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Abraham simply believed God, and because of that alone God declared him a righteous man. And just as it was for Abraham, so it is for anyone today who believes in Jesus, as it is written: "- And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." - Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, - but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, - who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification". [Rom 4:22 - 25] I think that the basic thing involved in really trusting in Jesus is taking His Words as true; and applying ones heart to OBEY Him no matter what. This obedience is 'powered' by His Holy Spirit at work in us who have believed. So we see in all that obedience does NOT produce righteousness; but rather righteousness(of God) does produce obedience.

Persecuting the Church means persecuting Christ himself because as seen from scripture, the 'Church' is essentially the 'body' of Christ. [Eph 5:31-32, Matt 25: 40, 45]. The specific 'goad' I see that God has used to bring me into, and keep me in Christ is that of 'Disappointments'. Only in hind sight I begin to see such letdowns as God's providences to keep me from straying, and then I thank Him for keeping me. Kicking against the goads is hard only on man, not God. The earlier we respond to His LOVE, the better life for us!

I believe the Holy Spirit is a Person because H performs many functions attributable to persons, as we have seen from scriptures. In addition to the many functions already pointed out in our study material, I also discovered in Acts 5:3 that Holy Spirit could also be lied to. Who lies to an impersonal force or power(e.g. gravity)?? I believe its so easy to refer to the Holy Spirit as "it" rather than "Him" because the word 'Spirit' defies grammatical gender in most languages(including Greek). Moreover, I personally think of "spirit" as having no relation with either masculinity or femininity. For example, even though I'm male, I strongly believe that my spirit is NOT 'masculine'.?

To "testify" means to provide evidence for someone or something, or to make an assertion offering first-hand authentication of a fact. The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus, by making known or revealing the truth about the Son of God to the believer. My testimony, from personal knowledge about Jesus only makes sense if it is corroborated or authenticated by Holy Spirit. So we could say that any present day disciple of Jesus can testify in the power of the Holy Ghost, and his/her testimony would be as substantial as that of the 'first-hand-witness' disciple.

The word "another" can mean- 'one more' or 'in addition to a former'. So the Holy Spirit being "another" Paraclete indicates that there was already a former or initial Paraclete, and he was the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in bodily form, was not going to be with them 'always' because His departure was both imminent and expedient. But since Jesus would not want to leave them 'Paraclete-less', He assures them that the Holy Spirit would replace Himself, to be with them forever. However, this replacement will only take place after Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father. The former Paraclete(being Jesus) was "with" the disciples; meaning that He was "external" to them, having his own physical form. But the Holy Spirit will be "in" them, dwelling inside each one of them; starting from Pentecost day.

I like this - "My core identity as a disciple of Jesus came when I confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believed that he died, was buried and rose again taking on my sins. At that moment, I was born by the Holy Spirit."

From Luke 1:35 and Matt 1:20, I see that the Holy Spirit Himself was the fertilizing power responsible for the conception of the holy Son of God, Jesus Christ, in the womb of Mary. Anyone who merely sees Jesus as Joseph's son is in great error about the true identity of Christ. I think this fact may have been the main cause of the gross unbelief that plagued majority of the Jews at the time (John 6:42). As disciples of Jesus, we have received 'power' to become sons of God since we received and believed in Jesus; making us no longer born of the will of flesh and blood, but of God (John 1:12-13). And this is accomplished again by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ, sent of God into our hearts crying "Abba Father" (Gal 4:6).

Jesus, saying that he could do nothing by himself simply indicates his TOTAL dependence on the Father. This meant that he was constantly in tune with the Father, receiving both instruction and power to execute God's will. I see that Jesus "emptied himself" from his heavenly glory during his days on earth as man, in order to demonstrate to us how a man could live in complete dependence on God's power through the Holy Spirit in us. So from Christ's life on earth, we see the manner of life that God originally intended for man to live. A life of full dependence on God; which really means "walking" and "working" in the (power of) Spirit.

From Numbers 11:6, I observe that these 70 selected persons were supposedly recognized elders and officers over the people. But in order for them to be empowered or equipped for godly leadership, the Holy Spirit must first come upon them. As good as charisma, or experience(age), or even intellect; these alone CANNOT equip a man for godly leadership or service. Such persons must needs be enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit, as was the case with the 70 elders. When the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they all began to prophesy; which simply means to speak not of one's self, but by the inspiration of God. Finally, from Num 11:14, I observed that Moses voiced out that he alone was not capable of administering leadership or overseeing the affairs of God's people. Moses knew that if God Himself would lead all His people(by His Spirit), then the great burden that was upon him, as it were, would be lifted from him. And this would only be achieved when the Holy Spirit comes upon God's people individually.

Q1. (1 Samuel 16:13; Psalm 51:11) What is the primary purpose of God putting his Spirit upon selected individuals in the Old Testament? What effect does the Spirit seem to have upon their relationship with God? God puts His Spirit upon His servants in the OT primarily to EMPOWER them for His service (and this also true in NT). As we see from scriptures, the work of God cannot be executed by the arm the flesh ( Zech 4). I also observe from this our study that the Spirit, in the life of God's servants greatly impacted their relationship with God. The Spirit deepened, and made their relationship with God very intimate. He (the Holy Ghost) takes from and of God, and makes known(or discloses) to His ministers; just as Jesus points out later [John 16:14]. So He enables them to 'know' God on a personal basis.?