A WEEK OF REVIVAL AT GES
Theme: THE HOLY SPIRIT AND YOU
(Monday 27th, 1982)
THE HOLY SPIRIT: HIS PERSON, ATTRIBUTES AND MINISTRY

SYNOPSIS: This sermon defines the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person, urging believers to
seek humble obedience and fellowship for empowered service.

Beloved in Christ, it affords me great pleasure to mount this platform again in another
revival meeting. As you are no doubt aware, one of the main objectives of the Ghana
Evangelical Society is Revival and Unity in the Church. Revival is generally speaking the
work of the Holy Spirit, who not only testifies of Jesus Christ, teaches and brings all things
to the remembrance of the church, whatsoever Christ has taught. The Holy Spirit is the
refreshing wind that blows to give the weary soul rest. Revival is basically a return to the
fundamental evangelical truths of the Bible, renewal of love and commitment to Christ,
His church and His work.
In a state of total neglect of the Gospel Truths, a lowering of spiritual standards, a dying
passion for the lost and perishing and a warming love of Christ and His work, the church,
the saint, needs a fresh blowing of the Holy Spirit fire to bring knowledge, love and zeal
and strength for the journey and power for service.
During the recent week of revival and repentance we had in July, we concentrated on the
Sermon on the Mount, the proclamation of God’s Kingdom and the laws and life in the
Kingdom. Many were so blessed; they requested for many more teaching sessions of that
nature so their knowledge and love of God and equipping for God’s service be increased.
The visiting evangelist from Nigeria, Rev. Godwin, remarked he was so blessed he
thanked God for bringing him to Ghana at such a time to learn things he perhaps could
not have learnt anywhere.
We are organizing this second series of revival generally speaking in response to the
requests for such teaching sessions. We have chosen the Holy Spirit for discussion
mainly because there have been so many additions to the church and new members of
the Society have not had the benefit of the blessed sessions we had in previous years on
the Holy Spirit. Some in fact are fascinated by the manifestations of the Holy Spirit at the
various meetings of the Society. A few have been bewildered. In the absence of good
books in the shop and special counseling by friends on the subject, most of the new
members are quite in the dark about the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit during
worship time. We do not want people to take events or activities in the church as some
religious rituals, which must be obeyed or participated in without question, without
understanding.
In any case, no one can become an effective victorious Christian without the Holy Spirit.
No one can experience the abundant life without being filled by the Holy Spirit. No one
can be truly effective servant of God without the Holy Spirit. (The Kingdom of God has our
God and Christ as King and Lord but the moving hand and power in the Kingdom of God
today is the Holy Spirit.)
The Kingdom of God as we know is basically a spiritual concept. It is the individual filled,
controlled and directed by the Holy Spirit. It is the church administered, instructed and
directed by the Holy Spirit. It is the society, community, the nations, the people moving in
the love, power and fear of God where the Holy Spirit is the President, Chief Executive and
Supreme Commander. God is King; Christ is Lord; The Holy Spirit is President. Hallelujah!
We cannot enter and be effective members of the Kingdom without knowing, loving and
serving humbly the President of the State, without knowing the structure of His
administration and the modes of operation of affairs of state.
During the course of this week, we shall attempt to identify, know and study the
operations of the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Triune God and pray to
Him through our Lord Jesus Christ at the end for spiritual enlightenment, for love and for
power and strength for the tasks and purposes for which God our Father has called us
into His Kingdom.
The first subject for discussion in the series will be THE HOLY SPIRIT: His Person,
Attributes and Work.
Time will be reserved every evening for questions and such questions as cannot be taken
during the meetings will be taken on directly through correspondence or special
counseling sessions with the enquiries. Boxes will be provided for questions. Sis. Emma
and Bro. Coleman will act as counselors.
We view this as introductory overview of the Person and Ministry of the Holy Ghost and
His relationship with saint or individual Christians, the servant of God, the church as a
body and the world as a whole.
First, we need to assert that the Holy Spirit is God, divine in nature and attributes, and
one with God, one with Godhead, co-equal, co-eternal, co-substantial with the Father
and Son.
In saying, that the Holy Spirit is God, with divine attributes, we seek to underscore the
truth that the Holy Spirit or the Spirit for short, is A PERSON, as the Father and the Son,
also a SPIRIT (S) are person (s). In the Apostolic Commission in Matthew 28: 19 and in the
Apostolic Benediction, 2nd Corinthians 13: 14, the Holy Spirit is not only coupled in
equality with God the Father and the Son, but it is also distinctly and uniquely accorded
a personality of His own. But perhaps more unique still in His own right is the confession
of Jesus Christ Himself by reference to the Holy Spirit as Comforter, the Spirit of Truth who
shall teach, remind and testify of Christ, receive from the Father and the Son and give the
church, convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgement and endue the
church with power for her witness in the world. (cf. John chap. 14, 16; Acts 1: 5-8).
We talk of the personality of the Godhead and hence the Holy Spirit, not in some human
sense. For the Divine Being as He is, He cannot be measured by human standards. We
nonetheless note some characteristics which give ground for regarding Him as being a
person, or possessing personality traits, namely: –
a) The Holy Scriptures on the whole describe the Holy Spirit with the masculine
personal pronoun “He” – cf. John 15: 26; 16: 7-8, 13-14. He is never referred to as
simply an impersonal force of abstract nature. (Those who care to search deeper
for the Greek word “pneuma,” a neuter noun for spirit will attest that the masculine
word “He” is used most except to show his moving nature as breadth, wind, power,
fire, oil and water. John 3: 5-8; 20: 22; 7: 30-39; Acts 2: 1-4; 1stJohn 2: 20; Ephesians
5: 18; 1st Thessalonians 5: 19)
b) The scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit has a mind, knowledge, a will and
emotions, qualities which are personal: –
i. Intelligence – 1
st Cor. 2: 10-11; Rom. 8: 27. The Holy Spirit is not merely an
illuminating power or influence but is a Person possessed of intellect, who
knows the deep things of God and reveals them to us.
ii. Will – 1
st Cor. 12:11
iii. Love – Rom. 15: 30
iv. Goodness – Neh. 9:20
v. Grief – Eph. 4: 30 (“One cannot grieve the law of gravitation or cause the
east wind to mourn.” Bancroft)
c) His mission as the Comforter to take the place of Christ and to superintend the
church and His work in the world give Him a personality. The scriptures ascribe
Personal acts to the Holy Spirit. Throughout the scripture, the Holy Spirit is
represented as a personal agent, performing acts attributable only to a Person:
i. He searches the deep things of God (1st Cor. 2: 10-11)
ii. He speaks (Rev. 2: 7; John 15: 26; 16:13)
iii. He makes intercessions (Rom. 8: 26)
iv. He teaches (John 14: 26; 16: 12-14; Neh. 9: 20)
v. He builds and guides (Rom. 8: 14; Acts 16: 6-7)
vi. He calls and commissions men (Acts 13 2; 20: 28). In like vein, He receives
treatment from men. He can be rebelled against and grieved (Is. 63: 10; Eph.
4: 30) and can be lied to as did Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5: 3) and can be
blasphemed (Matt. 12: 31-32).
d) The scripture’s association of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son confirms
His Personality. Thus, by the use of personal pronoun, by personal association,
personal characteristics possessed, personal actions performed, and treatment
received, the Scriptures prove the Holy Spirit to be a pronoun.
To deny the personality of the Holy Spirit is not only to blaspheme or hold God the Holy
Spirit in an irrelevant position but is also to deny Christ whose place He came to fill. To
acknowledge Him is to accept that as God, a Divine Person. He needs to be loved,
honoured, and worshipped in His own right even as we love, honour and worship the
Father and the Son. We need to develop a personal relationship with Him, the more so
that He is the Chief Executive of our lives and the church.
This brings back to mind the Deity of the Holy Spirit which the scriptures emphatically
teach. As a Divine Person, one with God, and co-ordinate in rank with the Father, and the
Son, the scriptures call Him God and Lord, Divine Names; (Acts 5: 3-4; 2nd Cor. 3:18). The
scriptures confer on Him or reveal His Divine attributes as.
(a)Eternal – Heb. 9:11
(b) Omnipresent –Ps. 113: 7-9
(c) Omnipotent – Lk. 1: 35
(d) Omniscient – 1
st Cor. 2: 10-11; John. 14: 26 and 16: 12-13 confirms further His Divine
attributes. As a Divine Person, He was and is involved:
i. In creation (Job 33: 4; Ps. 104: 30)
ii. In the impartation of life (Rom. 8: 11; John. 6: 63; Gen. 2:7) and
iii. The authorship of divine prophecy (2nd Pet. 1: 21)
Third as a Divine Person, the scriptures describe His mission in the present dispensation
as the chief administrator of the affairs of the church. This is beautifully portrayed in Acts
15: 28. Peter said, “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” The Holy Spirit is the
chief counselor in the deliberation of the church.
If He is recognised, revered, and respected as the presiding officer, he will actually
exercise all of His blessed office of administration – leading, teachings, guiding, and
governing the body of Christ. Such would also be the experience of the individual believer.
The Holy Spirit is a Person, a Divine Person or God and Chief Administrator of the church.
We need not only learn of the Holy Spirit in the word, we need to know Him as a Person
like we need to know Jesus personally. The Word alone cannot teach us to know the Holy
Spirit. The word is the test of our knowledge. The Spirit must be in us. When we honour
Him in our personal lives, He will reveal Himself more and work through us. If we believe
He is a Person, a Divine Person, we must honour and glorify Him as such.
Beloved, if we recognize the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person to be revered, worshipped and
adored and not some power or force to be grabbled or got hold of and used us we please,
then we must humble ourselves in our relationship with Him. The believer can develop a
glorious fellowship with the Holy Ghost through completely yielded life and a definite
appropriation of faith and obedience in humble spirit. Remember, He is a discerner of
thoughts. Thus, to think we can grab the power of God leads to self-assertion. To know
Him and humble ourselves as in reverence to Him is self-abasement and selfrenunciation. It is only by such humble approach that we can really be effective use in His
work, in the word and particularly in the church. It is He who convicts of sin, who
regenerates, who provides power for service and guides and makes able ministers to
testify of Christ and build the Kingdom.
By reason of meaningful Christian experience and service therefore, it is of prime
importance not to regard the Holy Spirit as some impersonal force or influence but an
ever present, omnipresent friend and helper, a Divine Companion and guide. This
conception shall be the subject of our final discourse at the Holy Ghost Rally on Saturday
so we must learn to develop that personal relationship with Him in our worship and
service of God and in our personal lives as children of God.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with you all. Amen!