1 Thessalonians 1:5
…because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit...

As the gospel is taught and shared, there are signs that accompany it and authenticate it. These signs should be used as a standard by which we can judge our teaching. For example, if we fail to share the gospel in word, then we have failed to share the gospel. Also, the gospel must be shared in power, with the authority of Christ.

Likewise, the gospel must come in the Holy Spirit. How futile our efforts will be if we seek to work in a manner that the Spirit has not ordained and prepared! Have we so quickly forgotten that it was only God’s Spirit that allowed us to know Him? Remember when Peter acknowledged Christ as Lord, and Christ had this to say: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 16:17] Whatever knowledge any of us have about Jesus is due completely and totally to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Left to our own, our sinful natures would never have sought out God’s truth.

It is only the Spirit of God that can prepare a person to hear and respond to the gospel message. Apart from His intervention, a person will remain lost. No amount of debate, reasoning, logical argument, or pleading on our part will ever result in salvation. Even the apostle Paul recognized his inability to do that which belonged to the Spirit of Christ:

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." [1 Corinthians 3:5-7]

The gospel must come in word. And it must come in power. And it must come in the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit alone that convicts us, compels us, challenges us, and comforts us. It is the Holy Spirit alone that reveals the grace and mercy of the Father, poured richly on us through Christ.