Week 12 / Adventure 3 I hope i havent jinxed anything..........I put my winter coat away today! Perfectly blue sky and sunshine all day made it actually feel like spring is here. I see green things poking up out of the dirt, robins in the yard, all signs of snow melted........I think weve made it. Today was a great display of God at work up at Messiah. They have decided that every month that has 5 Sundays in it they will have a joint service. Today was the first of these. Now, that might not sound like such a big deal, but when you see how different the 2 services are it is quite an accomplishment for the 2 to come together bringing the best of both, followed by a potluck with plenty of food and people just hanging out together. Someone said that is the most fun they have had there in a long time. The, making every effort to maintain unity in the body, message that Paul speaks of in Ephesians was definitely a reality today. And it was beautiful. Mike continued his teaching on Ephesains 4, focusing on the Holy Spirit. He asked what image comes to mind when we think of the Holy Spirit. Most everyone sees a dove. So he told us to put aside the image we have and remember that the Holy Spirit is not a bird, He is a living Creator God of the universe, the fullness of God. The invited presence of God in us, ineffable, unexplainable. There are so many dimensions to the Holy Spirit that it would take weeks to cover them all. So this is just a few of the qualities to think about. 1. Unity does not equal uniformity. Uniformity robs us of the width and breadth of the vastness of God. We do not all look alike, think alike, act alike, but we must be united in spirit. 2. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw our attention to God, to worship Him, to teach, to guide, to comfort. 3. You cant see the wind. But you can feel and see the effects of the wind. Likewise, you cant see the Holy Spirit, but you can see and feel the effects of Him. You know the working of the Holy Spirit by the results. 4. We grieve the Holy spirit when we say no thanks to God and do things our own way in rebellion, forgetting all the things God has done. 5.The Holy Spirit will only take up as much room in your life as you allow Him to have. We need to get rid of the stuff that is taking up room that belongs to the Holy Spirit This requires submission and sacrifice. 6. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit you are filled with joy, which is different than happiness. You can experience joy no matter what your circumstances are if you allow the Holy Spirit to take up space in your life. 7. Being filled with the Holy Spirit gives you a deep sense of thanksgiving for all God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done. 8. Zephania 3:17 speaks of how God delights over us, rejoicing and singing over us, dancing and celebrating us. When we truly grasp the fact that God delights in us our response should be to want more and more. So if pneuma is Greek for spirit........maybe we should all become pneumaholics. Just a thought.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:31:36 +0000
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