". . . This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6).

Today there is little emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit in Baptist circles. Non-Biblical teachings and excessive practices by others have caused us to almost stop teaching and preaching on the Holy Spirit. The late Dr. B. R. Lakin used to say, "They tell me that I'll go out on a limb if I preach on the Holy Spirit. I tell them not to worry. Baptists are not even close to the tree."

From the beginning of creation through the Old Testament era God the Father was in the foreground. That does not mean that the Son and the Holy Spirit were not present. They were on the scene, and they were active, but God was out front.

The first chapter in the Bible begins with the phrase, "In the beginning God . . ." That means that God was there in the beginning. In the second verse of the chapter, we are told that the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. So the Holy Spirit was there. In the gospel of John we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). In verse 14 we read, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . ." That means that the Son of God was with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the beginning. Verse 3 tells us that "All things were made by him; (the Son) and without him was not any thing made that was made." The Son of God was present and He was involved when the worlds were formed. Paul tells us in Col. 1:16 "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." All three persons of the Godhead were present when God said, ". . . Let us make man in our image . . ." (Gen. 1:26). Nonetheless, God was in the foreground and His Son and the Holy Spirit were in the background. In Old Testament times, God sometimes communicated with man in person. At other times He spoke through angels or Prophets. On one occasion He even spoke through a donkey. But it was always God doing the communicating. God was in the foreground and the Son and the Holy Spirit were in the background.

There came a time when God withdrew from the scene, and for four hundred silent years there were no Prophets and no messages from God. Then John the Baptist came on the scene as the forerunner to introduce the Son of God. During Jesus' earthly life, and in His post-ressurection appearances, He spoke to men face to face. During that time, God and the Holy Spirit were involved, but they were in the background.

Before Jesus went away, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come in His place. ". . . 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" (John 16:7). That meant that the age of the Son would end and the age of the Holy Spirit would begin.

Ten days after Jesus ascended back to the Father, the Holy Spirit came to baptize the church and to indwell believers (1 Cor. 12:13). That was the beginning of the age of the Holy Spirit. From that time until the present, the Holy Spirit has been involved in every facet of Christian lives and service.

Today the Holy Spirit is in the world to convict the lost of sin. Without His convicting power we would not be able to win a soul to Christ. Jesus said, "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8).

Convicting the lost and drawing them to Christ is just the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent in regeneration. When people are saved, they are born of the Holy Spirit. Without His work people who are spiritually dead would not be quickened. The carnal nature would not die, and they would not be given a new nature. Jesus made it clear that, ". . . Except a man be born of water (the natural birth) and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5).

The Holy Spirit dwells within saved people. Paul seemed amazed that the Corinthian Christians did not know this. He asked them, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of the God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit within should not be assigned to some attic room of the heart. He should be given control of every part of the heart.

Not only does the Holy Spirit reside in the heart of believers, He seals them for time and eternity. Paul tells us, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). Another work of the Holy Spirit is to give assurance of salvation. We can have assurance from the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit gives added assurance. There is nothing like the inward feeling of assurance that He gives. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God"(Rom. 8:16).

The Holy Spirit was also sent into the world to be our Comforter. Jesus told the disciples that it was expedient for them that He go away, because the Comforter would not come unless He did not go away (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit within the heart gives comfort when all other sources fail. The Holy Spirit is also our Teacher. The Word of God cannot be understood by the natural man, because it must be spiritually discerned. So the Holy Spirit is our Teacher. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, . . . shall teach you all things . . ." (John 14:26).

Further, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. We cannot pray as we should without praying in the Spirit. Paul wrote, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . ." (Eph. 6:18).

Yet again, we who are saved have the privilege of walking in the Spirit. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk on the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). Literally we can walk with the Holy Spirit surrounding us. In Paul's sermon on Mars Hill he said, ". . . in him we live, and move, and have our being . . ." (Acts 17:28). He was preaching about God, but the principle is the same. God is now manifested in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit relates to believers in three ways. He is with us; He is within us, and He can come upon us to endue us with power. Every saved person ought to be like a ball of fire rolling around and setting everything he touches on fire. This is especially true of those who are called to preach. Preaching is shallow and empty if not done in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Some years ago a lawyer heard the great Southern Baptist preacher, George W. Truitt, preach. After the service he said, "If I were a preacher, I would never preach a sermon until I got what George Truitt has." There is an anointing of the Spirit for power, and we all need it.

Paul testified: ". . . my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. 2:4). Jesus told the disciples not to preach until they were endued with power from on high. "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).

Luke adds the following in the book of Acts. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Here He makes it clear that the disciples would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon them.

There are those who say that was for the days of the Apostles, but it is not for our day. Peter answered that argument in his first sermon after the Spirit had come upon him and the other disciples. Mockers had accused the disciples of being drunk with wine. Peter answered them in the following words, ". . . these are not drunken, as ye suppose . . ." (Acts. 2:15). He then proceeded to tell them that they had witnessed the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel that God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh in the last days. Then he continued, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39). The promise still applies today.

Jesus could not be our example by repenting of sin and being born again. He knew no sin, and He was already born of God. The first thing He did as our example was to be baptized. He said to John the Baptist when he hesitated to baptize Him,  ". . . thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness . . ." (Matt. 3:15).

Jesus' second example followed immediately. The Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove.  "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him" (Matt. 3:16). In that manner Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. His next public utterance was: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel . . ." (Luke 4:18).

Peter confirms that Jesus was anointed with the Spirit. ". . . God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power . . ." (Acts 10:38). John tells us that Jesus was given the Spirit without measure. ". . . God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him" (John. 3:34).

The disciples tarried in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded, and on the day of Pentecost they were anointed with the Holy Spirit. That anointing came in the form of cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each of them. The result was that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit as Jesus had been when the heavenly dove sat upon Him.

Later, after Peter and John had been released from prison, and had prayed with the other believers, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and again they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Apparently one filling is not intended to last a lifetime.

The Holy Spirit manifested His presence in different manners on each of these occasions. Regardless of the manifestation, He was leaving his calling card. Sometimes He leaves His calling card today. A holy hush may come upon a congregation, and the place may be so charged with the presence of God that people scarcely dare to breath. On another occasion a congregation will be moved to tears, or to holy laughter, or to worshipful praise. At such times sinners often tremble like a leaf in the wind.

There is a burning account of something that happened in the early ministry of D. L. Moody. He was preaching to large crowds in Chicago, and souls were being saved. But two godly women sensed that something was lacking in his ministry. They started sitting in the front of his Church and praying for him while he preached. Moody was irritated when they told him that they were praying for the power of God to be upon his ministry.

After some time Moody became burdened and started praying for himself, but he was not willing to surrender to the will of God for his life. God was calling him to become an evangelist, but he did not want to leave his work in Chicago. Especially he did not want to leave the buildings he had helped to build. Then, in 1871, the Chicago fire destroyed the city. The buildings Moody loved so much were burned to the ground, along with the homes of his members. And his members scattered to the four winds.

Moody started traveling to raise funds for rebuilding, but all the while he was crying out for the power of God upon his ministry and struggling with the conflict in his heart. Finally he yielded to the will of God and immediately an overpowering sense of God's presence flooded his soul. He rushed to the home of a friend and ask for a room where he could be alone. There he locked himself in, lay upon the floor and bathed his soul in the presence of God. He left that room a changed man. Before that experience he thought of himself as always tugging and carrying water. After the experience he felt that he had a river of water to carry him.

Moody related his experience in the following words:

"I was crying all the time that God would fill me with his Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York - oh, what a day! - I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name . . . I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not be placed back where I was before that blessed experience. If you should give me all the world - it would be as the small dust of the balance."

We need a fresh realization that we can do little without the blessed power of the Holy Spirit upon us. That should drive us to our knees to pray, to confess our sins and shortcomings, and to ask for the power of God upon our lives.