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What Is Christianity Explained Information?
What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
Who or What Is God?
What Is Christianity?
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
Can I Understand the Bible?
What Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So Many World Religions?
Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
The Ten Commandments
What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
How Do I Identify a Cult?
Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Why Are We Here?
Where Do We Go When We Die?
Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis - Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
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The Holy Spirit: What Is It, What Does It Do, and Why Should I Care?
The
Holy Spirit is the third person of the "triune Godhead", or the
Trinity. I like to call it God's action arm. If you are going to be
touched by God, it will be through the Holy Spirit. Why? Because Jesus
is no longer alive to be God's mover and shaker, and because God, as
the sum total of righteousness, cannot occupy the same space as sin
without destroying it. As you remember, when dealing with Moses, he hid
Moses in the cleft of a rock and held his hand over Moses eyes as he
passed by because his glory would have blinded Moses. As it
was, the effect of his Glory made Moses glow when he decended from the
mountain. Even his reflected glory temporarily blinded
Saul (Paul) when he met Jesus in vision on the road to Damascus.
Thus,
having proven by the history of mankind and especially the Jews that no
one can live a righteous life without God's immediate and almost
constant help, God has made available to us a spiritual lifeline to
himself. According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is how he intends to
be with his children, since he cannot be with them physically.
| And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; |
| Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know
him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. |
| I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. |
| Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. |
| At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. |
| He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. |
| Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? |
| Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love
me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him. |
| He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. |
| These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. |
| But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. |
You'll notice that Jesus plainly says he will come, through the Spirit, to those who obey him, and Peter reiterated it.
| "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." |
If
someone exhibits what he or she thinks is the Holy Spirit, but he or
she is not obeying God, the spirit that person is exhibiting is not
necessarily the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit will uplift
Jesus as the Son of the Living God and the Savior of mankind,
in agreement with the witness of the apostles who accompanied
Jesus in his ministry.
| But when the Comforter is
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: |
| And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. |
It
was easy for those who had accompanied Christ to identify the Holy
Spirit when it came to them because they had lived with what the Spirit
would testify of. It's a bit harder for us today, 2000 +/-years
later.
The
Holy Spirit is given to teach and help us remember what we've already
been taught when we need it. These remembrances should comfort us
and convince us that Jesus was in God, and is in us, and that we are in
him. How does he do this? Through gifts and fruits.
| And God hath set some in
the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. |
| Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? |
| Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? |
| But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. |
| So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. |
| Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; |
| Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; |
| Or he that exhorteth, on
exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that
ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. |
The Holy Spirit cannot be purchased.
| And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, |
| saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." |
| But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! |
| "You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. |
| "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. |
| "For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." |
| Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." |
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