There is an old saying that goes like this: "Everybody who is talking about heaven ain't going there". In the same way, I believe that it would be safe to say that everybody who is talking about the Holy Spirit doesn't have Him. I say this because Jesus Himself said that not everybody who would say," Lord, Lord", would enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 7:22,23)

He even spoke of an incredible time in which some would say, "But Lord in your name we did all kinds of miracles" and he would say to them, "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you!"

It is not my purpose in these talks about how we can know that we have the Holy Spirit to say, "I don't have the Holy Spirit, but neither do you", or "I've got it you don't". The whole purpose of this series is that we might have a clearer picture of what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the Christian and it is my prayer that during this series each of us will invite the blessed presence of the Holy Spirit unto our lives. Jesus said he would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13) and who obey Him. (Acts 5:32)

Can't you see it now, if the ground becomes Holy when God's presence is there and if the Ark of the Covenant was Holy because of the His presence so if we will ask God for the fullness of the Spirit, for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Then we shall begin to comprehend what it means ... "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost whose temple you are."(1Corinthians 6:19). O wonder of wonders! Glory of glories! The responsibility of the Christian in relationship to the indwelling of the Spirit is wonderful and awe inspiring because once the Spirit takes up his abode with us, we become responsible to Him and he that would defile the temple of the Holy Ghost whose temple we are him will God destroy (1 Corinthians 3:17). Why? Because to whom much is given shall much be required! (Luke 12:47)

Is it possible to put too much emphasis on the Holy Spirit? Yes. You see, the Spirit does not create his own special interest group. A significant number of Christians have developed a cult of the Holy Spirit. They worship Him. He is the theme of their Christian lives.

This is not to be. The Spirit was not sent to testify of himself or for His own glory. He is transparent, nearly invisible if you please. His task is to not testify of himself but to testify of Jesus (John 15:26).

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so that we would abide in Him. After all, Jesus, Himself, said that He is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:1-9). It is the Holy Spirit that makes this relationship possible.

Let me explain it another way. You see, life in the Holy Spirit in a process. Not a product. Though life in the Holy Spirit will produce results. It is not so much a result as it is a process. The Holy Spirit's work itself is better thought of as a process that is being affected in us.

Just as the branch of a tree is alive because of its connection to the tree, (the tree provides life to the branch), So every inclination that we have toward Christ, every true spiritual inclination that we have comes from the Spirit of God.

How can we know we have the Holy Spirit?

There are Christians that approach us and ask "Do you have the Holy Spirit?" For an Adventist this can be a little embarrassing because usually these people have had what Mrs White termed "experiences". What they are saying is do you speak in "tongues" or have some other physical phenomenon.

They tell me about a famous healer who will say, "I feel the Holy Spirit and I'm going to give it to you." He waves his arm and the choir falls out of its seats. You may have seen these charismatic ministers touch the people on their foreheads and they fall down backwards (ushers are waiting to catch them)

I visited a large church in South America where people all over the congregation would stand up start going slowly in circles and then fall down "smitten in the spirit". Is this what the Lord wants us to do? When we say we need the infilling of the Holy Spirit is this what is meant? Must we mumble some kind of gibberish, fall out of our chairs or fall backwards on the floor.

When our ministers are filled with the Holy Spirit does it mean they will be able to do mass healing no questions asked? I believe correct prayer for the sick is found in James 5 and you can see that it is not standing up before the television cameras and shouting, "Heal, heal, heal ..."

James 5 gives rather clear and concise instructions as to prayer for the sick and believe it or not it has to do with confession of sin and repentance. It says and "if he hath committed any sin it will be forgiven him." James 5:15). Healing in the 21st century is not to be with no strings attached but always for the glory of God and not of man.

I don't believe we should use a "miracle" yardstick to measure the blessings of God or the work of the Holy Spirit. I like what my Dad says, "We need to measure the Holy Spirit not by the gifts of the Spirit but by the fruit of the Spirit".

If being able to do miracles means for sure that a person has the Holy Spirit then the devil must have the Holy Spirit because the Scripture speaks of the spirits of devils working miracles. (Revelation 16:14)

This is why I believe that we must not look to the gifts of the Spirit as a sure test of having the Holy Spirit. The sure test of the Holy Spirit in the life is the fruit of the Spirit. Satan is a great imitator but the true fruit of the Spirit in the life cannot be counterfeited.

Notice the text in Galatians doesn't refer us to the fruits of the Spirit plural but fruit singular. That means that the fruit in Galatians 5 - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control are what being full of the Spirit is all about.

A former Pentecostal minister who was converted to the Seventh-day Adventist church said it use to bother him how people living in a common-law marriage use to get the gift of tongues.

I may be just too naive, but I can't understand how God would give his crowning gift, the actually indwelling of His Spirit, to a person who was living in adultery.

Maybe I'm just not educated enough but I can't understand how God would give his crowning gift the actual indwelling of His Spirit to a person who was knowingly disobedient to the will of God.

A lady was once explaining to me why she didn't feel she needed to keep the Sabbath. She said that she had had a back problem, if God had wanted her to keep the Sabbath, he wouldn't have healed her back.

A Sunday minister said that if God wanted him to keep the Sabbath, he wouldn't be blessing him the way he is. I'm not saying here that you have to be a Seventh-day Adventist to have the Holy Spirit work in your life because first and foremost the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin of righteousness and of judgment and it is obvious that he is doing that work in the lives of the righteous of all persuasions but he is in fact doing his work on the hearts of sinners.

It is for this reason I'm praying that in the 21st century he will pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

But I'm not taking about a first work of the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about the most precious of all gifts-the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

A person in the 21st century who has the Holy Spirit dwelling with him, will be a totally surrendered person who is living up to all the light that God has given him. And know that the indwelling Spirit will lead us into all truth (John 16:13).

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit may be seen as being a seal of God. The Holy Spirit is an internal seal which is given to every child of God who asks and who is living up to all of the light that they have. It is the Holy Spirit, after all, that seals us unto salvation. In Ephesians 4:30 we read," And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

Yet there is an ever greater blessing of the Holy Spirit promised in what the Scripture says is the Latter Rain. This will be the most precious experience of all and living in the 21st century you qualify for it if you want it with all your heart and are willing to have it happen to you with all that it means.

It is important for me to remind you that the main reason we don't have the indwelling of the Spirit is because the majority don't want the lifestyle that the Spirit brings. There is a kind of conflict of interest. A kind of I do but I don't. Like the man who had the dog who he named Stay.

He would say, "Come, Stay. Come, Stay." and you can imagine how confused this made the dog! Many of us do this knowingly or unknowingly with the Holy Spirit. Our prayers say, "Come" but our lives say "stay".

Do you have to be a charismatic to have the Holy Spirit? Should Seventh-day Adventists be able to say that to have the Holy Spirit?

I am convinced there is a special blessing for Seventh-day Adventists and we have either been afraid to talk about it or we have misunderstood what it is all about

We have talked about the Holy Spirit in terms of the Latter Rain. We speak of preparing for the Latter Rain. This means that the Holy Spirit tends to be always something for the future. I believe, a special infilling of the Holy Spirit is for us and it is for now.

I believe in the Latter Rain, But I am confused as to how to prepare for it. How does a wheat field prepare for the spring rains? It just has to be there.

In the case of the Latter Rain, I don't know how we can prepare for it ourselves. In fact the preparation that is necessary for the outpouring of the Spirit in the Latter Rain can only be by the Spirit Himself in our lives as we have the in filling of the Holy Spirit now.

In other words the truth is we cannot prepare ourselves for the Latter Rain only the Spirit Himself can do that. We can only pray sincerely with all our hearts, that God will do for us what needs to be done. A person who is out in the rain without a covering is going to get wet. And so a person who wants the Holy Spirit with all their heart and prays sincerely for it is going to get wet! Those who receive the Latter Rain will already have receive the in-filling of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 1, it says "They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication and when the day of Pentecost came they were filled with the Holy Ghost".

With the disciples, Pentecost came as an answer to prayer. Pentecost was continued as they gave themselves to continued prayer. So then persistence and unwearied prayer is the price we will have to pay for the great final outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century.

I would like to ask those of us who are here Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? I didn't say, Can you speak in tongues or do miracles or fall backwards.

How can we know when we have received the in-filling of the Holy Spirit? How can we know that He is dwelling in us?

First of all, one will acknowledge the death of Christ on the cross for us as the only and all-sufficient ground upon which God pardons all our sins.

We must put away every known sin. We continually go to our heavenly Father and ask Him to search us through and through bringing to light anything in our outward life or inward life that is wrong in His sight. If He does bring anything to mind that is displeasing to Him, we will put it away, no matter how dear it is to us.A person who has the in filling of the Holy Spirit renounces sin in his life. We are talking about known sin.

Third, we will openly confess Christ before the world. The Holy Spirit is not given to those who are trying to be disciples in secret, but to those who obey Christ and publicly confess Him before the world. "Whosoever shall confess Me before men"(Luke 12:8).

Fourth, in order to receive the Holy Spirit, there will be absolute surrender of our lives to God. We will go to Him and say, "Heavenly Father, here I am. You have bought me with a price. I am Your property. I renounce all claim to do my own will, all claim to govern my own life, all claim to have my own way. I give myself up unreservedly to You, all I am and all I have. Send me where You want, use me as You like, do with me what You want. I am Yours."

If we hold anything back from God, no matter how small it may seem, that spoils everything. But if we surrender all to God, then God will give all He has to us. There are some who shrink from this absolute surrender to God, but absolute surrender to God is simply absolute surrender to infinite love. It is surrender to the Father, the Father whose love is not only wiser than any earthly father's, but more tender than any earthly mother's.

The person who has the infilling of the Holy Spirit will have asked for His presence in their lives. Our Lord Jesus says in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Just ask God to give you the Holy Spirit and expect Him to do it. He says He will.

Finally, we know by faith that we have the in filling of the Holy Spirit. Simply taking God at His Word. No matter how positive any promise of God's Word may be, we enjoy it personally only when we believe. Our Lord Jesus says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them:(Mark 11:24). Appeal

Those of us who are here have the Spirit working upon our lives or we would not be here.

If your spiritual life is on again off again, you do not have Him dwelling in you yet. Because when we have the indwelling of the Spirit, He will stabilize the direction of our lives.

We will not feel that we are no longer sinners because the Spirit does an on-going housecleaning in us! His presence is a consumable fire. When the Spirit is dwelling in us we are more conscious of sin than we ever were before and we are aware that without Him we cannot be victorious.

The life in the Spirit is the process where the chains of sin which have so long held us are broken off. The indwelling of Spirit makes habitual sin impossible. The Holy Spirit is the one who through the life and death of Jesus really "gives us a break" from the power of sin.

When someone asks us if we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we should be able to say, "yes". At first you may feel embarrassed to answer that way, but then you will have confidence.

We must not feel that to have the Holy Spirit in our lives we must take up where the Charismatic churches leave off. I invite you to accept the true in filling of the Holy Spirit that God has for you in the 21st century.