The Drawing or Wooing Work of the Holy Spirit

In working with Pastor R. A. Vernon, of The Word Church, in Cleveland, Ohio, concerning what I believe the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit, he urged me to put this material in book form for him and other pastors to learn from. After thinking about that request and my apostolic calling (this is apostolic with a small "a" to indicate that it is not like Christ’s original twelve, but simply having oversight over more than one church) to present and defend fresh reformation or restoration Bible truth; after thinking about the fact that I have been doing a fair amount of fresh teaching about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit or the "Lukan" Filling of the Holy Spirit; after thinking about the fact that I have never given an in-depth treatment of the work of the Spirit in our lives, i.e. from His initial stirrings to our final sanctification; I believe that now is the time to make my first attempt at such a monumental task.

It has been said that we should not seek or overemphasize the Holy Spirit, because His work is to glorify Jesus, the Christ. This is nonsense! This is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit and when the ministry of the Holy Spirit is understood and appropriated, He, the Holy Spirit Himself, will glorify Jesus, the Christ, and make Him more real and personal in our lives. We don’t have to help the Holy Spirit carry out His ministry. We just need to release Him to do so, by yielding to Him.

Wayne Grudem, a moderately conservative theologian said, "At Pentecost believers experienced a transition from an Old Covenant experience of the Holy Spirit to a more powerful, New Covenant experience of the Holy Spirit."16

This is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has been crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and ascended, but He promised us another Helper of the same nature as Him. He said, "He is with you, but He shall be in you!" The inauguration of this dispensation is tied up with the Holy Spirit and power. Yet, we have been afraid to study, talk about, and teach about the Holy Spirit, because of a reaction to extreme Pentecostalism, Charismatic confusion, and emotionalism. We can no longer be afraid of what is explicitly taught in the New Testament.

16 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Theology, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1994, 772.