So far we have learned that the Holy Spirit ministers among believers by regenerating, indwelling, anointing, uniting in baptism, guiding, pleading with God for us, and giving us power.  But He ministers in many more ways: 

1.   The Holy Spirit sanctifies us.    St. Paul writes to the Romans, “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.  I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit,” (Rom 15:14-16).   Note:  Non-Jewish people are the Gentiles.

  “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter,”
(2 Thes 13-15).
 
 2.  The Holy Spirit bears witness.   St. Paul explains to the Romans, “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry ‘Abba, Father.’  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory,” (Rom 8:12-17).   “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this.  First he says:  `This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’  Then he adds: `Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’  And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin,” (Heb 10:15-18). 

 3.  The Holy Spirit helps.  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows Him.  But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you…  All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you,” (Jn 14:15-17; 25-27).     

 4.  The Holy Spirit gives joy.  “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who
serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men,” (Rom 14:17-18).

 5.  The Holy Spirit gives discernment.  “But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  In the same way no one
knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of
the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, discerning and expressing spiritual truth in spiritual words.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:  `For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’  But we have the mind of Christ,” (I Cor 2:10-16).