If we are honest we have to admit that we have a tendency to look more at the external than the eternal. We like evidence that we can see, touch, count and display; we are often suspect of anything that we can’t readily and easily measure. In II Corinthians 4:18 the Apostle Paul told us to look at the things that are unseen rather than the things that are seen and then he explains why by saying “what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal”. The approach that I’ve tried to take to the baptism of the Holy Spirit over these last few weeks has been to concentrate on the unseen and the eternal rather than on the seen and the temporary. We will eventually study the gifts and the experiences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as dictated by and documented in Scripture but before we can do any of that we have to be willing to learn that the purpose and evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not what happens to us but what happens in us and through us. At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God Himself literally comes and dwells within us, He empowers us and He makes us witnesses of Himself; He does not overpower us as if He is a general defeating an enemy, He encompasses us as if He is a Father embracing a child. He stirs us, He assures us, He embraces us and then He works in us so that He can work through us. As I have been teaching I believe that there are three main purposes and evidences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, three things that God desires to work in us and through us by filling us with Himself: unity in the church, glory to Jesus and redemption for men. The baptism of the Holy Spirit builds in man what God possesses in Himself, unity based on love. The baptism of the Holy Spirit has to be understood and received in its corporate context or else it will be received as an individual outpouring that is given to us and is exercised for us, but the truth of God’s kingdom and God’s character is that everything He does is to build a people not just individual persons. God loves each of us but His desire is for all of us. God’s love for each of us is governed by His love for all of us. The baptism of the Holy Spirit builds unity in the church. Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit would not speak on His own authority and would glorify Him in all that He did. If the work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus then being baptized in the Holy Spirit must cause us to bring glory to Jesus. Jesus is glorified when His disciples are clear, confident and bold in His identity as Christ the King. The first church preached one thing and lived one thing, Jesus is the Messiah, He is the Christ, the King; He is simply the resurrected Son of God. That is not merely a message it is the glory of Jesus, He is glorified when he is seen as He truly is, the King of everything. The baptism of the Holy Spirit brings glory to Jesus. Our topic today is the third evidence and purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it brings redemption for men. Jesus said that He came to seek and save that which is lost. The Holy Spirit is “another helper” meaning He is just like Jesus in character, action and mission and so, if Jesus came to seek and save then the Spirit of God that lives within each of us has the exact same purpose; we are now the vessels through which He seeks and saves. To use Paul’s language in II Corinthians we are the ministers of reconciliation and the ambassadors of Christ. We are redeemed by Jesus so that we can do the work of Jesus through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we have not been saved so we can go to heaven nearly as much as we have been saved so that we can now take part in the work of salvation. We are the adopted crying out to other orphans that there is a Father that desires to love and enjoy them. The redeemed have been given power to be witnesses so that they can join in the work of redemption. This morning I want us to see that we have been and are baptized in the Holy Spirit so that God can use us to bring redemption for men, to do this we are going to attempt to answer two questions: what is redemption and who does Jesus long to redeem? I realize that these might sound like simple questions and if they are then we should be able to answer them easily, but my hope is that in answering these questions we will remember who we are and once again be overwhelmed by what Jesus has done.