Temple of the Holy Spirit
From: www.worldenglishinstitute.org
Temple of the Holy Spirit
The miraculous gifts of the Spirit have ceased, but the Holy Spirit still lives and works in the church today.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter promised that penitent, baptized believers would "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Then he said, "This promise is for you, and for your children and for the people who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself" (Acts 2:39).
This promise was not only for those people. It was also for their children and their children's children. It was for people in Jerusalem and people far away. It was for everyone, in every place, in every age—everyone that the Lord our God calls to himself. All people who change their hearts and lives and are baptized into Christ receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.
God Gives the Spirit to All Who Obey Him
The church in Jerusalem became so popular that the Jewish high priest and his friends became jealous. So they arrested the apostles and put them in jail. The high priest said to the apostles, "We told you never again to teach as followers of this man. But look at what you have done! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching" (Acts 5:28).
Peter replied, "We must obey God rather than you! You killed Jesus. You hung him on a cross, but God … raised Jesus up from death! … We [apostles] saw these things happen, and we can say these things are true. The Holy Spirit also shows that these things are true. God has given the Spirit to all people who obey him" (Acts 5:29-32).
The Spirit Lives in all Christians
All true Christians have the Spirit living in them. The apostle Paul said, "You are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9). That is strong language. Either we have the Holy Spirit living in us, or we don't belong to Christ. Christians are people who have the Holy Spirit living in them.
The Spirit Gives Us Spiritual Strength
The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual and moral power to live the Christian life. Paul said to the Ephesians, "I ask the Father … to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit" (Ephesians 3:16).
If we depend on our own power, we fight a losing battle against the forces of evil. No matter how hard we try, we are not able to defeat Satan. But God gives us his Spirit, and through the Spirit, God gives us inner strength to say "No!" to Satan. "With God's power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of" (Ephesians 3:20).
Even after we become Christians, we often sin and need forgiveness. But God is always willing to forgive us when we repent. Repentance is a change of heart that leads to a change of life. Through the word of God, the Spirit tells us what is right. He urges us to follow his teachings.
Each new Christian has become a new person. Paul says, "Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him" (Ephesians 4:24). By the power of the Spirit, we are being changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, and this brings us "more and more glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). This change does not come about suddenly. It is a slow process. It takes a lifetime of growth.
What does it mean to become like Jesus Christ? It means that we don't tell lies. We tell the truth. When we become angry, we don't let that anger make us sin. Instead, our anger cools quickly.
Becoming like Christ means that we do not steal. Instead, we work hard so that we can support our families and have something left to share with poor people. When we talk, we don't say bad things that hurt people. Instead, we say things that help other people become stronger and better. Being like Christ means that we are kind and loving and are quick to forgive each other as God forgave us. It means that we stop acting like the devil and start acting like God (Ephesians 4:25-32; 5:1). Such changes are possible with the help of God.
A Choice Between Life and Death
Some people refuse to let the Spirit of God work in them. They don't want to quit doing bad things. They don't want to be like Christ, so they resist the Spirit and turn away from his teaching (Acts 7:51). They quench the Spirit as one pours water on a fire (I Thessalonians 5:19). This makes the Spirit sad (Ephesians 4:30), and it makes the church weak.
Other people, however, obey God and allow the Spirit to live and work in them. And the Holy Spirit bears beautiful fruit in their lives.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, "Live the way the Spirit leads you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants" (Galatians 5:16). Our sinful self wants to commit sexual sins and to worship false gods such as money, power, and fame. It hates people, and it wants to make people angry with each other. It causes divisions. It is jealous, angry, and selfish. It is envious. It wants to get drunk and to have wild and wasteful parties. Paul warns, "The people who do these things will not have a part in God's kingdom" (Galatians 5:19-21).
When we follow the Spirit, however, spiritual fruit is produced in our lives: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). We give up evil things, and we get a new life from the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25).
We must choose between life and death. Paul says, "If you use your lives to do what your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit's help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life" (Romans 8:13). "The true children of God are those who let God's Spirit lead them" (Romans 8:14).
The Spirit Helps Us Worship God
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, "Since you are God's children, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit cries out, 'Abba, Father'" (Galatians 4:6). Notice it is the Spirit who does the crying. The Holy Spirit is a divine person who lives and works in us. "And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God's children" (Romans 8:16).
Paul continues, "We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don't know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. He begs God for us, speaking to him with feelings too deep for words " (Romans 8:26).
We often don't know what to pray for. We don't know what the future holds. We don't know what is best for us, so we often ask for the wrong things. But the Spirit knows the future, and he knows what is best for us. Therefore, the Spirit groans for us and expresses our deepest feelings to the Father. Consequently, all things work together for good in the life of a Christian (Romans 8:28).
The Holy Spirit Works through the Word
The work of the Holy Spirit begins before a person is baptized into Christ. The Holy Spirit starts working in a person's heart when that person hears or reads the Word of God and accepts it as truth.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of 3,000 people through Peter's preaching. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude were guided by the Holy Spirit as they wrote the New Testament. The Spirit still moves and works today whenever the Word of God is preached.
The Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17). The Bible is the instrument used by the Spirit to change people's hearts and lives.
Through the Word, the Spirit shows people "how wrong they are about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment" to come (John 16:8).
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Everyone must be born from water and the Spirit" (John 3:3, 5). The Spirit, working through the Word, leads a receptive person to faith, repentance, and baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). We are born again through God's living message, the Word of God, which lives forever (1Peter 1:23, 25).
When a person hears the Good News, believes it, changes his heart and life, and is baptized, that person is born again of water and the Spirit.
Whenever the Word of God is preached or taught today, the Holy Spirit continues his work of bringing people to Christ.
Truths We Have Learned from this Lesson
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Everyone must be born from water and the Spirit" (John 3:3, 5). The Spirit, working through the Word, leads a receptive person to faith, repentance, and baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). We are born again through God's living message, the Word of God, which lives forever (1Peter 1:23, 25).
When a person hears the Good News, believes it, changes his heart and life, and is baptized, that person is born again of water and the Spirit.
Whenever the Word of God is preached or taught today, the Holy Spirit continues his work of bringing people to Christ.
Truths We Have Learned from this Lesson
- The Spirit gives us inner strength. The Holy Spirit is a divine being who lives in us and who gives us spiritual strength to conquer sin. On our own, we do not have the moral power to resist temptation. We need help, and we receive help from the Holy Spirit. With God's power working in us, God is able to do more than we can imagine. He is able to change us into the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ.
- The Spirit grows beautiful fruit in our lives. When we follow the Spirit's direction, we decide to quit doing evil things. With the Spirit's help, we turn away from evil to do good. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. With the help of the Spirit, we are changed into the likeness of Christ.
- The Spirit works through the Word of God. Jesus said that the Spirit is like a wind blowing through the trees (John 3:8). We can see the trees swaying, but we can't see the wind. So it is with the Spirit in the church. We can't see the Spirit, but we see the changes in the lives of Christians as the Spirit works within them.
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