And I know in times past, I've met people, some who are non-Pentecostal, some who are actually Pentecostal, who have gone about trying to, what they call, test the tongues, so-called, that people were manifesting.

[6:47] And, you know, naturally, the non-Pentecostal people have done this testing of tongues where someone has supposedly talked as they would believe in a tongue and found it to be a false tongue.

[6:59] That's not real. It's not, it doesn't, it's clear that there's a spirit at work there that is not the Holy Spirit because of the, they've not confessed Jesus Christ has come in the flesh in their manifestation.

[7:15] And what is even more surprising to me, and I was a Pentecostal at the time, I'll tell you today, that this man, he was a Pentecostal, he tested tongues, he also told me, he tested all of these tongues and he'd not found one that was true.

[7:30] Which is quite mind-boggling to me, that he himself, as a professing Pentecostal, could not find any tongues that he found to be true. Even though he believed in such Latter-day tongues kind of teaching.

[7:45] So that was really mind-blowing for me. And so it's very important, we try the spirits, is it real? Is it of God? And some might claim they have a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but does it measure up to the testing, to the trying, to that discerning of the Spirit?

[8:03] Is it of God? And we need to be careful, of course I understand, we need to be careful about labelling something that might be the work of the Holy Spirit, as not of the Holy Spirit. But on the same coin, the same token, dare we say something is of the Holy Spirit, when it's plainly not?

[8:20] That would be false and wrong of us to do so too. So the point is, we must try the spirits. John says we must, we ought to. And how do we try it?

[8:31] By the Word of God. Does it measure up to the Bible? It says in Isaiah 8 verse 20, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

[8:45] So the Holy Spirit, if he is at work, we can honestly and intelligently and reverently test that which is a supposed manifestation of the Holy Spirit to see does it line up with the Word of God?

[9:02] Is it in the Bible? Is it biblical? Is what is happening in accord with the Scriptures? Is it carried out in accordance with the guidelines that the Scriptures give us?

[9:15] The Holy Spirit calls us to obey the Word of God, not experience. Experience is not the test of right and wrong. You might say, well, you can't deny my experience. Look, I can if it's not biblical.

[9:27] I can because the Word of God says to try the Spirit. If it's not biblical, if it's not according to His Word, it's wrong. And the Holy Spirit does not lead anyone contrary to the Word which He has inspired.

[9:42] If it conflicts with the Word, we can say it's wrong. I see that everything of Pentacostalism that I learnt, that I was trained in, that I was teaching others in, is false.

[9:53] As far as the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that they made so much of. And I can see that now, very plainly and clearly. And I don't say that lightly or carelessly.

[10:04] I say that reverently and with a heart for the Word of God. Because the Bible must be the testing. It must be the testing of what we do. Are we operating in accord with His Word?

[10:15] That must be the defining feature. The charismatic movement today is filled with delusion and confusion. Many of these false teachers, many of these popular teachers and preachers, and prophets and apostles, so-called, as they would claim for themselves, are not according to the Scriptures.

[10:34] They're out of accord with the Scriptures. So we must say there's an error there. Friends, there is a mixture of truth and error. I'm not saying that everything about pentapostalism is false, but there's a mixture, and it's a very sad mixture.

[10:50] And there's a swapping of sound doctrine for false teaching, and new revelations, and perceptions. You know, you hear accounts of, you know, feathers falling, and glitter, gold glitter, and all kinds of strange manifestations, and people gyrating on the floor, you know, rolling around, and having some manifestations.

[11:14] And yet, these are not scriptural, brothers and sisters. So we have to be questioning that, honestly questioning that, as God-fearing people, that we would want to be in accord with the Scriptures of the Word of God.

[11:27] You know, and instead of being decent and in order, which is one of the clear guidelines of the Word of God, it's not decent, and it's not in order.

[11:39] And it's become indecent and disorderly. Friends, God is not the author of confusion. Some garbled gibberish It's confusion. God is not the author of that.

[11:50] The Bible tongues where human languages manifest for a purpose and a reason, for a reason and for a season. And it was judgment on the Jews, on unbelieving Israel.

[12:03] It's fulfilled its purpose now. So, I'm talking really from my own experience there, because I've been there and experienced that, and I can see the error of that very plainly now.

[12:15] Friends, the Word of God tells us we should be cautious and discerning to the law and to the testimony. The Bible warns us about the leaven. A wrong doctrine is one of the leavens in the Word of God.

[12:28] There's a danger, it's a leaven, and a little leaven, it says, can affect the whole thing. And so that's why, as a church, we're cautious about what we adopt, about what we encourage, about what we follow, about who we endorse or what teachings or materials we have in our library and such, because we want to be careful about these things.

[12:50] We don't want to be just swine or allowing anything to come across our way. It's sad, I believe, churches adopting Hillsong, for example, and various such worship, because it's leading people that way.

[13:04] As people watch that, adopt that, they watch the DVDs, that style of worship, and they get sucked into that system. Ugh, that system.

[13:15] And it's replete with false doctrine. I've got to be honest with you today. I have to talk honestly with you. Friends, as God's remnant, God helping us to be the faithful church, we need to stand fast, we need to expose error, stand against it and condemn it, and watch for our Lord's returning, to contend earnestly!

[13:32] To contend earnestly for the faith. If we're contending earnestly for the faith, we've got to contend against that which is not of the faith. If we're going to discern truth teaching, we've got to discern false teaching and make that distinction and separate from that which is contrary to the Word of God.

[13:49] So friends, we've seen who the Holy Spirit is. He will act in accordance with His Word. He's the Spirit of Truth. It's one of the fundamentals of who the Holy Spirit is. Secondly, consider now who has the Holy Spirit.

[14:04] Who has the Holy Spirit? We see that in 1 Corinthians 12, 13. It says, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

[14:24] How many believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit? All. All believers are baptized into the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit.

[14:39] Pentecostalism says some have the Holy Spirit. When are believers baptized by the Holy Spirit?

[14:49] When they are born of the Spirit. John 3, verse 8. We know that it speaks of born again being born of the Spirit. It's obviously when we're saved we are born by, born of the Spirit.

[15:04] John 3, verse 8. Every believer is baptized by the Spirit at the moment that they are born of the Spirit. Romans 8, verse 9 it says, the closer the verse there it says, Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

[15:20] No one who is Christ does not have the Holy Spirit. Everyone who is born of God, who is born of the Spirit, is born again, who is his, has the Holy Spirit.

[15:38] So friends, every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. When we're born again, every believer has the Spirit of God. We are all baptized into Christ by the Spirit of God.

[15:51] We are saved, sealed, sanctified, secured, made a son, all by the Spirit of God. The Word of God is clear about that. Could it be that we might have different measures of the Holy Spirit?

[16:05] That could be so, I believe. We might be filled with the Spirit, and maybe we might leak. There's that sense that there's a filling and there's a refilling. We should want God to fill us and indwell us.

[16:19] We can, I think, grow lacking in our spiritual life. And so, God wants us to be filled with the Spirit.

[16:29] That's something we should want to have. The Bible speaks about how we can grieve the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4 verse 30. We see in Galatians it talks about how we should walk in the Spirit.

[16:41] We should walk in the Spirit and then we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So it is possible for believers to grieve the Holy Spirit. God forbid that we should grieve the Holy Spirit.

[16:53] That we should do something that the Holy Spirit would be grieved by, that we would hurt the Holy Spirit. God forbid that we should disobey the Holy Spirit, but rather that we should walk in the Spirit.

[17:07] So we have seen, friends, tonight, that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the Spirit of Truth. We see, secondly, that who has the Holy Spirit?

[17:20] Every believer. Every believer. When you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit. in this dispensation, in this working of God, that you are saved people, you have the Holy Spirit.

[17:32] And we see, thirdly, what is the work of the Holy Spirit in us? What is the Holy Spirit given for us to know, to be? There's four main evidences I've put to you, four signs we could say, that the Holy Spirit is at work.

[17:47] Now, firstly, I've put to you, salvation is the work of the Spirit of God. We've seen that today. The witnessing team has seen a soul trust Christ on their doorstop in the neighbourhood here.

[18:01] Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is working, we'll see souls saved. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will convict the sinner. We see that in John 16 verse 8, our Lord is speaking of the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus says, and when He has come, when the Holy Spirit has come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.

[18:26] Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and He's seen me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged.

[18:36] So, salvation is His work. When we're seeing souls saved, that's the work of the Spirit of God. Only that Spirit of God can affect that saving work in the heart of men.

[18:48] We see salvation is His work. We see that the exaltation of the Savior is the work of the Holy Spirit. John 16, 14, it says of the Holy Spirit, our Lord says, He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.

[19:04] The work of the Holy Spirit is to lift up the name of Jesus. It's to lift Him up, it's to exalt and glorify Him. So when we see God helping us in our worship, in our service, in our study, that Christ is exalted, that Christ is glorified, that's the Holy Spirit working, that Christ will be lifted up in our hearts, in our service, in our worship.

[19:29] Another work of the Holy Spirit, it's not only does He save, but He seals us. The Holy Spirit performs a sealing, an endorsement, a seal is placed upon us as we trust Christ.

[19:42] It says in Ephesians 1, 13, Paul writes to the Ephesians, in whom, in the Lord Jesus, you're saying, you also trusted, that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, so you're saved, in whom, after you believed, you're saved, and then it says you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.

[20:03] So not only does He save us, He seals us, in other words, He secures us, He puts that seal, that sign that we are His, that stamp of ownership, of possession, you know, the seal was something that could not be broken, but had the ownership of the person with the signet ring, who would stamp that seal, as it was signifying that ownership, and when we save, we're also sealed, and it's all the work of the Spirit of God, the new birth, and the sealing, that He gives to us, that securing of His own, and also another thing the Holy Spirit does, is 1 Corinthians 6, 11, it says, and such with some of you, He's speaking of sin, but He says, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, that's 1 Corinthians 6, verse 11, and it tells us there, that He sanctifies us,

[21:04] He saves us, He seals us, He sanctifies us, it's all the work of the Spirit of God, and it tells us, there's another verse there, 1 Corinthians 3, 16, know you not, that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, know you not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, so He comes and He dwells within our body, He dwells within us, and it says in the Word of God too, 2 Corinthians 3, 18, that He changes us from glory to glory, this is all the work of the Holy Spirit in us, in His people, we see in Ephesians 6, verse 18, He helps us to pray, another thing that He does is Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit will be manifest, He fills our lives with His fruit, it says but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law, so again it's the work of the Spirit, these will be fruit that will be flourishing and growing and increasing and seeing in our lives that God's fruit, the fruit of

[22:22] His Spirit will come out and it's all glory to the God who's given us His Spirit. Another thing that the Holy Spirit does is that He leads us for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

[22:37] So friends, the Holy Spirit will lead you in your decisions, in your choices, He'll give you the guidance for your life ahead. So we've seen essentially salvation is His work and all of those things flow out of salvation that we just talked about there that He convicts the sinner, He exalts the Saviour, we see that He'll give us that fruit and those evident signs of His working.

[23:05] Not only does He work in salvation, but the Holy Spirit will be manifest by sound doctrine as well. The Holy Spirit teaches us, He is a teacher for us.

[23:19] The Bible says, our Lord Jesus says in John 14, verse 26, He says, but the carpenter, which is the Holy Ghost, and the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things.

[23:31] So really and truly He is the ultimate master teacher and sound doctrine comes from us. the Holy Spirit teaches us. If we'll listen and receive His teaching, as we open our hearts to the Word of God, this truth is spiritually discerned.

[23:48] His Holy Spirit will give us the discernment to interpret and understand it and apply it. So He will lead us into truth. John 16, 13, it says, how be it when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.

[24:02] For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall speak, and He will show you things to come. So again, it's saying that He is the Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all truth.

[24:16] As a church, we are for the truth. That's why we are against error and worldliness, against sin and the false movements of our day. And that's not to say we're going to get proud and prideful that we've got everything right.

[24:32] We'll never get to that place where we can have some pretense we've got everything right. There's always improvement. But God helping us will stand for the truth and will stand against the error.

[24:47] As God exposes it, as we are led by the Spirit, He will guide us into all truth. And God helping us will be bold enough to speak against error, even if it's not popular, even if others will mock such a stand.

[25:02] Because the Holy Spirit is for sound doctrine. And another point is that the Holy Spirit will bring soul peace. He'll bring peace to the soul. We see here the Lord Jesus says, I'll pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever.

[25:20] He comforts us. He stays with us. Through the rocky road of life sometimes, there's people, we're all subject to troubles, as we talked about this morning.

[25:31] and the reality of life is filled with trials and time of suffering and hardship and conflict and chaos and families are being torn apart because the devil wants to destroy marriages and cause such hurt and hatred and evil, even in Christian homes.

[25:55] And friends, we can nevertheless know that the Holy Spirit can be our comforter. We can know that the Holy Spirit will be abiding with us and He will help us.

[26:06] He will stay with us. He will help us to fight those battles, to get those victories. And also the Holy Spirit helps us to join together with other believers in fellowship.

[26:17] It talks in Ephesians 4 verse 3 how we are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There's a true unity of love amongst us. We can be brothers and sisters truly caring for one another because what we are worshipping is scriptural.

[26:33] We are fellowshipping. That is a fellowship based on the Word of God, based on sound doctrine. It's founded upon truth. And so there is a true unity.

[26:44] It's not some kind of mishmash, false kind of unity where we see in the ecumenical movement where there's a blending of all kinds of error and falsehood and a joining together of churches that really don't all teach the truth of salvation, of God's Word.

[27:04] We don't want to be party to that. It's not meaning we're holding them down and kind of being snobbish but because we don't want to mix error with truth. We want to be solid and strong.

[27:16] So we will fellowship with like-minded churches where we can be bonded together in Christ where there's no compromise of sound doctrine. Because sound doctrine is the fundamental. Another thing about the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit will give us power to serve.

[27:31] The Holy Spirit is power. He is our power. He grants to us that power to serve. We see that in Ephesians 1, 3 verse 16 where it speaks of the Holy Spirit of God that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

[27:52] So friends, the Holy Spirit equips us as God's people. He furnishes us with the resources that we need, with the enumour of power, with heaven's unction to do the work of God on earth, to put our lives into action for God's glory.

[28:10] And He gives every believer gifts of ministry. Every believer has some means, some measure of service that they can render. So we see, friends, may we urgently be encouraged in the strengthening of our spiritual life, that we would truly seek after God's endowment of power, that we'd seek after His Spirit's power to constantly and over and over fill us and overflow us.

[28:41] We see, as we started that verse that talks about, it's not by might, it's not by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. If we try to do something in our own natural strength, we'll fail miserably.

[28:56] God's work is supernatural and it's not by our might or power, it's not by our intellect or knowledge or ability of our own selves, but it must be of Him.

[29:09] It must be of Him. So, believer, as you walk with the Lord, as you seek to live out your life for God's glory, depend on the power of God, depend on the power of His Holy Spirit to do His work.

[29:26] Now, God's church is to be a place where God's Spirit is at work, not some man-made organisation, this is not just some holy club, some social club, this is God helping us, a Holy Spirit filled and Holy Spirit led organism, a body, God helping us will truly see His power, not some as in some circles where there's much talk about the Holy Spirit, I fear that there's not much Holy Spirit happening there, truly, where there's some focus on miracles or signs and wonders, that's not the emphasis of the Word of God.

[30:04] The emphasis of the Word of God is enriching souls, is seeing souls saved and transformed and walking in Christ, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ, is to lift up the Saviour, is to lift up the precious gospel of His soul saving power and as His power is truly manifest, it's not in manifestations of some kind of conjured up atmosphere of some kind of show or carnival, but it is actually a spiritual work that the purpose will be to glorify Christ and to empower us for function, He gives us the unction for function, there's a sense where He gives us His Spirit such that He puts us into action, to reach out and to be His witnesses, that was the whole point of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, was essentially that they were empowered to be His witnesses, but friends, that seems lacking now, there's not much of that to speak of at times, so friends,

[31:11] He saves, He gives sound doctrine, He gives soul peace, He helps us to serve, and friends, we can be encouraged tonight to think, how can we be such a church?

[31:23] Again, some would try to divide between, oh, there's such a kind of church, and then there's the Spirit-filled churches, as if the Spirit-filled churches, there's somehow, there's got to be some demonstration, some emotionalism, some manifestation, for it to be Spirit-filled, this is a great error, friends, the Spirit-filled church is the church which is filled with God's truth, the Spirit of truth, with the work of God's Spirit, which is to see souls saved, is to see sound doctrine declared, is to see God's working in the practicalities of our lives, that we'll be walking with God, walking in the Spirit, it's not about demonstrations, or emotional, manifestations, it's about the truth, that's the defining feature, and as a church, as we have that, as we have that reverence for His truth, as we have the thus say of the Lord, which is the Bible, that we will be a Spirit-filled church, we are a

[32:24] Spirit-filled church, every believer is Spirit-filled, every church that declares the Word of God is a Spirit-filled church, there's not some differentiation there, because to be God's church, we have to have the Holy Spirit at work, and so when God's Spirit comes in revival power, there will be a real conviction of sin, there will be a forthright declaration of His Word, there will be a holy fear of God, in Acts 5 verse 11, the Spirit-filled church, there was great fear that seized the whole church, there wasn't some light circus-type carnival, disco environment, it says the fear of God filled that church, Acts 5 verse 11, great fear, there was a fear of God, people were trembling at the Word of God, they were taking it seriously, the claims of Christ for their salvation, the fear of God, the sense of the truth of God, and that we should take it so seriously and fundamentally, that is a biblical

[33:26] Spirit-filled church, so there's some fundamental things we could see as the signs of a Spirit-filled church, I'll put to you, just four things to close, four signs if you like of a Spirit-filled church, a Spirit-filled church is a Bible-based church, that's a Spirit-filled church, where the Bible is the foundation for all of our conduct and practice, this is what defines our philosophy of ministry, this defines what we do, what we practice, how we do it, that it is a church focused Bible-truth, we're sold out to the truth, such that if it is not in accordance with the truth, we'll say that it's not, and we'll stand against it, and we'll stand for the Spirit of truth, it helps us to discern between truth and error, so the Spirit-filled church is a Bible-based church, secondly a Spirit-filled church is a Christ-centered church, that we will do all that we can to lift up and exalt our Lord Jesus Christ, we'll revere him as our

[34:27] Lord, as our Master, we'll lift up his name, the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ, a Spirit-filled church is a Christ-centered church, a Spirit-filled church is a Spirit-led church, that will be sensitive to the Spirit's leading, will be led by his Spirit, we pray that God by his Holy Spirit would guide and lead our decision-making, that we'll be truly sensitive to his Spirit's leading, and that we'll be dedicated personally, each one, individually, dedicated to living in the will of God, to be living in his guidance, will be Spirit-led, and lastly, we'll be a soul-winning church, it's God's charge to us, we must be obedient to the Master's call, it's about how you witness, if you live, you live a lifestyle of being his witness, that you'll faithfully witness, you'll faithfully reach out in your home place, in your workplace, in your social place, in your shopping place, that you'll be a shining and burning light for

[35:30] Christ, that you'll be a soul-winning people, that's the powerful church that is obedient to the Master's call. So friends, to just quickly recap, we've talked about how we should be relying upon the Holy Spirit.

[35:46] It's not by mind, it's not by power, but it's by his Spirit. we see that it's not by human energy, but by the empowerment of God's Holy Spirit.

[36:00] And how can we have that? It's as we surrender, as we humble ourselves, as we honour our Lord, that we'll want to be faithful to his word. We'll want to keep a discerning mind when we will evaluate things, not to be picky or legalistic in that bad connotation of it, but we want to be biblical.

[36:27] That's what we want to be. And so to recap, who is the Holy Spirit? He is fundamentally the Spirit of truth. That must be the defining feature. Truth must be the defining feature.

[36:39] Who has the Holy Spirit? Friends, every blood bought believer. If you've been saved by the blood of Jesus, you have the Spirit of God. What are the signs of his working?

[36:51] Salvation. Real salvation. We'll see people truly saved. We'll see sound doctrine and we won't be ashamed of it. We'll see soul peace. We'll see service.

[37:02] We'll be energised for his service and we'll see the fruit of his Spirit. What are the signs of a Spiritful church? Just quickly again, Bible-based, Christ-centred, Spirit-led, soul-winning.

[37:16] That's a Spirit-filled church. That's a Spirit-filled people. And if you know the Holy Spirit, if you know Christ as Saviour, you are filled with his Spirit. We are a Spirit-filled people.

[37:27] We can say truly, we are a Spirit-filled church. and I pray that you'll know that, personally know that, as a believer, that you are his and he is yours and his Holy Spirit will indwell you as his temples walking about through your lives this week ahead.

[37:45] As God gives you time and space, as we have whatever space and time we've got ahead of us, we will be a Spirit-filled people. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that it is by your Spirit, it's not by our might or power, but we can do anything of our own strength that's going to be of any lasting value.

[38:05] Lord, it has to be your Holy Spirit. And Lord, we honour you as the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. We know you are a person who can be grieved. Lord, we don't want to do that.

[38:16] We want to honour you. We want to glorify our Lord, which is your work in us. We want to be a Spirit-led people, a Spirit-empowered people. Lord, that we'll be Spirit-filled and that you'll keep on filling us.

[38:28] If we've leaked, as it were, that you will fill us and refill us, Lord. That we'll get a refilling because we know we need, as we always need, such an enjumour of power to be your witnesses, Lord.

[38:43] Pray that each one might be encouraged, as we might practically think of Galatians 5, of that fruit of the Spirit that you want to see us flourishing in our lives, as we relate with others in our relationships, in our daily walk and life, that the fruit of the Spirit will be manifest, Lord.

[39:04] And Lord, we pray that each one might know, especially that work of salvation, because without salvation, really, you cannot work in a heart unless they are saved.

[39:17] all of this talk tonight is vain. We must firstly and most importantly, essentially, be saved. And that is, again, a work of your Holy Spirit.

[39:29] As you convict men of sin, as you draw us to yourself, Lord, as you reveal Christ to us, we'll be born of the Spirit.

[39:40] Lord, born again. Thank you for that wonderful miracle. We want to see more of that, Lord, more of those miracles of the new birth in our midst. And as we witness and serve you, Lord, that you will be glorified in our witness, Lord God.

[39:57] Here, Lord, we just pray that your Holy Spirit would lead and guide us into all truth. Help us to discern between the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Lord, to being wisely led as your word, as sound doctrine, and it's going to be a foundation for our lives, Lord, that we'll be able to truly judge, scripturally judge, as you call us to judge, to discern between right and wrong, that you'll give us that wisdom, Lord, that is from your Holy Spirit, as you lead and guide us into all truth.

[40:33] All through the glory of your precious name, our dear Lord and Saviour, we thank you. Amen.