For the past few weeks my pastor, Dr. Curtis Barbery has been teaching about the Holy Spirit in our Wednesday night Bible Study. I thought last night's study was particularly encouraging for Christians and thought I'd share some of the main points. This is certainly not an all-inclusive summary of his lesson-- far from it!
In the two previous lessons he had covered The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and The Fruit of the Spirit: The reproduction of Christ's life in the believer. This week was on The Sealing of the Holy Spirit, with text from Ephesians 4. My Bible has a sub-heading Living as Children of Light, which matched his theme well.
He reminded us that for believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit is not a guest within us-- one who comes and then leaves us. He is a permanent resident. As our body is the temple of God, we must give full access of every room to the Spirit.
We are admonished not to grieve the Spirit. Pastor Barbery pointed out that grieving is closely linked with love. We can only grieve those who love us. Some ways we "sadden" God's Spirit are by partaking of the world's evil deeds, taking on the unbecoming spiritual "apparel" of the world, and by living with unholy attitudes. The Bible mentions bitterness, anger (wrath), clamor (brawling), slander (evil speaking), and malice. He pointed out that many people are adamant about repudiating the sins of the flesh the Bible speaks of, but harbor these sins of the heart.
But God's word also tells us how we can "gladden" the Holy Spirit.
- Acknowledge His presence
- Act on His promptings
- Accept His pathway
- Apply His present(s) or gifts
- Acclaim His praise
- Affirm His power
Pastor Barbery summed up his message by reminded us that through the Holy Spirit Christians have everything we need to live daily for our Savior, Jesus Christ.
So I will leave you with this Valentine message of love and friendship. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day with your loved ones.
1 comment:
Ken, this is beautiful. Have you read The Shack? Unconventional, but very compelling. I thought. I don't think I gave the Holy Spirit all that much thought before I read it. I wish we in general as Christians had a larger, more sustained conversation about the Holy Spirit.
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