Acts 8:29 - And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
The Holy Spirit is the first person on the scene at our conversion but often the last person we come to know and trust (John 16:7-8; Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit is the catalyst of our conversion. He enables us to believe. He convicts us. He transforms and regenerates our soul. But we often come to understand him much later. Our concepts of the Holy Spirit is quite nebulous. And, we are accustomed to the path of self-reliance.
Unfortunately, many of God's people live as though the Holy Spirit does not exist. We do not listen to him, seek his counsel and live in oblivion of his guidance. Although direct leading of the Holy Spirit are everyday occurrences in God’s kingdom they are not everyday occurrences in any single believer’s life! Your life is not a steady diet of the miraculous. It will be a mix of the miraculous and the mundane (the predictable). There are going to be a certain amount of routine. There are going to be intervals of silence, there will be predictability, there will be difficulties. However, spirit filled believers watch for the miraculous but spend most their time walking in the mundane! And they find God in both.
For example, exclamations are effective if it occurs sparingly. Otherwise it loses its relevance. It should not happen after each sentence. God does not place an exclamation at each instance in our life. He knows where exclamations need to be placed. Direct leading of the Holy Spirit complement and complete our ongoing application of God’s Word. Day by day we seek to bring our behavior, our thinking in to conformity with the revealed word of God. Every so often he completes and complements it by speaking directly to us in our lives.
The direct leading of the Holy Spirit do a number of things. First of all, they affirm God's active presence in our lives. They remind us that we are not just following a book, although the book is sacred scripture. We have God himself dwelling within us through the Holy Spirit. He is actively involved in our lives. Second, reminds us of our need for total dependence on God. They draw our attention, and other people in our lives. Third, they introduce new understanding and new maturity in our lives.
For example, read about Apostle Philip's life. He was performing great wonders and then the Holy Spirit talks to him and instructs him to walk away from an 'evangelist's dream'. He arrives into the desert and spies a chariot. The holy spirit instructs him to go and walk closer to the chariot. The official is reading the book of Isaiah. Philip instructs him that everything that he reads is fulfilled in the life of Jesus. It was an example of the miraculous interspersing the mundane.
But Philip did not get up every day and ask of God - "what unpredictable destination do you want me to go today?" Most of his days were spent in the midst of doing his usual routine. The miraculous in his life did not replace the mundane, it punctuated it.
The Holy Spirit helps us in our witness. Witness is more than us sharing information; it’s the Spirit influencing hearts (John 6:44). If we witness without consulting the Spirit we may do more harm than good.
There are three things that hinders the work of the Spirit:
1. A compromise with known sin hinders the work of the Spirit. (Ephesians 4:29-31) The sin that hinders the Spirit’s working is the sin we refuse to submit to His working.
2. Unbelief hinders the work of the Spirit.
3. Fear hinders the work of the Spirit. The supernatural is difficult for us to manage because we were never intended to manage it! We were intended to have it manage us.
Salvation is the greatest miracle of all. But miracles weren’t meant to stop at salvation! They were intended to punctuate the mundane.
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Pastor talks of his personal experiences and also gives some examples on how well meaning Christian preachers hinder the work of the Holy Spirit through false theology on the Holy Spirit. You can listen to the entire message here: http://media.perpetuatech.com/watch?v=NTIxMjgxRDQ0OQ#
The Holy Spirit is the first person on the scene at our conversion but often the last person we come to know and trust (John 16:7-8; Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit is the catalyst of our conversion. He enables us to believe. He convicts us. He transforms and regenerates our soul. But we often come to understand him much later. Our concepts of the Holy Spirit is quite nebulous. And, we are accustomed to the path of self-reliance.
Unfortunately, many of God's people live as though the Holy Spirit does not exist. We do not listen to him, seek his counsel and live in oblivion of his guidance. Although direct leading of the Holy Spirit are everyday occurrences in God’s kingdom they are not everyday occurrences in any single believer’s life! Your life is not a steady diet of the miraculous. It will be a mix of the miraculous and the mundane (the predictable). There are going to be a certain amount of routine. There are going to be intervals of silence, there will be predictability, there will be difficulties. However, spirit filled believers watch for the miraculous but spend most their time walking in the mundane! And they find God in both.
For example, exclamations are effective if it occurs sparingly. Otherwise it loses its relevance. It should not happen after each sentence. God does not place an exclamation at each instance in our life. He knows where exclamations need to be placed. Direct leading of the Holy Spirit complement and complete our ongoing application of God’s Word. Day by day we seek to bring our behavior, our thinking in to conformity with the revealed word of God. Every so often he completes and complements it by speaking directly to us in our lives.
The direct leading of the Holy Spirit do a number of things. First of all, they affirm God's active presence in our lives. They remind us that we are not just following a book, although the book is sacred scripture. We have God himself dwelling within us through the Holy Spirit. He is actively involved in our lives. Second, reminds us of our need for total dependence on God. They draw our attention, and other people in our lives. Third, they introduce new understanding and new maturity in our lives.
For example, read about Apostle Philip's life. He was performing great wonders and then the Holy Spirit talks to him and instructs him to walk away from an 'evangelist's dream'. He arrives into the desert and spies a chariot. The holy spirit instructs him to go and walk closer to the chariot. The official is reading the book of Isaiah. Philip instructs him that everything that he reads is fulfilled in the life of Jesus. It was an example of the miraculous interspersing the mundane.
But Philip did not get up every day and ask of God - "what unpredictable destination do you want me to go today?" Most of his days were spent in the midst of doing his usual routine. The miraculous in his life did not replace the mundane, it punctuated it.
The Holy Spirit helps us in our witness. Witness is more than us sharing information; it’s the Spirit influencing hearts (John 6:44). If we witness without consulting the Spirit we may do more harm than good.
There are three things that hinders the work of the Spirit:
1. A compromise with known sin hinders the work of the Spirit. (Ephesians 4:29-31) The sin that hinders the Spirit’s working is the sin we refuse to submit to His working.
2. Unbelief hinders the work of the Spirit.
3. Fear hinders the work of the Spirit. The supernatural is difficult for us to manage because we were never intended to manage it! We were intended to have it manage us.
Salvation is the greatest miracle of all. But miracles weren’t meant to stop at salvation! They were intended to punctuate the mundane.
--------------------------------------
Pastor talks of his personal experiences and also gives some examples on how well meaning Christian preachers hinder the work of the Holy Spirit through false theology on the Holy Spirit. You can listen to the entire message here: http://media.perpetuatech.com/watch?v=NTIxMjgxRDQ0OQ#
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