The Most Important Person On Earth by Ps Michael Podhaczky

The most important person on earth

The rather provocative title, The Most Important Person on Earth, is taken from a book by Miles Munroe published in 2007. I asked a few people whom they thought might fill this auspicious position. Several famous people from past and present eras were put forward, who after considerable conversation fell well short of the high bar set to meet such a title.

Munroe spends considerable time unveiling the Holy Spirit as the one that fills the position of being the most important person on earth today. He goes on to explain that the role of the Holy Spirit isn’t to compete with, or replace Jesus Christ and the work He has accomplished. There isn’t a separation of the trinity going on here. The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the truth of what Jesus did and said; and to reveal the presence of God at work on the earth. Jesus said,

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13 NIV).

God sent the Holy Spirit on a specific assignment. These words of Jesus in John’s Gospel very clearly reveal what that assignment is. With the assignment clear, the Holy Spirit now brings the enabling to every believer to accomplish the great commission with which we have been entrusted. Every follower of Christ has been commissioned by Jesus to,

“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a NIV).

So, our assignment is also clear. But even with our best efforts we would never be able to accomplish this assignment successfully without the power of the Holy Spirit. At the birth of the church, Jesus told his disciples to,

“…not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5 NIV).

Jesus recognised that even the disciples’ best efforts weren’t going to launch the church successfully with any sustainable effect. He tells them to wait until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit who would bring supernatural equipping (and equipment!).

If our commissioning is to “…go into all the world and make disciples” (i.e. Matthew 28:19-20) then our ordination would be,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT).

The greatest person on earth becomes the most important person in my life. Life was never meant to be navigated alone. The Holy Spirit accompanies every believer to empower us in our assignment and to anoint us with the power of the resurrected Christ.