What is the Holy Spirit? | Part one

What is the Holy Spirit | Teaching by Bishop Lynwal A Williams

Join Bishop Lynwal A Williams in this powerful and life-transforming teaching on the Holy Spirit. Discover who the Holy Spirit is, His role in the life of every believer, and how He empowers, guides, and reveals the truth of God’s Word.

In this message, you’ll gain deeper understanding of how to develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and walk in His power daily. This teaching will challenge, encourage, and equip you to live a Spirit-led life.

✨ In this video, you’ll learn:
Who the Holy Spirit is
The role of the Holy Spirit in your life
How to hear and be led by the Spirit
The power available to every believer
The Holy Spirit is not just a presence—but a person who desires to lead you into truth, strengthen your faith, and transform your life from within.

🙏 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things.” – John 14:26

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Okay, good morning and uh welcome to the Rima Bible study. I am Bishop Williams, and um our lessons today is going to be on the Holy Spirit. So relax, get your cup of tea or coffee, herbal tea, and let us dive into this very, very powerful topic. Um, so many people talk about it and they hear it said, um, you know, the Holy Spirit, but never quite understand what exactly is involved. There are those who are very curious, and um there are those who desire to know more about it. So today this is going to be um the lessons that I will be teaching. Now, the Holy Spirit, in this lesson, you will find out more about the Holy Spirit and how Jesus' followers are filled with the Holy Ghost. So everyone that is born again is required to receive the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us to learn more about our faith in Christ and help us understand the Bible more. So you can see how important the Holy Spirit is in bringing us closer to God and also allowing God to speak to us. So who is the Holy Spirit? Now, throughout the Bible, we read that God's working in the world through the through his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and often just the Spirit. So these are different titles by which the Holy Spirit is referred to in the Bible. To some it may seem confusing, but it is the same thing when you hear these different titles. One of the uniqueness about it is that they are used in different circumstances and different situations. So therefore, one must be clear that whenever time you hear the difference being spoken, whether in the Bible or in everyday communication, it is um, it is referring to different points and different situations in your relationship with God. The Holy Spirit, he is God, not just an influence, because there are those who think that the Holy Spirit is merely an influence outside of God. No, the Holy Spirit is God in the definition of God, he is a spirit, and so therefore you can more understand why he is and would be a God. Um, is not a feeling or a thought. It is through his spirit that God gives power and life. In fact, it was through his spirit that he created the heavens and the earth. And so his spirit now dwells in us, he gives us power and he gives us life. Let's hear what the Bible says about it. Now, in the book of Acts, chapter 1 and verse 8, he says, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth. So here was about 2,000 years ago, the Jesus promised us and his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit, and the purpose and objective of the Holy Spirit is that we would be witnesses of who Jesus is. Now let's consider the word weakness. Now, a weakness is a person, our situation that qualifies on this basis. One, you either have seen something, two, you either have heard something, three, you either know something, or you would have experienced something. Now, if you fall into any of those categories, then you are qualified to be a weakness. And so the Bible tells us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, it would enables us to go through these categories that qualifies us to be a weakness. Now in the book of Acts, chapter 2, we also see that when the Holy Spirit first came upon uh upon the church. And what does it say? It tells us that when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and fill all the house where they were sitting. And then there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with to speak with uh with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now it is most important to note that when the Holy Spirit came, uh they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and it enables them to speak with other tongues. So the Holy Spirit comes with the ability for you to speak in what the church commonly calls speaking in tongues, and that is a language. Now, the language that the Holy Spirit enables you to speak can either be what is called a known language to humanity, but unknown to you, or it could be a completely unknown language to humanity, but known to the heavenly host, or to God Himself. So that is the power of the Holy Spirit that comes to us and to give us that ability to communicate both in prayer and both in our daily activities, in worship, so it does that to show to us that God is with us. So the Holy Spirit comes, it fills us, and manifests his presence in these various ways. So that is really uh important. So if you want to know whether you have received the Holy Ghost, then it is you would not be in any doubt once you can hear yourself speaking in tongues and as these unknown languages. And this is the miracle in itself, because imagine to receive something that bypasses the consciousness of your own mind or brain, as it were, and using your vocal to utter words that your natural understanding cannot comprehend. This again demonstrates the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit. So bear with me. Let us dive into it. Further, in the book of Acts, it tells us that there were people from different nations that were dwelling in Jerusalem at that time, and it gives a list of the nations that were there. And um, and yet these disciples were able to speak in those people's languages, and yet they were not learned in those languages. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, um, all of us around the world, we are speaking in tongues in reality, because when I go to somewhere like the Philippines, I don't understand their language. I go to somewhere like in various parts in Africa, I don't understand their language either. And um India, the same thing. However, the fact that they're able to speak it and they can understand it, other people can understand it, it's again demonstrate the power of God in the world. So, in the spiritual sense, we also possess that ability that if you're born again and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, God will enable you to speak what we call holy heavenly languages or unknown tongues. Let's continue. Now, the Holy Spirit, which we refer to as E, he creates and sustains life. We see that in the first uh chapter of Genesis 1, where the Bible tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens on the earth, and the earth was without form, and darkness was up on the face of the deep, and the Holy Spirit was hovering over the deep, waiting for the creative process to begin. So we know that He creates and sustains life. He inspired the Bible in all the Bible writers and help us to understand it today. So the Holy Spirit, that's why we are very confident in terms of the Bible, because it is the Holy Spirit that inspired the writers and gives us the Bible. So the Bible is not merely the works of men's hand, it is a work of the Holy Spirit carried out by humanity, special men that God has used to bring uh his word on paper. And so here it goes on. He says, He give men power and authority to work for God and to speak the word of God. That's what the Holy Spirit does. In fact, it's not just men, he gives it to humanity because men and women uh are empowered to speak the word of God. I mean, he convicts people of their sins. In other words, the Holy Spirit uh has the ability to convict, to bring you to that awareness when you have gone um contrary to his will or to the will of God's word. So he brings that conviction. It normally works in what most people call your conscience. So the Holy Spirit would allow your conscience that is alive and um in you to bring it to your awareness that something is wrong. Now, the Holy Spirit, um, we are born again of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit gives us that born-again experience, and that's why it is so important. In St. John chapter 3, the Bible tells us that a man came to Jesus by night, and this man's name was Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night and began to ask Jesus some fundamental questions. But really, what he needed to know was how to be saved. And so Jesus said to him, he must be born again. And we are saying the same thing to every individual throughout every generation that if you are to ever see or enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again. And the born-again experience is really like this: you acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you come to Him in repentance, in other words, with a desire to change direction, change courses, and that's called repentance. In other words, if you are going east, you're now going west. If you used to be abominable or swearers, or any of the kind of stuff most of us grew up to be, then we decided we're not going to be like that. And we call on the Holy Spirit to help us achieve that objective. And then we continue by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Why? Because, amen, what he has done, only he could have done it, and we could not. And that's why we are baptized. Now, to be baptized is to be immersed underwater. I'm not talking about when you go to some places and they dip their hand in the water and make a cross and you're for it. That's not it. That's not baptism. It may be christening, but not baptism. Baptism coming from the root word baptiso, which means to be submersed. So, in other words, for you to be properly baptized, you need to be fully submersed in the water. Um, it is also identified as death and burial. So, you know, you don't see somebody burying a corpse and just sprinkle little earth on their forehead and then say that they're buried. No, it doesn't work like that. You have to be fully submersed. And as you come up out of that water, um, then the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit, Amen, is there to come and to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that your new life will take on new meaning and new purpose. So that's what is called born again. Sorry, because in essence you are living now a new life. It's like being just being born again, and that is what the born-again experience really is about. So everything of your past is now washed away um uh by the by the by the blood of Jesus Christ. The water represents um the blood, of course, the baptismal pool or river represent the burial, and you rising to walk in a new life is like being freshly born again, and that is what the Bible means. So God looks on you and sees you as a new person. That's who you are. So your past sins are removed. Anything that you have done in the past that is not good, not right, it is now forgiven, and that is important. So isn't it beautiful to know that you can wake up one day and your life take on new meaning and new beginning, and all the things that you did in the past is now buried and is now forgotten because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. So I am excited about it and I am glad. Ever since I got saved, I got born again at the age of 19, my life has never been the same. And I can assure you, irrespective of whatever your age is and your circumstances, if you decide to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you will also have that born-again experience. So let's continue. So the Holy Spirit, it brings conviction, it brings people to the awareness of their sins, and we are born again of the Spirit. So that is what we're just talking about. The Holy Spirit comes and we are born again. The Holy Spirit, he gives us supernatural power and spiritual gifts to men. He is responsible for all the miracles. Now, this is most interesting. There are two sides to the Holy Spirit. One, it brings you into a right relationship with God. You see, relationship is the most powerful things that can think and that can happen with you and God is to be in a right relationship. And I think everyone is consciously aware what relationship does. Whether it is in the workplace, whether it is in the family circle, whether it is in schools or wherever you may be, having good relationship with people makes life so much more easy. And in the same way, it is with God. So your relationship with God will bring you peace, it will bring you joy, it will bring you comfort, and all of the other wonderful things that it does. So that in that relationship that you have, you you do two things. You have fellowship and you have um you have fellowship and you also have a time where you interact um with God on a daily basis. So there are times when you go to a church, for example, and you go there to worship. So you have worship and you have fellowship. Everyday activities where you bring God into the equation is your fellowship. On a day set aside, you know, it may be your Sabbath day, your Sunday day, whatever day it is, you set that aside because that is your day of worship. Now it doesn't mean you don't worship on any other day. We worship every day, but we have a day set aside, especially where we gather together with brothers and sisters and family so that we worship God together, and that is so important. So, in the worship and fellowship that we have with the with the Holy Spirit that guides us, it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us in our worship, in our fellowship, because we wouldn't know what to do, how to do it. But the Holy Spirit is there to guide us, to empower us, and so we can please him that has called us, and that is our Father. Now, the other side to it is that, in fact, before we get to the other side, we continue on the basis that the Holy Spirit gives us the moral support we need to be what God called develop, to develop our godly nature. And that godly nature is what we call the nine gifts, or nice nine fruits of the spirit. So this moral order of things, namely love, peace, joy, and this is found in the book of Galatians, chapter 5, and verse 22 and 23. So it shows us how we it it the Holy Spirit helps us to serve God in this very morally sound attitude, way of life development. Yes, and as we said, that we have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, uh, faith, temperance, etc. So with this under, you know, in our life, we live a godly life because we are bringing joy and happiness to our brothers and sisters everywhere. And that is so important. Okay, and then you have the other side, which is the gifts of the Spirit, and that is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it tells us about the powerful aspect of the Holy Spirit, where it gives us the word of God, the knowledge of God, the discernment of God, it gives us miracle, healing, faith, and it enables us to prophesy, to speak in tongues, and to interpret. So in the Bible, we find these. So that is the two sides to the Holy Spirit in our life, and it's all pointing us to our Father, amen, and how we are to live with Him. So the Holy Spirit also helps us to know what to pray for. The Holy Spirit uh encourages us and motivates us to pray, to intercede, and to trust God that whatever we ask, in Jesus' name, he will do it. He helps us to worship God and glorify Jesus in our praises. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He gives us and helps us to live for God in our daily lives. And that's why you heard me mention earlier about the about the fruits of the Spirit, which tell us how to love each other, how to be at peace, how to have joy, how to suffer long with each other, etc. etc. So you have that. That is the power of the Holy Ghost. And when you have that, you are more than conqueror, you are an achiever. When you have that, you are a candidate for heaven, and that is what God is cultivating in all of us. Amen. Whatever is going on, whether in the world or even in our own personal life, the Holy Spirit is there to perfect us and to bring us in line with God's expectation, with God's plan. Now, the Holy Spirit was working in the background before you became a Christian. So you didn't just become a Christian just like that. The Holy Spirit is what draws you to the knowledge of God and to let you come into this fellowship, worship, as it were, and of course possessing the spirit of God's power. So although you may feel you come to God, whether through someone encouraging you or circumstances, whatever the situation is, God works in very mysterious and wonderful ways. Along it brings you to his desired desire, and that is for you to be a born-again believer, a born-again Christian. So here, amen, we can we can see the move of the Holy Spirit, amen, in the foreground of your life. It also prepares us for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what is so very, very essential for us to understand that the Holy Spirit works in the background, it works in the now, and it works going forward because it is preparing us for the things that God wants us to know. I hope that you thoroughly enjoy this session, and um we will be continuing uh with part two, and so we want you to uh to recognize that the Holy Spirit is yours to have. All you have to do is to ask God for it, pray and he will give it to you. He said that everyone that acts, receive, and everyone that seeks finds, and everyone that knock, it is open to them, and he promised that he would do so for you. So today is your day to ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit and to make sure you are born again, because it's only those that are born again can truly say that they are saved. So at this time I'm gonna pray with you for the Holy Spirit in your life and that you can again get in touch with us, and we'll be more than happy to help you uh to become born again and giving your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we give you thanks. We thank you for sending the Holy Spirit into the world. Lord, that he would abide with us, he would teach us, he would bring conviction to us, and Father, we are grateful. And so today, every person that is listening to this Bible study, we are asking you, God, to inspire them, to motivate them, and above all to let the Holy Spirit fall on them, to bring them to the knowledge of the truth concerning their born-again experience. I'm asking you, Lord, to bless them and to keep them. And Father, pour into them your spirit of revelation concerning the Holy Ghost, that they too will be born again, like Nicodemus asks. And so, God, we are thankful to you in the mighty and precious name of Jesus. Amen. God bless you. God bless you and catch you again on the next Rima Bible study. And don't forget to subscribe and to follow. And of course, if you wish to be a supporter of this work, then check out the links and you will see how you can be a regular supporter for what is going on in Ukraine. God bless you. Peace.