The Holy Spirit within us is not a symbol or a vague force; He is God Himself, given to every believer as the down payment on everything Jesus purchased. In this message, Dr. William P. Hohman explains how the Holy Spirit within us makes it possible to live the life God asks of us, and he uses the feast of King Ahasuerus in Esther 1 to picture the royal wine in abundance that God pours out on His people.
This sermon closes the “within us” part of a longer teaching on the Holy Spirit before the series turns to the Spirit upon us. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was preached at NTC Ministries in Merrill, Wisconsin, and posted on August 31, 2020. The teaching begins about 27 minutes into the recording. Pastor Hohman notes that he has been teaching on the Holy Spirit for about seven weeks and that praise reports have come in from around the world.
His title for the day is royal wine in abundance, and he asks listeners at home to be active in the message, not passive, because God has not raised him up to produce spectators.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. William P. Hohman |
| Series | Teaching on the Holy Spirit (the Spirit within us) |
| Main text | Esther 1:1–8 and Ephesians 5:15–20 |
| Key theme | The Holy Spirit within us as God’s down payment and continual filling |
| Length | About 99 minutes including worship; the message runs about 72 minutes |
Who the Holy Spirit Within Us Is
Pastor Hohman opens with a survey he attributes to the Barna Group. He reports that six out of ten Christians in it did not believe Satan is a real being, and that 58 percent agreed the Holy Spirit is only a symbol of God’s power and presence, not a living entity. He calls that belief false and a doctrine of devils.
The church, he says, believes the Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. He is the same essence and fully deity, not less than the Father and the Son, yet distinct from them. Jesus came as Redeemer and the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, then returned to the right hand of the Father. Before He left, He told His sorrowing disciples He would not leave them comfortless (John 14:16–18) but would send the promise of the Father.
Any believer can baptize someone in water, he notes, but only Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said as much: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance,” but the One coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).
He then separates two experiences. After the resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). They were born again. Yet He later told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4–5), the endowment of power from on high. The Holy Spirit within us comes at the new birth; the Spirit upon us is the anointing the series turns to next.
Redemption, he adds, is not about struggling through life until God finally takes us to heaven. Jesus purchased us with His own blood, and the redemption is to be fulfilled in our mind, soul and body as well as our spirit. The Holy Spirit is the governor of the kingdom of heaven on earth. He has emotions and His own will, distributes gifts as He wills, and is omnipotent, omnipresent and eternal. He washes, regenerates and renews us (Titus 3:5). Churches that refuse Him, he warns, show an antichrist spirit, because Christ means the anointing of God.
A New Heart and a New Ruler
Pastor Hohman turns to the days of the judges, when Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). Nothing bound the people together, and all they saw were their differences. Many want Jesus as a Savior to heal or prosper them, but not as a ruler. Christianity, he says, is laying our lives down for Him, like Paul, who said he died daily (1 Corinthians 15:31).
That is why God gave the Holy Spirit within us to govern us. He reads Ezekiel 36:25–27: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you… I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.” He adds a paraphrase from The Message: God will make it possible for you to do what He tells you and live by His commands. It is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).
Even Jesus, he teaches, relied on that power. Jesus said He had power to lay His life down and power to take it again (John 10:17–18), and that power was the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:11 says the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies. If Jesus needed the Spirit to fulfill His purpose, so do we; the Holy Spirit within us is that same power.
He then explains the two words for Lord in the King James Version. The table follows his explanation.
| How it appears | Hebrew name | Meaning as taught | What it asks of us |
|---|---|---|---|
| LORD (all capitals) | Jehovah | Covenant keeper, grace giver, who dwells with His people | Trust Him to keep His word and stay with you |
| Lord (capital L only) | Adonai | Owner, master and ruler | Yield to Him and obey |
Everyone wants the covenant keeper, he says, but many do not want the owner, master and ruler. He is both, and the Holy Spirit within us makes both real. That rules out what he calls will worship, the attitude of “I’ll get it done.” Israel promised to do all God said and opposed Him the next moment. Habits are the same: you will not quit them by willpower, but you can yield to the Holy Spirit, and He will perfect that which concerns you (Psalm 138:8).
The Holy Spirit as God’s Down Payment
The key text for this part is Ephesians 1:13–14: having believed, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” Pastor Hohman explains the King James word earnest as a down payment, like the earnest money you put down to buy a house so the seller stops looking for other buyers.
Normally, he says, a down payment is a small portion, perhaps ten or twenty percent. So there are two ways to read the verse. Either the Holy Spirit is the small portion and what comes later is greater, or the Holy Spirit is the greater portion and what follows is smaller. He believes the second, because God would never give a weak guarantee.
To show what he means, he describes an abandoned house near his property with broken windows and a caved-in roof. If someone offered a million dollars for it, paid $999,999.99 down and promised the last penny later, the buyer would have set its value. That, he says, is what God did in redemption: the Holy Spirit within us is the down payment, and it is the greater portion.
He tells how the church once owned a two-story building in downtown Merrill used as a Christian bookstore. The city planned to charge the church ten thousand dollars a year in fire hydrant rental. Just before a ministry trip to Guadeloupe, he and his wife Pam prayed in agreement that God would sell the property. When they returned, an investment firm from Milwaukee called and asked to buy it.
The church had paid $29,000; its market value had been $89,000. He insisted on walking the buyer through every flaw, and the man still paid the full price. “The value of the person was greater than what I believe the value was,” he says. Most Christians place far less value on their own lives and on other people than God does.
When the Holy Spirit sealed you, that down payment set the value of your life. Jesus redeemed all mankind, though not everyone has accepted it, so believers are to see every person through the same value He does. The world, he observes, often values only people who share its color, thinking, country or social circle; the Holy Spirit gives everyone value.
King Ahasuerus and the Royal Wine in Abundance
Pastor Hohman then opens Esther 1:1–8, which he reads as a type and shadow of what Jesus has done. Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. He held a feast for officials, servants, nobles and princes, and for 180 days showed the riches of his glorious kingdom.
Did everyone enjoy it? He compares it to a company Christmas party where suits stay with suits and janitors with janitors. That is how many believers hear God’s promise of hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11): they look at their shortcomings and think it will never happen. He insists the greatest time of evangelism is still ahead.
So the king made a seven-day feast for everyone, from great to small, in the garden court of his own palace, among linen curtains, silver rods and marble pillars. For the believer, that is the invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), yet many stay focused on the news and lose hope.
He contrasts that with a prayer conference he held in the desert outside Alexandria, Egypt. One night a van of believers was attacked and some were hospitalized. The next morning the host pastor thanked God they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name and asked that their enemies would see only victory. Pastor Hohman says he wept, and he reports deaf ears opened there.
Back in Esther, the royal wine was served in golden vessels, each one different, in abundance according to the generosity of the king. Every believer, he says, is a handcrafted vessel; no two are alike, and each has a purpose. Jesus served the best wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1–10), and the Holy Spirit is the royal wine now poured out on all flesh.
The drinking was not compulsory; each guest could drink as much as he pleased. Pastor Hohman links this to Acts 2:13–16, where some mocked the disciples as full of new wine. The king, he says, wanted to remove the barriers between classes so his kingdom would work together, as the royal wine of the Holy Spirit within us does. No two trees or fish are the same, and people do not need to be the same to be loved.
Be Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
The teaching on the royal wine lands in Ephesians 5:15–18: walk circumspectly, redeeming the time because the days are evil, and “do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” Circumspectly, he explains, means with eyes all around your head so you are not blindsided. The days Paul wrote in made sport of killing people in the arena.
In his study of church history, he says, every time the church looked to the world for strength it lost the power of God, and every time it sought God alone, His power exploded even under persecution.
He describes the Bacchanalia, a drunken festival honoring Dionysus that became morally corrupt, and notes that even heathens saw drunkenness as weakness. Paul’s warning reaches beyond wine to anything that dulls your senses. Under any other influence there will be moral, ethical and social corruption, but under the influence of the Holy Spirit within us, that corruption cannot rule.
Peter shows the difference. Before Pentecost he heard Jesus teach on redemption yet could not see it, and denied Him three times. After Pentecost he stood up and declared that this was what was spoken by the prophet Joel, filled with revelation and wisdom from God.
Be filled, he teaches, is a continual verb: be being filled. It is not a one-time experience. Months after Pentecost, under threats, the believers prayed for boldness and were filled again (Acts 4:29–31).
Barnabas is his model. In Acts 11:20–24, he was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” He had more than knowledge of the Word; he had its fire. Paul prayed that believers would be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:14–16).
The Holy Spirit within us also matters for the world. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8) and strengthens those who believe. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). People reject Him, he says, only because they have been misinformed; without Him no one can be saved or regenerated.
From Songs of Discord to Songs of Zion
A person drunk on alcohol sings the songs of the bar. Pastor Hohman applies that to history: in the Dark Ages, he says, artists painted gargoyles and demons, but after the Reformation they painted angels and God’s creation.
Many hymns of that era, such as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” were set to tunes people already knew. During times like the Black Plague, people stopped singing songs of discord and woe and started singing that the name of the Lord is a strong tower (Proverbs 18:10) and entering His gates with thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4).
That is why Paul continues in Ephesians 5:18–20: be filled with the Spirit, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things.” What fills you is what comes out of your mouth, and when the Holy Spirit within us fills us, praise comes out.
Living Filled with the Spirit This Week
Pastor Hohman closes with three conditions for being continually filled: be aware of the magnitude of His blessing, make room for Him, and yield to His influence. These steps come from his closing:
- Accept who He is. Settle that the Holy Spirit within us is a person, co-equal with the Father and the Son, not a symbol.
- Make room for Him. Give Him time; he specifically urges stepping back from social media and the news to spend time with God.
- Yield, do not strive. Bring habits and weaknesses to Him instead of relying on willpower, and trust Him to perfect what concerns you.
- See people at God’s price. The down payment God made for you He made for others too, so treat every person as someone Jesus paid for.
- Change your song. Replace complaint with psalms, hymns and thanksgiving, as Ephesians 5 describes.
- Ask for fresh fire. Pray as he led the church: for the Holy Spirit to lead, teach and empower you, and to give you kindness and compassion for everyone you meet.
Timestamped Outline
- 27:13 Welcome and seven weeks on the Holy Spirit
- 29:26 The Spirit within us and the Barna survey
- 31:36 Only Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit
- 32:36 Receive the Holy Spirit, then wait for power
- 34:46 Introducing royal wine in abundance
- 35:52 Everyone did what was right in his own eyes
- 38:01 Ezekiel 36: a new heart and a new spirit
- 41:00 Jehovah and Adonai
- 44:26 Will worship versus yielding
- 45:17 Ephesians 1: the earnest of our inheritance
- 49:24 The bookstore building story
- 55:51 God set the value of your life
- 59:27 Esther 1: the feast of Ahasuerus
- 1:05:17 The prayer conference in Egypt
- 1:09:36 Golden vessels, each one different
- 1:11:57 Royal wine in abundance
- 1:15:25 Ephesians 5: walk circumspectly
- 1:20:34 Do not be drunk with wine
- 1:24:14 Be being filled, again and again
- 1:26:39 Barnabas, full of the Spirit and faith
- 1:31:20 Songs of the Reformation
- 1:36:13 How to keep being filled, and closing prayer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Holy Spirit within us the same as the baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Not in this teaching. Pastor Hohman says the Holy Spirit comes into every life at the new birth, as when Jesus breathed on the disciples and said “receive the Holy Spirit.” The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the endowment of power from on high that the same disciples waited for in Jerusalem. He presents this sermon as part of the “within us” teaching and says the series next turns to the Holy Spirit upon us, the anointing.
Does being filled with the Spirit mean we must all act the same?
No. Pastor Hohman stresses that the golden vessels at the king’s feast were all handcrafted and different, and that no tree or fish is identical to another. God made each believer for a purpose, and you do not need to be like anyone else. The Holy Spirit’s work is to lead you into your own purpose and to remove the walls between people, not to make everyone uniform.
What can I do if I feel weak in prayer?
Pastor Hohman says many Christians think it is their own strength in prayer that gets results, so they try to pray harder. He teaches that prayer works through confidence in God’s Word and confidence in the Holy Spirit doing what He does. In his closing he says we need to pray, and to pray effectively, but that it is not according to our strength of prayer; it is according to the One who empowers it.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Esther 1:1–8 — the king’s feast and royal wine in abundance
- Ephesians 5:15–18 — be filled with the Spirit
- Ephesians 1:13–14 — sealed with the Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance
- Ezekiel 36:25–27 — a new heart and My Spirit within you
- John 20:22 and Acts 1:4–5 — receiving the Spirit and waiting for power
- Romans 8:11 — the Spirit who raised Jesus
- Zechariah 4:6 — not by might nor by power
- Acts 11:20–24 — Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit and faith
- Ephesians 3:14–16 — strengthened in the inner man
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
Watch More Messages
If this message stirred a hunger for more of the Holy Spirit, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries to explore. Browse the full sermon archive and keep making room for Him.
