The Spirit in the Church - Part 1

Intro:
Is the Holy Spirit active in the Church like He was in Acts? Does God still communicate with believers? How does God interact with us today?

Clearly God speaks through His Word but does He speak through the Spirit and if He does, what does that look like?

We will look at the Spirit in the Church for this next series.

Read:
1 Corinthians 12:1-6

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.

3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

Think:
God is active in the Church today and He still speaks. He is a God of communication. From the very beginning to today God is communicating.

The Puritans rightly recognized God's communication in creation. They called it the "first book of God" and told believers that they had to "read" it.

All Christians through all time have recognized that God has communicated through His word, the Bible as well.

God is always communicating.

The folks in Corinth had turned from "mute idols" to the living God. Their dead idols were also dumb idols! They could not communicate.

Not so with God! He is active and communicating. The Holy Spirit is always at work revealing the things of God to the people of God. He is active, giving wisdom and knowledge ... revealing and speaking.

The Trinity is active in church ministry (v. 4-6). We have gifts given by the power of Holy Spirit. We have ministries happen by the power of the Lord Jesus. We have different outcomes and effects by the power of God the Father.

Interesting that we do not control what gifts we receive, where we get to use them or how effective those gifts will be. The Lord works all this after His will.

Ours is to be open to the Lord in our lives.

Do:
Are you open to hearing from the Lord? He is speaking. The Holy Spirit, as you will see this week, is open for business. He does not have laryngitis!

Ask the Lord to speak to you this week. As you read the Word, ask the Lord to speak to you.

We will see our need of dependence on the Lord this week. We will see how significant the Spirit is to our walk with Jesus.

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