Troy a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ
Romans;"Life in the Spirit".
In the epistle of Romans up to the 8 chapter the Holy Spirit has only been mentioned once,and that is in chapter 5 verse 5. But now in the 8 chapter alone, the Holy Spirit is mentioned nearly 20 times. So this is really His chapter. It sweeps you off your feet eventually and carries you away to glories in the very presence of Gold Himself. It is a monumental chapter and when read with an open heart and understood with an open mind can be incredibly enriching. And I really think that if you internalize the things that are here and if you meditate on them, you can ever be the same. I think it's a life-changing chapter as so many are in this tremendous epistle to the Romans.
Now it might be well to begin with something of an introduction about the Holy Spirit. If this is His chapter and if He is mentioned nearly 20 times and if He is to be the theme of it, we ought to understand a little bit about the Holy Spirit. And so that none of us in the dark about it,, let me run by a little bit of what theologians call "pneumatology," or the study of the Spirit. Just some general things to keep in mind.
First of all, a way to perceive the Holy Spirit that might help you is this. The Holy Spirit is to our spiritual lives what the creator is to the physical world. Without God, the creator, the physical world would not exist. And without His continuing sustaining upholding and preservingpower, the world would crash out of existence. And similarly in terms of the spiritual dimension, without the Holy Spirit we would never have been recreated. And without the sustaining preserving upholding power of the Holy Spirit, we too would crash back into the spiritual deadness from which we came. So the Spirit of God is the very agent by which we were given life and the very agent through whom that life is sustained. And also, the very agent who will in the end bring that life to full consummation ineternal glory.
Now mark it that the Holy Spirit is not an influence. [HIGH-LIGHT]The Holy Spirit is a person. [/HIGH-LIGHT]We never refer to the Holy Spirit as "it," [HIGH-LIGHT]we always refer to the Holy Spirit as "He." [/HIGH-LIGHT]And He is the third member of the Godhead, equal to the Father, equal to the Son in deity and in personhood, personality.
If you study the Bible you will find that: The Holy Spirit possesses mind, emotion, will. He knows the deep things of God. He loves the saints. He makes decisions. He speaks. He prays. He teaches. He guides. He commands. He fellowships. He comforts. He may be grieved. He may be quenched. He may be lied to. He may be tested. He may be resisted. He may be blasphemed.[HIGH-LIGHT]And all of these things indicate that He is indeed a person. [/HIGH-LIGHT]
And when you look at the Bible,, you find that He has all of the attributes that all the rest of the trinity have. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is eternal, that He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, holy, and glorious. The Bible calls Him God, Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Yahweh,, the Spirit of the Lord God, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of His Son. And He is called the Comforter.
The Bible tells us that He was active in creation. That He indwelt certain people living in the Old Testament period for special empowering. That He convicts men, that He enables men to serve God, that He is the agent by which the Scriptures were written, that in the life of Christ, for example, He was involved in His birth, in His baptism, His temptation, His anointing, His teaching, His miracles, His death and His resurrection. That in the world, the Holy Spirit is involved in convicting men of sin, in calling men to Himself,, and as well, calling men into service. He is involved in witnessing to the testimony of Christ. He is involved in regenerating or bringing about the new birth.
And the Bible tells us that in the case of the believer, the Holy Spirit is engaged in glorifying Christ in the life of a believer. He indwells the believer. He fills the believer. He imparts to the believer the fruit of the Spirit. He imparts to the believer the gifts of the Spirit. He seals, communes, fellowships with, teaches, prays, wars with the flesh, comforts, prays for, sanctifies, empowers for service. It goes on and on.[HIGH-LIGHT]In every sense, fulfilling the role of God in a very special way is the third person of the trinity[/HIGH-LIGHT].
Amen
Troy
Romans;"Life in the Spirit".
In the epistle of Romans up to the 8 chapter the Holy Spirit has only been mentioned once,and that is in chapter 5 verse 5. But now in the 8 chapter alone, the Holy Spirit is mentioned nearly 20 times. So this is really His chapter. It sweeps you off your feet eventually and carries you away to glories in the very presence of Gold Himself. It is a monumental chapter and when read with an open heart and understood with an open mind can be incredibly enriching. And I really think that if you internalize the things that are here and if you meditate on them, you can ever be the same. I think it's a life-changing chapter as so many are in this tremendous epistle to the Romans.
Now it might be well to begin with something of an introduction about the Holy Spirit. If this is His chapter and if He is mentioned nearly 20 times and if He is to be the theme of it, we ought to understand a little bit about the Holy Spirit. And so that none of us in the dark about it,, let me run by a little bit of what theologians call "pneumatology," or the study of the Spirit. Just some general things to keep in mind.
First of all, a way to perceive the Holy Spirit that might help you is this. The Holy Spirit is to our spiritual lives what the creator is to the physical world. Without God, the creator, the physical world would not exist. And without His continuing sustaining upholding and preservingpower, the world would crash out of existence. And similarly in terms of the spiritual dimension, without the Holy Spirit we would never have been recreated. And without the sustaining preserving upholding power of the Holy Spirit, we too would crash back into the spiritual deadness from which we came. So the Spirit of God is the very agent by which we were given life and the very agent through whom that life is sustained. And also, the very agent who will in the end bring that life to full consummation ineternal glory.
Now mark it that the Holy Spirit is not an influence. [HIGH-LIGHT]The Holy Spirit is a person. [/HIGH-LIGHT]We never refer to the Holy Spirit as "it," [HIGH-LIGHT]we always refer to the Holy Spirit as "He." [/HIGH-LIGHT]And He is the third member of the Godhead, equal to the Father, equal to the Son in deity and in personhood, personality.
If you study the Bible you will find that: The Holy Spirit possesses mind, emotion, will. He knows the deep things of God. He loves the saints. He makes decisions. He speaks. He prays. He teaches. He guides. He commands. He fellowships. He comforts. He may be grieved. He may be quenched. He may be lied to. He may be tested. He may be resisted. He may be blasphemed.[HIGH-LIGHT]And all of these things indicate that He is indeed a person. [/HIGH-LIGHT]
And when you look at the Bible,, you find that He has all of the attributes that all the rest of the trinity have. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is eternal, that He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, holy, and glorious. The Bible calls Him God, Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Yahweh,, the Spirit of the Lord God, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of His Son. And He is called the Comforter.
The Bible tells us that He was active in creation. That He indwelt certain people living in the Old Testament period for special empowering. That He convicts men, that He enables men to serve God, that He is the agent by which the Scriptures were written, that in the life of Christ, for example, He was involved in His birth, in His baptism, His temptation, His anointing, His teaching, His miracles, His death and His resurrection. That in the world, the Holy Spirit is involved in convicting men of sin, in calling men to Himself,, and as well, calling men into service. He is involved in witnessing to the testimony of Christ. He is involved in regenerating or bringing about the new birth.
And the Bible tells us that in the case of the believer, the Holy Spirit is engaged in glorifying Christ in the life of a believer. He indwells the believer. He fills the believer. He imparts to the believer the fruit of the Spirit. He imparts to the believer the gifts of the Spirit. He seals, communes, fellowships with, teaches, prays, wars with the flesh, comforts, prays for, sanctifies, empowers for service. It goes on and on.[HIGH-LIGHT]In every sense, fulfilling the role of God in a very special way is the third person of the trinity[/HIGH-LIGHT].
Amen
Troy
