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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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