Have a Holy Spirit Christmas – Tom Tanner

Luke 1:5-20, 26-45, 67-79

Luke and Matthew under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit AND the experience of the Holy Spirit, write the Christmas story.  Because they have experience Pentecost, they “understand” the role and impact of Holy Spirit in a way that those before them may not have.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just come upon you and you and you and me.  He comes upon us and together forms in us the story of RiverStone.

The shift from the old dispensation (Old Testament age) to the new dispensation (New Testament age) is marked by some particular differences in the presence and manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

1. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was given to special individuals to fit them for special service.  In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was given to ALL believers.
2. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was with people and upon people.  In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is within believers.  A.B. Simpson said, “In the New Testament dispensation the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and to unite us personally with God, and to be in us, not only a Spirit of power and a preparation for service, but a Spirit of life, holiness, and fellowship with the Divine Being.”

The work of the Spirit now is not just to empower specific people for specific tasks.  His work now is also to make known to sons and daughter the heart of the Father.