1. The Holy Spirit directs the mission of God’s people

Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

‘We don’t need a call to mission. We already have one – the Great Commission. But sometimes the Spirit prompts a church, as he does in Acts 13:1–3, to send their best people. Or he gives an individual a specific prompt to leave home to proclaim Christ in new cultures.’

In Acts 16:6 we read of the Holy Spirit preventing Paul and his associates from preaching the gospel in the province of Asia, and then not allowing them to go to Bithynia (v7).  But then Paul has a vision that sends him and the gospel into Europe for the first time.

‘The Holy Spirit is the great mission strategist. And this is good news. The burden of planning mission is lifted from us. This doesn’t mean we can switch our brains off. We still have to make decisions which need to be thought through and informed. But I can trust God to use my small contributions as part of his big mission plan. So we can be faithful and let the Spirit coordinate his mission to the world.’

2. The Holy Spirit creates opportunities to speak of Jesus

A notable example involved Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8:26-31.  Then, the Holy Spirit brings together Cornelius and Peter (Acts 10).  God’s Spirit will work at both ends – in the evangelist and in the evangelised, in order that the gospel may have its full effect.

‘I remember hearing the story of a Christian couple in Iran. They were making a long journey, so they committed to share the gospel with someone each day. Towards the end of one day they went to buy petrol, and at the petrol station there was a man with a full beard and a gun, a sign that he was a radical Muslim. The wife said, ‘I think you should tell that man the gospel.’ But the husband said, ‘Are you joking? Do you want me to get killed?’ And he drove off. But his wife kept on at him. ‘We said we would share the gospel with someone every day … I think God was leading us to that man … ’ In the end, the husband slammed on the brakes and turned the car round. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘if you’re determined to be a widow, I’ll talk to him.’ So he went up to the man and said, ‘Do you want to know God?’ At this, the man started crying. Three days before he had had a dream that told him to wait in that spot at that time and someone would tell him how he could know God.’

3.  The Spirit gives faith when people hear God’s word

This happen when Peter proclaims the good news to the large gethering of Cornelius’ family and friends (Acts 10:24-27).  We read that the Holy Spirit came upon all those who heard the message.  So it is today:

‘Recently we got to know one of my wife’s colleagues. She loved hanging out with our gospel community. But she found the gospel message weird! We did some Bible studies with her, and she kept looking at us in astonishment. Walking on water, rising from the dead, ascending into heaven. ‘You believe all of that stuff ?’ she asked. Later she told us that we seemed like sensible people who were holding down jobs, but we believed all this crazy, wacky stuff. But then she described a moment while sitting on the floor in her front room when suddenly she knew it was all true. What happened in that moment? The Holy Spirit came on her. The Holy Spirit gave her faith in Jesus.’

4. The Spirit empowers God’s people to speak God’s word

It was when Peter was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ that he was enabled to bravely affirm that salvation is found in no-one but Jesus, Acts 4:13.  We are not give a task equal to our power, but a power equal to our task.

So also in Acts 4:21 – ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly’.

5. The Spirit confounds opposition to God’s word

At Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, a sorcerer names Elymas opposed Paul and Barnabas.  But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stopped him in his tracks, Acts 13:8-11.

‘Samuel Zwemer, the so-called ‘Apostle to Islam’ whom we met in the last chapter, wrote many booklets introducing Muslims to the message of Jesus. On one occasion a Muslim teacher ripped one into small pieces before his class. Intrigued by a message that provoked such anger, one of the students gathered up the fragments and pieced it together. What he read led to his conversion.’

6.  The Spirit gives comfort and joy to God’s people

Stephen (Acts 7) is not delivered from a painful death by stoning.  But he is given a vision of the glory of God, and of Jesus, standing at God’s right hand (Acts 7:55).  He is given a sense, in other words, of the joy that awaits him.  The church, too, was comforted and strengthened, Acts 9:31.

In all these things, the challenge to us is to expect and pray for God’s Spirit to work with us, and in us, and for us, in such ways.

Based on: Chester, Tim. Mission Matters (Keswick Foundations) . IVP. Kindle Edition.  Chapter 3.