LissaR

In sending Ananias to Paul, Jesus showed Paul that He is who He says He is -- one who has power to direct people to do His will. In this case, Jesus commanded Ananias, who then went to Paul to minister to him. Ananias performed a miraculous healing on Paul, even further verifying that it was Jesus behind all of the events that had taken place along Paul's journey to Damascus. Ananias' "argument" may not have been out of resistance but out of amazement/incredulity. "You're really up to something here!" Ananias may have been unsure about the way Paul would respond, but he trusted that Jesus would protect him (Ananias) and he obeyed out of his love and commitment as a disciple. I have felt God prompt me to speak for Him and minister to many. Sometimes it's scary because I don't know how well it will be received, but I know that the person's response is not up to me. My concern for the person and my obedience to the Holy Spirit is what's important. Just two weeks ago my daughter pulled me aside and asked me if all was well with me. I have been sick for a number of years with a sleep disorder, plus our family has struggled with returning from the mission field. She felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to talk with me and she encouraged me to meet with a counselor, then prayed with me after more than 30 minutes of pouring into me. I was humbled. Additionally, I was thrilled that my daughter was obedient to the voice of the Lord, even when she was nervous about confronting her own mother.

Children of God (believers) constitute the Body of Christ, and this means that if we are being persecuted, then Christ is persecuted as well. God has used many different means over my lifetime to move me along His path. Some, but not all are disciplinary in a negative sense. "Getting caught" was very effective in keeping me out of bad lifestyle habits. Good teachers that offered rewards, and praise in general for building good Bible study habits was effective in spurring me toward spiritual growth. I had my own personal encounter with the Lord while in college, and I came away from it committed for life to following Him with everything I have. I think that particular experience -- a first-hand experience of God's love and personal attention to me, is what keeps me moving along God's path. I grow weary from time to time and it hurts me, but I never doubt that He is with me and is strengthening me. I have endured years of chronic illness, and it's only through His love and enduring favor on me that I have maintained strength and courage.

The purpose of spiritual gifts accd'g to 1 Cor. 12:7 is "for the common good", for the benefit of everybody versus for the person possessing the gift. The purpose of spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4:11 (apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers) is to equip God's people to serve and build up the body of Christ. If spiritual gifts aren't used for their intended purpose, they end up being used for selfish purposes, to bring attention to the individual, or as a means to an end that is focused on self-gratification instead of the welfare of the body of Christ.

The "sinful nature" is our fleshly nature, the part of our soul, mind and body that continues to war against God, God's holiness, and His righteous standard of living. We will do battle in our souls until the day Jesus comes and wins the war against Satan, so until then, we will face constant temptation to turn away from Christ and indulge the desires that lead us into sin. The "desires" are different for each person but they all fit into the categories of the **** of the flesh, the **** of the eyes, and the pride of life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can keep our sinful flesh and its impulses under control so that the flesh does not hold mastery over us. We can indeed celebrate victory over temptation when we don't give in to it. This is possible through prayerful resistance, sometimes by fleeing the temptation altogether. Each of these answers is a sermon unto itself!

I don't believe that the Holy Spirit always manifests Himself by way of speaking in tongues when He enters a person at the time of salvation. If this were the case, many believers would doubt their salvation because they (myself included) did not speak in tongues at the point of salvation. If this were required evidence of salvation, I could see a lot of man-inspired tongues being uttered as "proof". A changed life is the proof of one's salvation and the filling of the Spirit, because it's only by the power of the Spirit that one's life can be changed from sin and enslavement to freedom and righteous living. Ecstatic utterances, private prayer language, and tongues are all in evidence today, but not all of them in all persons at all times. I have not spoken in tongues, but I have broken out in ecstatic speech during times of deep praise and worship, and I also enter times when I speak in a private prayer language. I don't expect this of every believer. I cherish this manifestation of the Holy Spirit in my personal life because it edifies my spirit and draws me closer to my Lord, but I don't consider it a necessary proof of my salvation.

Peter and the believers are "filled with the Holy Spirit" not in the sense that they are re-filled, but in the sense that they are empowered by the Spirit to perform or serve in a supernatural capacity. In this case they were empowered to speak with supernatural authority and clarity. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit residing within us and at certain times the Spirit empowers us to operate with supernatural ability. This happens multiple times when serving in ministry, unless the believer quenches the Spirit. In these instances, the Spirit can be quenched through unbelief, doubt, or by carrying unconfessed sin in one's life.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down upon the 120 apostles of Jesus who were gathered together in the upper room at Jerusalem. The 120 were then filled with the Holy Spirit when, like tongues of flaming fire, He rested upon each of them. They each began speaking in other languages, which the other Jews in Jerusalem from other countries heard and recognized as being their own. The word analogies used in this account are (1) a sound of (2) a blowing of (3) a rushing wind, and (4) tongues of (5) flaming fire. The Holy Spirit (1) rested upon them and they were (2) filled with the Holy Spirit. Later in Acts 2, the reference is made that believers were given the gift of the Holy Spirit (vs 38) when they repented and were baptized. Peter explained to the Jews that these events were not the acts of drunken crazies, but instead were the fulfillment of the prophet Joel, something that Jews were obviously familiar with.

The Holy Spirit as a seal of ownership proves to the world, to anybody who looks upon us, and to anybody who tries to take us for their own (ie: Satan) that we are the property of the Most High God. Thankfully the Most High God will never surrender us to another, so when we belong to Him, we belong to Him forever. The Holy Spirit as "down payment" teaches me that receiving the Holy Spirit is not the sum total of the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is merely a portion of a much larger gift. This gift is coming in the future, and it specifically refers to the coming Kingdom and eternal life. The down payment is something that brings joy and power into my life now, and it serves as a promise that I will be picked up later by my "owner" and taken "home". Holy Spirit anointing makes it evident that God sets me apart and makes a special point of giving me his Holy Spirit. A king is anointed in the presence of the people he will rule over. It isn't the same for believers; we are anointed in the presence of one another but that's in order to serve -- serve Christ and serve one another.

The Holy Spirit is our "internet connection" to the "world-wide web" of the Creator God. Of course it isn't a "world"-wide web, it's a universe-wide, boundary-less, time and space-wide "web". The Holy Spirit is our connection to all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10). God's thoughts are accessible through the Spirit. Actually, the spiritual thoughts of others are available through the Holy Spirit, since the Spirit searches all things. Unlike our usage of the world-wide web where we have control over what we discover and use, the Spirit of God has command over what gets revealed to us. This is good because in our flesh we might take spiritual knowledge and use it for wrong purposes -- purposes other than bringing fame to God's name alone. The Spirit will reveal God's thoughts to us so that we can see things as God sees them. He will give us words of knowledge about circumstances, discernment about people and their character or motives, words of prophecy to communicate what is to come. All of this is to protect us and guide us. The fact that none of this comes from man's own thoughts is evidence that it is spiritual in nature. Spiritual gifts are to build the kingdom by showing God's power to the unbelieving world (as in miracles, healing, prophecy) and to build up believers (faith, discernment, teaching). These are all possible through the "internet connection" of the Holy Spirit which acts as the conduit for God's power as well as God's thoughts.

Q1. (Romans 8:9-11; John 14:23) Do people who aren’t Christians have Christ living within them? In what Person do Christ and the Father make their home in us? What should you do to make them feel “at home” in you? How is the Home Analogy like the Temple Analogy. How might it differ? How does the Spirit living within you affect your holiness of life? Your witness to others? Your spiritual power? People who aren't Christians do not have Christ living within them. The word "Christian" implies that one is affiliated with Christ in relationship, and our relationship with Christ starts with confessing that He is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead. We confess Jesus as Lord and at that moment, the Spirit enters and lives in the believer. (Lesson 2) Christ and the Father make their home in us through the Spirit because the Spirit, the Son and the Father are One, Three-in-One. To make them feel "at home" in me, I should live a life of holiness. I should keep a clean slate by regularly confessing my sin, and live a surrendered life so that I make the Lord's will supreme to my own. By doing this, I will have the right attitude toward living for Him, and God will be able to use me for kingdom purposes. My heart is Christ's home and the home for the Spirit to live. Just as the temple was the dwelling place for God, our body is the dwelling place for the Spirit, but the two aren't the same. In the temple, the presence of God is only found in the Holy of Holies and can only be accessed by the priest at specific times. We have access to the Holy Spirit 24/7 and don't have to go through an elaborate ceremony, but we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit best when we aren't engaged in sin. Because I want the Spirit to guide me every day and fill me, I strive to live a life of holiness so that I don't quench his work in me. The Spirit helps me make right choices, He gives me wisdom in dealing with people, insight to understand difficult situations. This makes relationships more solid and fulfilling. It also makes others wonder at the kind of person I am and why I'm that kind of person. There was a point in time when I realized I wasn't experiencing the depth of the Spirit's power that I was meant to have. I wasn't aware that Holy Spirit was more than just a tag line on the title of the Trinity "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." I was at a retreat one May during college and I went out alone on a hillside after a particularly rich time of worship. I looked up at the heavens and declared to God, "If there is more of you that you have for me, I will receive it!" At that moment, I was overcome by a sense of God's presence that filled me with joy and spiritual ecstasy, the likes I had never felt before in my life. I felt a longing to follow Him, serve and obey Him above every other earthly desire. One of the biggest evidences that I experienced an overflowing of the Spirit was a new ability and desire to forgive my mother for emotional hurt that she'd inflicted on my during years that she chose her career over her children. It was a freeing, liberating, and exhilarating event that changed my life forever!

Nicodemus wasn't born of the Spirit when he came to visit Jesus because he didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. He recognized Jesus as a teacher and Rabbi. He recognized that Jesus was sent from God because the miracles that Jesus performed could not have taken place were God not with Him, but Nicodemus did not understand that Jesus came to save him (and mankind) from our sins. His curiosity led him to seek out Jesus late at night when their meeting would be private (secret?). He may not have recognized Jesus as Messiah, he may not have understood sin and our need of a Savior, but the Holy Spirit drew him to Jesus so that he could learn the Truth and ultimately be saved. People who have only experienced the first birth don't recognize Jesus as the Savior of mankind. They don't understand sin and their need of a Savior; they are spiritually dead. It is through the hearing of the Gospel that they are drawn to Jesus, and they experience the second birth when they confess their sins and accept Jesus' forgiveness, declaring Him the Lord of their life. After this second birth, the believer has power over sin that they previously did not have. They have peace that passes all understanding. They no longer fear death. They have strength to face and endure suffering. There is joy each day as they walk with Jesus and experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in their heart, guiding them each day.

Jesus invites anyone who "is thirsty" -- anyone who thirsts after Him. Anyone who wants to experience Him deeply in their life, who wants to follow Him closely. Those who thirst for Him will commit their life to Him, which means they will invite Him into their heart through faith by confessing their sin and declaring Him Lord of their life. Jesus' promise is that out from believers' hearts will come "streams of living water" -- the Holy Spirit who has entered the believer's heart will manifest Himself in a believer's daily life in ways that are very evident to the believer, and evident to those around him/her as well. The spring of living water became very evident in my life the moment I became a Christian. I had an uncontrollable urge to steal as a child: I shoplifted when I was eight years old. When I was nine we moved to a military base and I no longer lived near a grocery store, so that habit disappeared. Then at age 10 I began stealing from other kids' lunches at school. I got caught and was confronted by the teachers. By then I'd just become a Christian, so I begged my teacher to have mercy on me because I'd become a Christian and I knew it was sinful, so I'd ask Jesus to forgive me. She made me promise to go home and confess my sin to my parents -- which I did -- and the compulsion to steal virtually vanished. I still took money off my dad's dresser from time to time, but it always left me feeling very guilty and I knew I had to confess it to him and ask forgiveness. This experience showed me that the Holy Spirit had entered my life and begun changing me into a new person. In high school when my parents divorced, I had a choice to make over how to deal with the pain. Many of my friends turned to alcohol and drugs, but I realized that it was better to turn to God, and I clung even more tightly to my relationship with Jesus. In college I asked the Lord to give me as much of Himself as there was, and I was filled by the Holy Spirit to a degree I'd never been before. From that point on, I felt a joy and a peace that I'd not experienced before, though I'd been a Christian for more than 10 years. I have hungered and thirsted for "more of Him" ever since then. I can only hope that the streams of living water are more poured out and evident to those on the outside now than they were before.

The Holy Spirit is a Person because Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as "He" (John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit...he will teach you all things"), and is referred to as "Him" indirectly, as many scriptures reference "the Holy Spirit...he..." It's tempting to refer to any spirit as "It" because a spirit doesn't possess a body, thus it can't be identified as "he" or "she". The Holy Spirit on the other hand is the third member of the Trinity, composed of God the Father and Jesus the Son. It would follow that the HS would be identified as "He" versus "It". The Holy Spirit performs innumerable functions that we see many people performing. He teaches. He guides. He corrects. He heals. He reveals truth. He comforts. He does all of these and many, many more because He ministers to our spirit as well. He saves our soul. He convicts us of sin. He intercedes for us when we don't know how to pray. He steers us, cautions us and protects us from spiritual harm. He gives us spiritual gifts that empower us to serve God in a supernatural capacity, in ways that are impossible for us to do simply in our own power. He renews our minds and brings lasting change. He gives peace unlike any that the world can offer.

To testify means to speak truthfully, explain, or tell of something you have seen or experienced. In a courtroom this is done under oath, which shows the importance of accuracy and truthfulness in what is being shared. The Spirit testifies about Jesus every time a person's eyes are opened to recognize that Jesus is the Son of God, and every time the Word's meaning is revealed in a person's understanding. The Spirit testifies about Jesus every time the Holy Spirit works a miracle in somebody's life. Can I testify from personal knowledge about Jesus? All of my personal knowledge of Jesus comes to me through what the Holy Spirit teaches me and reveals to me through the Word, and my personal experience of a changed life before and after I asked Jesus to save me from my sins. There were multitudes of first-hand witnesses during Jesus' ministry as he performed miracles among the people. He fed 5,000 men (plus women and children) just to name one.

The Holy Spirit is another Paraclete for the disciples because He is unseen compared to Jesus, their first Paraclete. The HS is another Paraclete because He will live inside the disciples (and all believers), versus Jesus who lived and walked outside of them. Jesus was our initial Paraclete. He was the disciples' teacher, comforter, helper and friend. The Holy Spirit can replace Jesus in that they are co-equal members of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit can carry out the same activities as Jesus, serving as Counselor, friend, helper, instructor, guide, and power source for God's work. The difference is that the Holy Spirit will reside within all believers 24/7, whereas Jesus lived a human life, occupying a single body with a limited lifespan. The Holy Spirit was with Jesus because when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove. From that point on, Jesus carried out His ministry with the Spirit indwelling him, so he operated as a man in the power of the Spirit, fulfilling the will of the Father. He was an example of how it ought to be with us -- receiving the Spirit and then serving the Lord in the power of the Spirit because He indwells us.