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Acts of the HOLY SPIRIT
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
Gospel of John 3:8 – Jesus Christ teaching on the Holy Spirit
Introducing the Third Person of the Trinity:
Acts 1:
Ascension of the Lord Jesus
The Holy Ghost – In AWE of the Spirit!
The Holy Ghost in Acts – KJV
ACTS in the Spirit
Introducing the Third Person of the Trinity:

Acts 1:

Luke tells us that his first book, the Gospel, was about Jesus Christ and that this second account, Acts, will be about what Jesus accomplished through the Apostles AFTER His ascension into heaven.

We look for the actors (so to speak) who Luke records doing the crucial early works of the Church. Peter immediately comes to mind as well as Paul.

What most Christians may have missed in Luke’s chronicles of the first three decades of Church history is that mysterious Person we first met in the Gospels, the ungraspable Image of God in the Holy Spirit.

Luke tells us that during forty days after His resurrection Jesus appeared to many (in addition to the Apostles).

4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, …

Here, mentioning the Father and the Person of the Son, Luke records the words of Jesus to the Apostles as they must have testified to our author of Acts:

“Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 1:4b NASB
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God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – Gospel of John 4:24 ESV

Baptism

And I remind us that baptism [baptizō] ‘produces a permanent change.‘

The Apostles and others are about to be overwhelmed by a permanent change of the Spirit, a baptism receiving the third Person of God, the Holy Spirit. Luke records this cleansing baptism like no other, more that a baptism of water for repentance only.

Ascension of the Lord Jesus

The palpable tension of the Apostle’s encounters with the risen Christ, their beloved friend and Master which concluded Luke’s Gospel now builds once again. Luke records what happens next with this risen Jesus (who they could touch, who shared bread and wine with the Eleven), even the same Jesus who now continued to teach them more for the past forty days.

Christ Jesus again establishes the providence and authority of the Person of God the Father.

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
Acts 1:7 CSB

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses^G3144 ..
Acts of the Apostles 1:8a NASB20

μάρτυς – Witness – (to the ACTS which Luke is about to unfold)
- martys [gk.] [Strong’s 3144] Definition:
- a witness
  1. in a legal sense
  2. an historical sense
    
    one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest
  3. in an ethical sense
    
    those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death
Luke is witness through the Apostles not only of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, but a convincing witness to the Holy Spirit as Luke records God’s great acts of power only possible by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God.
Roger@talkofJESUS.com

Jesus was taken up as the Apostles watched!

Luke records that this Son of Man, risen in flesh and blood from the grave, had been with them — forty days — and then powerfully and mysteriously Jesus rises into the clouds as they look on (actually, up) in awe!

The Holy Ghost – In AWE of the Spirit!

How would your have reacted to this powerful, yet unexplainable rising of the Lord Jesus into the clouds?

You may find Luke’s account from the King James Version of the Bible helpful in describing your FEAR and AWE of this historical event which also includes angels of God.

The Holy Ghost in Acts – KJV

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Luke records what fear and expectation Jesus planted in their hearts prior to the Lord’s ascension. Jesus compares this power with what they had received from John the Baptist.

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Acts 1:5 KJV – Jesus promising the Apostles a baptism of the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost)

ἁγίου πνεύματος – hagios pneuma – the Holy Ghost

Unless you have a question for me by way of comment, we cannot get into some of the more mysterious depths of discussion about that which we cannot see and understand even less, the Person of the Holy Ghost. For to speak of the Spirit yields little fruit in the hearts of those ‘christians’ who have not yet received the Holy Spirit.

So allow me to define BOTH GREEK WORDS and you can take it from there.

hagios – HOLY
- from ἅγος hágos (an awful thing) (compare G53, G2282); sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint.
pneuma – spirit

KJV translate this as:

GHOST
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(May I just add that our imagery of the Holy Spirit descending sometimes obscures the awesome power of the third Person of the Trinity, that is, the Holy Ghost.)

READ just some of these definitions from Strong's G4151 for Pneuma below:
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Outline of Biblical Usage
1. the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
  1. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his personality and character (the “Holy” Spirit)
  2. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his work and power (the Spirit of “Truth”)
  3. never referred to as a depersonalised force
2. the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated
  1. the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
  2. the soul
3. a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
  1. a life giving spirit
  2. a human soul that has left the body
  3. a spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel
    
    used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men
    
    the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ
4. the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one
  1. the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.
5. a movement of air (a gentle blast)
  1. of the wind, hence the wind itself
  2. breath of nostrils or mouth
ACTS in the Spirit

Luke will have much more to say about this mysterious Person of the Trinity and crucial character in his historical account of Acts.
- And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
  - Acts 4:31
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Acts 5:32
- And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us
  - Acts 15:8
- And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
  - Acts 19:6
Although contemporary ‘christianity‘ characterizes the Holy Ghost less fearfully, in order to see his emphasis on the Person of the Holy Spirit let’s close Luke’s AWE–filled [awesome] introduction to ACTS from the KJV:
- Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. – Acts 2:38
to be continued..

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
September 21, 2021
Life in the Holy Spirit
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to those God the Father draws to Him, but Who is this unseen spirit from the LORD God?

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive…
John 7:38-39a ESV the invitation of Jesus

Promise of the Holy Spirit

Heart of the Spirit

Psalm 111:1

Every illustration of the Holy Spirit fails in part because spirit is unseen, a concept we explored last time in Life in the Spirit. One Hebrew concept of the place of the spirit is the heart. Moses tells us of the LORD’s heart (prior to the Shema):

5:29 מִֽי־יִתֵּ֡ן וְהָיָה֩ לְבָבָ֨ם זֶ֜ה לָהֶ֗ם לְיִרְאָ֥ה אֹתִ֛י וְלִשְׁמֹ֥ר אֶת־כָּל־מִצְוֹתַ֖י כָּל־הַיָּמִ֑ים לְמַ֨עַן יִיטַ֥ב לָהֶ֛ם וְלִבְנֵיהֶ֖ם לְעֹלָֽם׃

‘Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!’ – Deuteronomy 5:29

But Scripture also points to the inherited evil in the hearts of mankind.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,”
They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
There is no one who does good.
Psalm 53:1

Jesus cautions us, explaining the heart as the source of the words flowing from our mouth. The conversation has been about water and cleansing.

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
Matthew 15:18-19

John 7:

Once again in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Booths the crowds look for His return after Jesus gave signs confirming that He IS the Messiah of God.

11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?”

12 There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.”

This time the controversy with Jesus brings the Lord to promise the Holy Spirit to those God chooses.

Note that we do not initiate it, but must only respond to God the Father IF He draws us toward the Christ, Jesus.

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
the Good News of John 7:38 NKJV

Do you believe?

Earlier in His ministry to the Jews, Jesus had met a woman at a well of Jacob along a road in Samaria.

John 4:

9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 4:13b-14 NASB

Even prior to this sign that Jesus is a Prophet (and more), the Lord converses with one of the most learned Pharisees about the Holy Spirit.

John 3:

“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” …

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5-6 NASB

the Holy Spirit is spirit

and that Spirit is life

When Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, a teacher and ruler of the Jews about the Holy Spirit, He points directly to the Spirit of God!

Just one example here to consider:
```
Now these are the last words of David.
 David the son of Jesse declares,
 The man who was raised on high declares,
 The anointed of the God of Jacob,
 And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
“The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
 And His word was on my tongue. 
- 2 Samuel 23:1-2 NASB
```
Later as Jesus enters Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey for His Passover Sacrifice on the Cross, crowds of Jews will praise the Lord:

Hosanna, Son of David!

Nicodemus and many others had already heard of the signs and reliable witness by the Prophet John the Baptist, confirming Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit of God the Father.

Jesus receives the Holy Spirit

Consider a young Jewish man born in Bethlehem of Judea, taken to Egypt as a child to return to Nazareth and Capernaum in the Roman Syrian province of Galilee. Even as a boy Jesus had visited the Temple.

He later returns regularly to Jerusalem with confirmation of His own deity by a Prophet nearly all of Judea has recognized.

John 1:

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” – John 1:26-27

32 And John bore witness, saying,

“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The Son receives the Holy spirit from the Father

Jesus describes Himself as the ‘Son of Man,’ yet He IS the Very Image of God the Father walking among the men of an unredeemed Israel.

He lived without sin before receiving the Spirit, praying directly to the Father, but now a part of the LORD, of which He IS a living man receives the spirit from above – the Holy Spirit.

The familiar imagery of a dove may mislead eyes which cannot see. The Gospel records something mysterious and undescribable (much like angels) that the Spirit descends like a dove, He (the Holy Spirit) descends from the sky upon Jesus.

Then the LORD God the Father SPEAKS from Heaven confirming the Jesus IS the SON.

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

Is your flesh cleansed enough to receive the living water from the Holy Spirit?

It cannot be, unless the LORD draws you to the well of the Living Water of the Christ, the Messiah Jesus. And then, you must receive Him, the Son of Sacrifice and eternal life.

6:2 שְׂרָפִים עֹמְדִים מִמַּעַל לֹו שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַיִם שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַיִם לְאֶחָד בִּשְׁתַּיִם יְכַסֶּה פָנָיו וּבִשְׁתַּיִם יְכַסֶּה רַגְלָיו וּבִשְׁתַּיִם יְעֹופֵֽף׃

Isaiah 6:

… I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said,

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah 6:3b KJV

And the Prophet Isaiah says (witnessing these angels above angels, but below the Lord Jesus in obedience):
```
Woe is me! 
for I am undone; 
because I am a man of unclean lips, 
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: 
for mine eyes have seen the King, 
the LORD of hosts.
```
John the Baptist, Prophet of God who witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon the Son Jesus says:

“I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

And before the return of Jesus to the Father He testifies to the Disciples drawn to follow Him:

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26 NASB

‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

– The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John
January 18, 2020
Life in the Spirit
What is life?

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63b CSB the words of Christ Jesus

Look intently into the eyes of anyone. Who do you see?

What makes this mortal son or daughter of man so different?

King or commoner, young or old, rich or poor — how does this life impact you personally? What is it about this person that makes their life matter?

A young shepherd of little note speaks to a king. “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?”

An aging king notes, “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.”

And another rich man who has lost everything laments, “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God requires his life?”

What is life and what does spirit have to do with it?

Spirit Living in Flesh

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 NASB

πνεῦμα ὁ θεός theos pneuma – The spirit of the Living God must be approached only in spirit and not in our flesh.

Is man anything at all before the God of creation? How does the Lord breathe spirit from the holiness of His life-giving Spirit?

One place the Bible reveals this nature of the One God is in the books of Moses.

רוּחַ

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. – Genesis 1:2 WEB

Do you realize Moses’ description of the Lord in Eden after original sin describe God as Spirit?

וַֽיִּשְׁמְע֞וּ אֶת־קֹ֨ול יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים מִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ בַּגָּ֖ן לְר֣וּחַ הַיֹּ֑ום וַיִּתְחַבֵּ֨א הָֽאָדָ֜ם וְאִשְׁתֹּ֗ו מִפְּנֵי֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֔ים בְּתֹ֖וךְ עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן׃
Genesis 3:8 WLC – NASB translation: They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

A translation of cool here comes from the word ‘spirit.’

Therefore the man and his wife ‘heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the Spirit’ in this day following their sin. He created man in His spiritual image, filled our flesh made not for decay with the spirit of His own essence of goodness.

Generations after man’s expulsion from a paradise on earth spoiled by the evil: “Then the LORD said,

“My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh…”

So there it is: The LORD speaks to Moses this one mysterious truth of His immortality contending with our mortality.

πνεῦμα

The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63 NET – the words of Jesus

The concept confuses mankind who cannot see the breath of life in our own flesh, that of others, in living creatures, unseen demons or the revealed eternal Spirit of the Living God.

Our brief look at the Hebrew root [Strong’s H7307 – ruwach – רוּחַ ] primarily suggests: wind, breath and mind, in addition to the Spirit of the LORD God.

Jesus’ words in common first century Greek also differentiate life in man and things from that of the Holy Spirit.

πνεῦμα – Pneuma, also signifies: ‘the vital principal by which the body is animated; the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides; the soul, a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting; the wind itself, a breath of nostrils or mouth.

It also includes beings (good or evil) higher than man, but lower than God; that is: angels, seraphim, cherubim, demons and the like. And of course, Satan is one of these created ones with beginning and end, but a powerful spirit of evil lower than the Lord God Almighty.

From its root word John describes Jesus walking on the Sea after feeding 5000, a sign mentioned in my previous post.

The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.
John 6:18 NASB

Jesus describes more differences in unseen life, which we will explore more in my next post.

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8 NASB
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To be continued...
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January 13, 2020