The Holy Spirit (#4)
More about the Holy Spirit
Theme Verse: "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.' Now he said this about the Spirit" John 7:37
Readings: (In the lesson)
Memory Verse: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit say the LORD of Hosts." Zechariah 4:6
Reminder: The Holy Spirit is God's Spirit, which God compares to living water, to his breath. He is also the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus promised to send his Holy Spirit with power to his disciples after his return to the Father in Heaven. Father , Son and Holy Spirit are ONE God. Jesus said to his disciples, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) We see God's character in Jesus. Jesus wants his followers to "abide" (live) in him, obey him, and have his Spirit with power living in them. "I AM the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." "If you obey my commands you will remain in my love..."(John 15:5,10) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8 ).
"'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6b) A word received: It is not your power or strength that matters; it is my Spirit and his power that matters. The weakest person (by human measures) can be the strongest person with my strength, with my Spirit.
Testimony by Neal and Lisa Longe about the new things the Spirit is doing in their lives.
NOTE about preparation before asking for more of the Holy Spirit. One of the things the Holy spirit does is give us new power over sin in our lives when we surrender those areas to God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). But another work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin (John 16:9). There are times when we are blind to some of our real sins or have not fully let go of them. Part of the preparation for being baptized with the Holy Spirit or receiving a fresh infilling is to ask the LORD to show us by his Spirit if there is an area that we are not surrendering to him or if there are hidden sins we do not recognize. Examples are from the letters to the churches in Revelation. Jesus told the church in Ephesus that they did many things well but had lost their first love for him, (2:44) and he told the church in Laodicea that they were lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, and both needed to repent. (3:14) We are going to take a few minutes to silently pray and ask the Lord to show us any of this in our lives, so that we may deal with them and receive his forgiveness and be ready to receive more of Jesus' Spirit next week. God already knows about this but maybe we don't. We can't hide from God. After a brief time we have asked Fr. Brad to close with a joint confession of sin and pronounce God's forgiveness. Sometimes people do not really accept that God has forgiven what they have confessed and that is a barrier to growing in him. Last place is taken! Paul said he was the worst of sinners!
Few minutes of silent prayer.
Some results those among us have experienced from the Holy Spirit.
* a new sense of God's presence, more experience of the Lord (by the Spirit we cry "Abba", Father.)
* new power over sin in our lives, also the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:9)
* Bible reading coming alive
* ability/freedom to talk to others about Jesus
* gifts/manifestations of the Holy Spirit (see later)
* fruits of the Spirit ; "But the fruit of the Spirit is love(agape), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23) Fruit does not grow overnight and Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 13 about the importance of having the fruit of the Spirit when using the gifts of the Spirit.
* more of a shared life with other believers (Body of Christ)
* guidance. increased ability to hear/discern what the Lord says
* ability to pray in a new way, in English or tongues, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Romans 8:26)
* healing
GIFTS, MINISTRIES: MANIFESTATIONS/ of the Holy Spirit
GIFTS (See I Corinthians 12:1-11, 14:1, 12 )
* words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, works of power (miracles),
* prophecy, discerning spirits (testing) "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything (!!). Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)
* different kinds of tongues
MINISTRIES (listed in I Corinthians 12:27-31 and in Romans 12:4-8, 13 and in 1 Peter 4:8-11.
* apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, healing, helping, administration, tongues. (Romans 12:1-2, 4-8, 13:how we are to USE our gifts and ministries),.
* 1 Peter lists prophecy, serving, encouraging, giving, leadership, showing mercy, sharing with needy, hospitality.
Most of these are self explanatory. These gifts and ministries are not possessions but tools Jesus gives us to build up his Body, make him known, glorify him and have his joy.
Even children can receive gifts and ministries: we saw a 12 year old boy with a gift of healing and Samuel received the gift of prophecy as a boy.
Prophecy and words of wisdom and words of knowledge need a little explanation. (examples) Basically they refer to a current message from the Lord that may take several forms. It is NOT equal to Biblical prophecy. Even in the Bible prophecy is not always about the future, but is a present message God has for his people. People experience it as ideas or words that form in their minds, occasionally as heard aloud, as pictures, visions, a "sense" of things. We see all of these things in the Bible. Just because something is called a prophecy doesn't automatically mean it is one. Test everything. There are 3 sources: God, the human mind, Satan. Test everything.
The most important thing is that it be TESTED because we get ideas, etc from many sources, even from Satan. Jesus was tempted by Satan who quoted Scripture and distorted scripture but Jesus answered with the Word of God from Scripture. We test what we think is from the Lord by seeing if it is consistent with the whole of Scripture and by asking for the gift of discernment by the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to guide all his disciples by his Spirit but some people do have special gifts in these areas. A word of wisdom is the Spirit giving a message of wisdom to someone. A word of knowledge is the Spirit giving someone a word/picture/idea of information that can be used in ministering. I have heard speakers at a healing service say for example, that they think someone has a certain problem that God wants to heal or the Lord gives an idea to someone who is praying with someone that may help get to the root of a problem and asks the person about it. No one's gifts are perfect as Paul says in 1Corinthians 13:9 "we know in part and we prophesy in part..." That is why we often need to go to another person to help us test a message. Sometimes God will simply highlight a passage in the Bible. The first thing to do is write it down and ASK the Lord about it. Learning to use the Spirit's gifts takes practice.
Tongues also need a bit of explanation.
* 1. At Pentecost the disciples spoke in languages they did not know but others understood them as praising God. In our own congregation we know people spoke Japanese in Akime Hio's presence and Dave Carlson spoke words in French he had never learned.
* 2. Often tongues are prayer in a language we do not know and it is the Holy Spirit helping us to pray when we don't know how or what to pray, either privately or with someone else. People can sing praises to God in tongues.
* 3. Occasionally it is a form of a message from God IF it is interpreted. Paul tells the Corinthians that prophecy and tongues are always under the control of the speaker. (1 Corinthians 14:32)
* 4.They are NOT some sort of ecstatic utterance over which the speaker has not control--like what can happen in pagan worship as when Paul says, "No one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says 'Jesus be cursed' and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3).
* 5. Paul urges people to use the gifts in love and to desire the gifts that will build up the Church and says he mostly does his praying in tongues in private.
A person has to speak out to receive this gift and not in your native language. When you are prayed with just speak out whatever sounds come to you as you turn to the Spirit. It takes a while for some, like me, others receive this prayer gift easily. Some suggest if you desire this gift, which God wants you to have, try singing in the shower in whatever non English language you know of.
Spiritual Warfare is another area to learn about. Satan is real and not a funny guy with horns. Peter warns us "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith."(1 Peter 5:8-9) Jesus was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin. "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:18 & 4:15).. We are told about the armor God has for us to put on daily in Ephesians 6: 10-18. There is a story in Acts 16:16-19 of Paul casting out an evil spirit of fortune telling from a slave girl. Jesus also did this. I don't suggest you try that as a beginner but when we belong to Jesus and have the power of his Spirit in us we can bind and rebuke an attack we sense is coming from Satan, like fear or anger, (example) and command it to leave us in the name of Jesus and go to Jesus and not come back. Then as Jesus said we need to ask him to fill that empty place with his Spirit and presence. Involvement in the occult is ALWAYS sin and puts us in Satan's territory.
God doesn't use a cookie cutter approach to baptizing us with his Spirit. There is not only the story of Pentecost, but the story of the non-Jews that Peter preached to at the home of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, where God sovereignly poured out his Spirit on all the people before they were baptized to show Peter the Holy Spirit was for all who truly turn to him. Then there is the story of believers in Ephesus who believed in Jesus but had never heard of the Holy Spirit till Paul told them. Sometimes people will have a very powerful experience and some will have no "experience" but their lives will be different. That was what happened to me. I suggest you do not focus on an "experience" or feeling, but on being open and surrendering to Jesus and His Holy Spirit and receiving whatever he wants to give you. It is OK to ask for a certain gift but the Lord will decide what he wants to give you and you will be blessed.
Are you ready? You need to repent of any un-repented sin and renew your commitment to Jesus. This is a renewal of your baptismal vows and then you need to want and ask for Jesus to baptize you with his Spirit with power--for the first time or once again. On the 9th there will be teams of people to pray with you if you want to.
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." (Luke 24:49) A word received: Sometimes doing nothing but waiting for me to move is the most difficult form of obedience. Are you willing to wait on me and my Spirit? "Wait," I say; tarry until you are filled with my Holy Spirit.
"He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:24) A word received: I want you to know and experience my faithfulness. Come to me; let me fill you up with my Spirit so that you will know my faithfulness.
Do you have any questions? There are no dumb or too simple questions. You can come to us, to the clergy or prayer teams and we will all be glad to try to answer your questions.
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