The Flowing of the Holy Spirit in the Church

I. INSTRUMENTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

God is looking for instruments through which He might do the work that He desires to do in the world (2 Chronicles 16:9). If our hearts and lives are in harmony with the purposes of God, He will use us as channels for His love, power and Spirit to flow to the needy world. The Holy Spirit was given to help us to become aligned with God's purpose and plan.

II. THE FLOWING OF THE SPIRIT

A. When we received salvation we also received the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, but there is a deeper relationship we can experience.

1. In John 7:37-39 John tells of Jesus promising that those who drink of the water He gives will have torrents of water gushing from them. John explains that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit. We can have the Spirit flowing from our lives in torrents.

2. In Acts 8:15-17 Peter and John went to Samaria to pray that the believers would receive the Holy Spirit "for as yet He was fallen upon (the epi experience) none of them." The epi experience produces the overflowing of the Holy Spirit within our lives.

3. In Acts 19:1-6 Paul went to Ephesus and prayed that the believers there would receive the Holy Spirit.

III. THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

A. In 1 Corinthians 12:31 Paul commands us to earnestly desire the "best gifts." What are the best gifts?

4. If you need to communicate to God the praise and the love that is deep within your heart, the best gift for that circumstance is tongues (1 Corinthians 14:14).

5. If someone is sick, the best gift for that situation is the gift of healing. 3. If someone is blind, the gift of miracles would probably be best.

6. If we are open to God and walking in the Spirit, He can manifest any of the gifts through us. Usually we are given a particular gift, though.

B. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-12 Paul gives a partial list of the gifts of the Spirit. All these gifts are exercised through faith, as Paul mentions in Romans 12:6 concerning the gift of prophecy.

7. There is a difference between the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. Knowledge is the assimilation of facts; wisdom is the proper application of knowledge.

a. When Stephen stood before the council, the Holy Spirit gave him the word of wisdom (Acts 7).

b. When Paul stood before the council, the Holy Spirit gave him the word of wisdom also (Acts 23).

c. When the chief priests and elders tried to trap Jesus with tricky questions, He had the word of wisdom in operation when He answered (Luke 20:21-26, Matthew 21:23-27).

d. James was given the word of wisdom when the Church had to settle the Gentile issue (Acts 15:13-21).

e. One of the big problems of the Christian life is determining whether something has come from our own minds or as inspiration from God. Peter had this problem when he declared that Jesus was God's Son by the inspiration of the Spirit, and then rebuked Jesus by thoughts from Satan (Matthew 16:13-23). To help us with this problem, God has given the gift of the discerning of spirits (v. 10).