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The Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Last Days

 Acts 2:14-20 – “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’”

We are living in the last days. The Bible is clear that the last days began at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The Apostle Peter announces the beginning of the last days in Acts 2:16-17, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days,’ says God, ‘That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’”


God has a prophetic calendar. The disciples came to Jesus in Matthew 24 and asked, “What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?” In Matthew 24:4-7, He says there will be deception, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine, and pestilences. Where are we on God’s prophetic timeclock? Jesus answers this question in Matthew 24:8, “All these are the beginning of the beginning of sorrows.” This verse in The Contemporary English Version reads, “But this is just the beginning of troubles.” 


How do we respond to the times we are living in? We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Wesley Campbell writes, “To be filled with the Spirit means you have the Holy Spirit directing and empowering your life to the point that He influences every part of you.”


We must be empowered by the Holy Spirit to complete our kingdom assignment. Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”


The Holy Spirit is at work in the world today. We may not hear about it in the national media. We may not read about in secular news services but be assured He is working. John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”


            D. M. Dawson writes, “Without the power of the Holy Spirit, all human efforts, methods and plans are as futile as attempting to propel a boat by puffing at the sails with our own breath.”[1] In Luke 24:49 Jesus instructed the disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. We need to be filled and re-filled with the Holy Spirit. 

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