Pastor Ayo Ajani
01.06.24
Hello everybody!! Ayo Ajani here and welcome to Day 1 of Holy Spirit 30. We are going on a 30-day journey to learn about the Person, Ministry, Character and Work of the Holy Spirit. I’ll be teaching every day on this subject with the idea to bring you to a place of spiritual mastery in it.
Why the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? How important is He?
What I have found out is that hunger is driven by value. In essence the desire, the hunger and pursuit that you have for anything is driven by the value you place on that thing. If I showed you a ball point pen and I asked you how much you’ld pay for it, you would negotiate a minimal price. However, if I told you the pen was used by the Queen, suddenly, the value increases and the desire to have it in your possession does also.
My goal is not to give you more knowledge of the Holy Spirit, but to increase your desire for the Spirit. Knowledge without desire makes very proud professors. Knowledge with desire brings you into an encounter experience.
The cross was a means to an end – the Holy Spirit
John 16:7 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
The departing of Jesus, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven was all for this one thing; so that the Holy Spirit can come to us. The cross was not the end, it was only a means to an end. Jesus’ coming was not the end, it was a means to an end. Jesus’s death was not the end, it was only a means to an end. So, what was the end? The end was Jesus departing so He could send you and I the Holy Spirit. This shows the importance of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to you.
It’s an interesting relationship – the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus and Jesus glorifies the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to you. When you receive Jesus, He points you to the Holy Spirit. He wants you to know the Holy Spirit. He isn’t just an idea or a beautiful blessing, No. Jesus said it is expedient, it is necessary that I go away so that He comes. This shows us the necessity and importance of the Holy Spirit. Imagine all the wonderful physical experiences the disciples had with Jesus, yet that wasn’t it. The ultimate goal was for the Holy Spirit to come.
The Promise of the Father
Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in Luke 24:49 as ‘the promise of the father’. The promise of the father is not just healing; that’s a promise of the father. It is not prosperity, being married, having a house and living a good life; all these are good. Whilst they are promises made by the Father, they are just a promise and not THE promise. The promise of the Father is the Holy Spirit. When you receive, appreciate and relate properly with the Holy Spirit who is the promise, all the other promises will find their place in your life.
The Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable in your life!
If you are going to be all that God has called you to be, then you must desire the Spirit. It is not enough just to know the Holy Spirit. You have to desire Him as well. I want you to see how even the Lord, Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit.
I was led recently by the Lord to do a study on the Gospels and the book of Acts, and I was so impressed by how dependent Jesus and the early church were on the Holy Spirit. Everything was about the Holy Spirit. This dependence is unmistakable when you study the scriptures. However, it is really sad that many people have learnt to live without the Holy Spirit. The Lord said to me whilst in prayer that many of His children have learnt how to live without the Holy Spirit. But in these 30 days, that is going to change completely.
Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit
Jesus was born by the Spirit (Luke 1:35). He had to be baptised in the Jordan where the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and that was when His ministry started. Prior to that He was just a good carpenter. Imagine the Messiah, the Saviour of the world just being a good carpenter. He would have failed at His purpose! He would have failed at the reason why He came into the world. But as soon as the Spirit came upon Him, the carpenter became the prophet, the carpenter became the healer, the carpenter became the miracle worker. The carpenter became the Messiah and now is seated at the right hand of the Father forever. What changed? The Holy Spirit came.
I don’t think the Church has entered the fullness of the possibilities available to her in the Holy Spirit. There is too much that is available to us if we understand the person and character of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed with the Spirit and Power, He offered himself to die through the Spirit and He was raised back to life by the Spirit and after His ascension gave commandments by the Holy Spirit. If Jesus was this dependent on the Holy Spirit, how much more you and I.
The early church depended on the Holy Spirit
Peter listened to Jesus for three and half years, but he was still timid, fearful etc. But in one second with the Holy Spirit, that same Peter who was afraid to identify with Jesus publicly, preached a sermon where 3000 people got saved!
I have a few of scriptures to give you that talk about the complete dependency on the Holy Spirit by the early church: Acts 2:4, Acts 5:3,9,32, Acts 7:51, Acts 8:29, Acts 11:12, Acts 13:2,4, Acts 18:5, Acts 19:2, Act 20:22-23. I want you to take the time to study these by yourself.
What am I trying to show you? I am trying to show you that the early church was a church of the Spirit. You see the utmost dependence on the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus and in the early church. The question is, how dependent are you on the Spirit? Have you come to that place of utmost dependence on the Holy Spirit? Now, it is impossible for you to be dependent on someone you don’t know, that is why we are bringing this series to you so you can know the Holy Spirit. We are bringing you knowledge of the Spirit to increase your desire of the Spirit.
BIG BOLD FACT #1
There is one big bold fact that I want to pass across to you tonight, and the fact is this, you are nothing without the Holy Spirit. In John 5:30 Jesus said, “I can of my own self do nothing.” You of your own self can do nothing except by the Holy Spirit.
Welcome again to Holy Spirit 30!!