The Holy Spirit is given to Christ followers in order to enable and empower them to bear witness to the Great News of Jesus Christ. In Luke 12:11-12, the Spirit is promised to "teach you at that very hour what you ought to say." In addition to words, the Spirit bears fruit in our lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (the very opposites of today's public dialogue). This fruit of the Spirit is not just for our personal pleasure and well being, but to further enable and empower our bearing witness to Jesus. The same is true of more individual gifts given to each Christian by the Sprit. The ability to prophesy, teach, serve, sew masks, balance books, care for the church building, show hospitality, and myriad other gifts build up the body of Christ and bear witness to Him. Once again, no one has exclusive rights on certain flavors of gift, as made clear by Joel and proclaimed by Peter on Pentecost:
Acts 2:17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below...
To investigate this most important of stories further, go here.