8 BOCNEWS.com MARCH 2018 The Actions Of The Holy Spirit One thing I want you to know is that the Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood member of the Trinity. He’s been treated as if He were just the red-headed step child of the Trinity. We know little about Him, even though He is the One directing our affairs. Most of the time we feel His impact, but we don’t see Him, and because of that we tend to think that He’s not as important. The word we use also doesn’t help the matter; we call Him Spirit. And because we call Him Spirit, what picture resonates in your mind? An inanimate, unseen it. But He’s more than that. The Holy Spirit is a coequal person of the Trinity. He’s not subordinate to God; He’s not subordinate to Jesus. They are One and they are the same. But I want us to look at His own vital role. The Holy Spirit is at work today as it was in the Old Testament and the New Testament. I was thinking I would go through all the things the Holy Spirit was doing in the Old Testament, so you know that the Holy Spirit was not something that was invented in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit has been in action since Genesis 1. He was part of creation. He was there in creating man. The Bible says in Genesis 1 that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And then when we get to verse 26, the Bible says that God said, “Let Us make man in Our own image,” and God made man in His image; in the image of God He made them, male and female. And then the Bible says that God took them, and He breathed, and that’s the Holy Spirit. The word is ruwach. It’s not pneuma; it’s ruwach. It’s breath. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the breath of God. So, without the Holy Spirit coming into man, man would just be a pile of clay standing there like a manne- quin. So, the Holy Spirit was there in the beginning. I want us to look at what the Holy Spirit does. 1. The Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray The Holy Spirit helps us when we pray. The Holy Spirit helps us when we pray. If you want to know how to pray or you want to pray longer, there is no way you can do it without the Holy Spirit. He helps us when we pray. Romans 8:26 (NKJV) says: 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weak- nesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes interces- sion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What is the word intercession? It’s praying on behalf of. He makes intercession for us. And He’s praying with the words we cannot express. I don’t care how much you know how to pray—the Holy Spirit knows the right words to use. 2. The Holy Spirit Guides Us The Holy Spirit guides us. John 16:13 (NKJV): 13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” That’s another name of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth. So, the Holy Spirit guides. He guides you into all truth, and the word truth is the Greek word alétheia. Alétheia means verity, absolute. It means what is true in any matter under consideration— what is true in anything pertaining to God, in any- thing pertaining to your life, in anything pertaining to your business, the Holy Spirit guides. That’s why it’s important that we pray and wait on Him to guide us. If we don’t learn how to wait on Him to guide us, we will be guided by our emotion and we will be guided by our sight, and sometimes what you see that looks like it’s very good might be a set up. Do you know that? The Holy Spirit might say, “Leave that alone.” The Holy Spirit is our present-day guide; He’s our GPS in the journey of life. Not only does He guide us in learning the truth of the Word of God, He also guides us in the application of the word of God. It’s called wis- dom. So, He guides us in the application of the word that we have received. He doesn’t just guide us to understand the word, He also guides to know how to apply, when to apply and where to apply. The Holy Spirit guides. 3. The Holy Spirit Teaches Us The Holy Spirit teaches us. John 14:26 (NKJV): 26 “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 things that I said to you.” So, what is another name of the Holy Spirit? The Helper. Can you use some help? The help of heav- en. How many things does He teach us? All things. The Holy Spirit teaches. He wants to teach us if we are willing to learn. Are you getting me? He won’t force Himself on us. If we are willing to learn the Holy Spirit is willing to teach. Teach me. Teach me this; teach me that. A man was working for the national petroleum company of the country that I came from, which is Nigeria. The testimony is that the refinery where he was an engineer broke down, and they brought engineers from Canada and Germany and they couldn’t fix it. The man went into prayer. And he was not a high-level engineer; he was kind of a SCRIPTURE By Bishop-Elect Rev. Dr. Ade Ajala Ade Ajala 1. JEKALYN CARR - ONE NATION UNDER GOD 2. MICHAEL W. SMITH - SURROUNDED 3. MICHAEL W. SMITH - A MILLION LIGHTS 4. WOW GOSPEL 2018 5. TODD DULANEY - YOUR GREAT NAME 6. TROY SNEED - TAKING IT BACK 7. MARVIN SAPP - CLOSE 8. TRAVIS GREEN - CROSSOVER 9. WILLIAMS BROTHERS - TIMELESS 10 PATRICK LUNDY - BY FAITH The Holy Spirit wants to teach you. Say ‘amen’ to that. He wants to teach you; He loves to teach. He loves to teach. And it can happen to you—I’m sure it’s happened to you already. Continued on Page 14