Acts 15 tells us that the Spirit co-decided with the apostles and the elders with the whole church (vv. 22a, 28). The apostles and the elders were meeting to make a decision concerning the problem of circumcision, and the decision was made, not just by them but by them with the Spirit.
In Acts 16:6 the Holy Spirit forbade Paul and his co-workers from speaking the word in Asia. They may have been trying to take a direction which would not have been so holy. Therefore, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit. Forbidding is a part of the Holy Spirit’s leading.
Acts 16:7 says that when Paul and his co-workers tried to go into Bithynia, “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” The Holy Spirit’s forbidding Paul to go to the left, to Asia, and the Spirit of Jesus’ not allowing him to go to the right, to Bithynia, indicate a straightforward course for him and his co-workers. Thus, they went in a direct course to Macedonia through Mysia and Troas (v. 8). The Holy Spirit forbade them and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. In the Spirit of Jesus there is not only the divine element of God, but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and His suffering of death. Such an all-inclusive Spirit was needed for the apostles’ preaching ministry, a ministry of suffering among human beings and for human beings in the human life.
The Spirit has the function of testifying. In Acts 20:23 the Holy Spirit solemnly testified to Paul that bonds and afflictions awaited him. The Holy Spirit’s testifying was only a prophecy, a foretelling, not a charge. Hence, Paul should not have taken this as a command but as a warning.
A great function of the Spirit is to appoint the overseers, the elders, in all the churches. Apparently, it was the apostle’s appointing. Actually, in Acts 20:28 Paul said that the Holy Spirit appointed them. Paul appointed the elders by, with, and through the Holy Spirit. What Paul did in appointing the elders was the Spirit’s doing. Today whenever we appoint elders, we have to trust in the Lord, doing it in oneness with the Spirit and according to the leading of the Spirit.