HONORING THE HOLY SPIRIT OR HINDERING REVIVAL
an excerpt of an article by Billy Ingram, today’s guest (see billyingram.org)
When asked by a young preacher what they thought to be the greatest need of the church today, the great revivalist, Dr . Jonathan Goforth and the scholarly Dr . G . Campbell Morgan answered emphatically, “The Holy Spirit – the Church hardly knows the Holy Spirit .” Morgan then added, “I don’t mean ‘second blessing,’ but the Holy Spirit .”
Too many are guilty of treating the Holy Spirit as a mere influence rather than Deity . We refer to Him as the third Person of the Trinity and regrettably treat Him as if that is His order or rank . Indeed three Persons exist among the Godhead, yet only ONE God .
The Holy Spirit is not an “it” and should not be treated as such . John 16:13 says that when “He (not It) is come, He (not It) will guide . . . He (not It) shall not speak of Himself . . . He (not It) shall hear . . . that shall He (not It) speak . . . He (not It) will show you . . .” Friend, the Holy Spirit is a Person . He is God, and should be honored as God .
It seems that many Fundamentalists have replaced the Trinity with a duality that is not the God of the Bible . If one slights the Holy Spirit, he cannot know the Lord Jesus and with Jesus being slighted, one cannot know the Father . For Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father while Christ sent His Spirit to reveal Himself .
. . .There are in all two hundred and sixty-one passages in which the Holy Spirit is directly mentioned. The Gospels contain fifty-six passages; the Acts of the Apostles, fifty-seven; St. Paul’s Epistles, one hundred and twelve; and the other Books, thirty-six . The fact is as clear as it is critical; that what Christ Himself taught concerning the Holy Spirit’s power, as being sufficient to counteract any sin thereby providing complete and total victory, is in reality the answer to the glaring need of Fundamentalism’s orthodoxy . Until the Spirit of the living God is recognized as the Senior Executive over the church, Another of the exact same kind as Jesus, and honored as such, churches will continue existing ineffectively by their own might and power .
-Pastor Billy Ingram