Part 3 God’s Whole Counsel
Part 3 The Whole Counsel of God in the Life of The Believer
Tuesday September 1, 2026
Acts 20:27 ESV for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Quick Review from 2 Weeks Ago
The Bifurcated Work Of the Holy Spirit In A Believer’s Life: Within and Without
The Holy Spirit was given to do essentially two things in our lives. He is to work within us and to work through us.
Philippians 2:13 NKJV for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13 NLT For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Both are necessary if we are to accomplish the works of Him who sent Jesus. When He works within us, we are transformed into Christlikeness.
When He works through us, we are empowered to collaborate with God, as the projection of His power to achieve His will on earth as it is in heaven.
To transform us into Christlikeness, the Holy Spirit cultivates His fruit in us.
To project His power through us, He bestows spiritual gifts on us.
We need both parts if we are to fully manifest as the sons of God, as His viceroys, regents and plenipotentiaries.
Romans 8:19 NKJV For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
Even our Lord Jesus, the ultimate Son of God, required the two aspects of the working of the Holy Spirit in order to fulfil His eternal mandate.
Acts 10:38 NKJV How God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
When God is with you, you are anointed, to be and to do.
We have a limited understanding of the anointing. We only think of the anointing in the terms of power, manifestation of gifts of the Spirit. The anointing is that but also the anointing is inner transformation into godliness. The anointing is nothing but the presence of God with a person, a place (Solomon’s temple) or thing, (the Ark of the Covenant.)
The Inner Working Is Security
The fruit of the Spirit is love.
Incipit is a Latin concept wherein a list is often represented by its first item, eg. Alphabet, names of hymns.
Whenever the scriptures talk about love, we can infer that the fruit of the Spirit is the subject of discussion.
1 Corinthians 13;
1 John 4:7-19 NKJV [7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. [8] He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
[16] And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. [17] Love has been perfected in us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
The Outer Working is Rewarding
We need the power of the Holy Spirit if we are to do any work for the Lord, if we are to get rewarded at the Bema Throne of Christ.
Luke 24:48-49 NKJV And you are witnesses of these things. [49] Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endured with power from on high.
Acts 1:8 NKJV But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 NKJV I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. [8] Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
It's not about what you know. It's not even about what you do. It is about who you become. That is the whole counsel of God.
Genesis 1:26 ESV Then God did, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the seas, and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
God made us to be a specific type of being so we can perform a specific type of function. If we don’t know who we are, we will do the wrong thing. Even when we happen to do the right things, we will do them for the wrong reasons. So we must know who we are supposed to be first. If we know but do not become, we will fail. If we attempt to do, before we become, we will simply fail in a different way.
True Christlikeness
Romans 8:29 NKJV
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Christlikeness is often misunderstood as just having the character of Christ.
True Christlikeness, is possessing both Christ's character and His power.
Since Christ is inherently powerful, being like Him requires being powerful too.
We each lean one way or the other. This leaning to one side or the other can be described as Selective Christlikeness instead of Full Christlikeness.
Ephesians 4:11-16 NLT Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. [12] Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. [13] This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. [14] Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. [15] Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. [16] He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
- Possessing Christlike character without power.
- Having spiritual power (like the gifts of the Holy Spirit) without Christ-like character is also an imbalanced, "halfway" state.
The character of Christ without the power of Christ will make you a nice but ineffective Christian. You will not be able to do the greater works of Christ.
The power of Christ without the character of Christ will make you wild, uncontrollable, like a bull in a China shop. Whatever work you do, so but be the works of Christ, and will not stand the test of fire.
Jesus, at the same time a lion and a lamb.
The Lamb and the Lion Duality
- Jesus has the gentle character of a lamb, and the dreadful strength of a lion.
- To be like Christ is to embody this duality: to be gentle like doves but also "dangerous" (in a spiritual sense) like fire or electricity.
The Holy Spirit's Dual Role
- The Holy Spirit's work is twofold:
- To control and lead you, fostering gentleness.
- To empower you, making you spiritually effective and "dangerous."
- "He's not God if he has no power."
- "If we're only like God in character, we are halfway godly."
- Jesus's instruction to be "wise like serpents and as gentle as doves.”
Matthew 10:16 NLT "Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
1 Corinthians 14:20 NKJV Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.
The power of God is used primarily to execute the will of God. You cannot execute God's will if you lack the power of God. Equally true, you cannot execute the will of God apart from His character. Using the power of God for any other purpose is an abuse of God's power, a form of spiritual malpractice.
Our God is a consuming fire. The presence of God has a HazMat warning which must not be ignored. (Exodus 3:1-6)
Romans 9:22 Therefore consider the goodness and the severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God.
Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. [29] For our God is a consuming fire.
Severe mercy (C.S. Lewis),
beautiful terror,
perilous privilege.
We are drawn to God like moths to a flame; the glory is both beautiful and terrifying. Like Isiaih, we are simultaneously undone and repaired/restored.
The Spirit rested on people for performance, but He dwells within us for transformation.
When God is with you, you are anointed, to be and to do.
We have a limited understanding of the anointing. We only think of the anointing in the terms of power, manifestation of gifts of the Spirit. The anointing is that but also the anointing is inner transformation into godliness. The anointing is nothing but the presence of God with a person, a place (Solomon’s temple) or thing, (the Ark of the Covenant.)
When David was anointed, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
1 Samuel 16:13 NKJV Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
When Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, he became anointed to do and to be
1 Samuel 10:6 NKJV And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man
The anointing to do is immediately manifest, but the anointing to become is a slow work of the Holy Spirit, spanning decades of a close walk with God.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NKJV Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. [18] But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
In other words, when the Holy Spirit operates, there is freedom to do and also the freedom to become; one is immediate, but the other takes time. You can prophecy immediately like King Saul, speak with new tongues immediately like on the day of Pentecost, but we are changed from glory to glory.
Performance is easier than transformation.
The impartation of gifts is the easier work of the Holy Spirit, while the transformation into Christlikeness is more difficult because it requires our cooperation.
If we embrace performance but shun transformation, we are simply Hollywood actors, who can play any part without actually being the person. That is the essence of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy comes from the Greek word hypokrisis, which meant "stage acting" or "playing a part" Originally, when you called someone a hypocrite, it was same as calling them an actor.
It doesn’t take as much to play a doctor in a play as it does to actually earn a degree in medicine. To become a doctor in the US, you must complete four years of college, followed by four years of medical school and then three years of residency, making a total of 11 years. In that time, George Clooney could have played a doctor for eleven seasons of ER.
Sons of God, not Instruments of God.
If all we have are the gifts of the Spirit but no fruit, we are hypocrites, or at the best, mere instruments in God’s hands. What a tragedy it is for us to settle for being an instrument when God wants us to be Viceroys, Regents and Plenipotentiaries, His Sons, members of His family! Even the prodigal son asked to be made like one of the servants, a member of the household.
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
How The Fruit of the Spirit is cultivated.
When it comes to cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit prompts us on how to think in any given situation.
He reminds us of the teachings of Jesus regarding the specific issue we face, counseling us on how to act, or how not to act.
When we heed His promptings, we walk in obedience. Each act of obedience makes the next one easier. If we continue on that path, we won’t even realize we are changing until we are completely transformed.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 ESV Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
