I am very late in putting these up, but here are some notes from the rest of our recent series on the Holy Spirit…
Week 3: The Spirit of POWER that enables our WITNESS
- The Spirit challenges the world to believe in Jesus through convicting the world of its unrighteousness (John 16:7-11)
- The Spirit gives the church power to be witnesses in the world
- Some possible reasons we don’t experience more Holy Spirit power in our lives: 1) COMFORT (our lives are too safe); 2) VOLUME (our lives are too loud); 3) MOTIVES (we want “signs” more than the SON)
- The Spirit gives believers both WISDOM and BOLDNESS to be witnesses
- The Spirit takes us into mission by demonstrating His power, giving us wisdom and boldness, creating opportunities (“divine appointments”), and making us cross boundaries to be in relationship
- Scriptures used: John 16:7-11, Acts 1:8, Acts 4:13 & 31, Acts 8:17-38
Week 4: The Spirit in the COMMUNITY OF FAITH
- The Holy Spirit creates, desires, and works for UNITY in the community of believers…
- The Holy Spirit gives believers a DIVERSITY of gifts and roles within the community…
- ALL gifts and roles are valued and valuable…
- All of this is for the COMMON GOOD of the community and the common witness for Christ…
- The most important gift the Spirit gives to the community – and the individuals within it – is LOVE…
- Scriptures used: 1 Corinthians 12-14, Galatians 5:22-23
Week 5: The Spirit in the INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER
- The Spirit dwells within believers and grows spiritual gifts within them for the betterment of the community of faith and to further God’s work in the world
- There are a wide variety of gifts; churches disagree on exactly how many, which ones are to be included in the “list”, and which gifts are actually operating in today’s world
- Things that get in the way of spiritual growth and using spiritual gifts: fear, neglect, sin
- Things that help us on the road to spiritual growth and spiritual giftedness: desire, prayer, expectation, knowledge
- We need to be careful and discerning when people claim to be using spiritual gifts, especially the more “supernatural” or “spectacular” ones (i.e. words of prophecy and knowledge, healings, tongues and interpretation)
- Scriptures used: Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 27-28, Ephesians 4:11, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 4:1
