“When the Spirit comes” – John 16:5-15
It’s a horrible thought to try to imagine life without someone you dearly love.
The disciples were having to get used to the prospect of life without Jesus.
They are sharing one last meal with him. He must leave them, they can expect to be treated with terrible hostility after his departure; but they’ve got to carry on without him and witness on his behalf before a hostile world. …
In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is given as ‘”another (i.e. a second) Paraclete” (Jn. 14:16), taking over Jesus’ role as counsellor, helper, strengthener, supporter, adviser, advocate, ally (for the Gk. paraclētos means all of these).’
The personality of the Holy Spirit is clear: ‘Like the Father and the Son, he acts as only a person can do—he hears, speaks, convinces, testifies, shows, leads, guides, teaches, prompts speech, commands, forbids, desires, helps, intercedes with groans (Jn.…
The ‘Holy Spirit’ is named as such only three times in the Old Testament: Psa 51:11; Isa 63:11, 12. The concept of ‘progressive revelation’ reminds us that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, like a number of other doctrines, is present in the Old Testament only in embryonic form.
If the Christian era is identified as ‘the ministry of the Spirit’ (2 Cor 3:8) then it is to be expected that that era will be characterised by a clearer and fuller revelation of the person and work of the Spirit.…
If you are truly a Christian, then the Holy Spirit dwells in you, Roman 8:9.
There is no ‘Premier Division’ to be promoted to. But we should all seek to be filled more and more by the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist, Luke 1:15;
Our Lord, Luke 4:1;
Peter, Acts 4:8;
Stephen, Acts 6:5; 7:55;
Saul, Acts 9:17; 13:9;
Barnabas, Acts 11:24.
We also read of larger numbers being filled at the same time, Acts 2:4; 4:31; 6:3; 13:52.…
Here are some of his names and titles:-
Breath of the Almighty…Power of the Most High…Spirit of power…Spirit of the Father…Spirit of the Living God…Eternal Spirit…Holy Spirit…Power of the Most High…Sevenfold Spirit…Spirit of the Lord…Spirit of fear of the Lord…Spirit of life…Spirit of truth…Spirit of revelation…Spirit of knowledge…Spirit of understanding…Spirit of wisdom…Spirit of prophecy…Spirit of holiness…Spirit of glory…Spirit of fire…Spirit of counsel…Spirit of Christ…Spirit of sonship…Spirit of grace…
It is clear that we are talking about a Divine Being. …
Atheism must regard the existence of the cosmos as inexplicable. Pantheism (which undergirds Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism) robs God of his transcendence, by subsuming the divine within the universe (‘all is one and all is God’). Paganism believes that the divine is immanent in nature, and that spells, incantations and rituals enable the individual to control people’s destiny. Gnosticism posits a dualism between spirit and matter, and has as its aim the ascending, through illumination and secret knowledge, up to God. …
Does God grant signs and wonders in response to the prayers of Christians today? Some very readily answer, ‘No’, and every scrap of interest or belief in contemporary miracles is dismissed as ‘strange fire’. Others reply with a simple, ‘Yes!’, regarding any doubt of qualification as a quenching of the Holy Spirit.
I like John Piper‘s candour, when he tells us how much he has struggled over the question of whether we should pray, as the early Christians prayed (Acts 4:29-30), for such miracles today. …
Text: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Let’s begin by celebrating some of the great achievements of the human race….
But there is one path of enquiry that is shut to us; one horizon beyond which we are unable to see…
The world, through its own unaided wisdom, cannot, does not, and never will, know God, 1 Cor 1:21.
But there is a wisdom that comes from God, a wisdom of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.
It is invisible, inaudible, unimaginable, 1 Cor 2:9.…
It is sometimes thought that because the ‘charismata’ are directly discussed only infrequently in Paul’s writings, they were regarded by the apostle as the marks of an immature church, and needed to be discouraged or actually suppressed.
However, it is at least as plausible to argue that Paul took the exercise of spiritual gifts more or less for granted in the churches, and he felt the need to discuss them in detail only when there were problems (as at Corinth).…
Ephesians 4:1-16
Ephesians the Switzerland of the NT.
But Switzerland isn’t all mountain peaks, and Ephesians isn’t all lofty doctrine.
We move from belief to behaviour, from principles to practice, from our wealth in Christ to our walk in Christ, from doctrine to duty, from exposition to exhortation, from the indicative to the imperative, from what God has done to what we must do, from the credenda to the agenda
Yet the two parts of Ephesians are closely connected. …
