Spirit and Truth in One

Last Sunday I tried a new church and fell in love. I fell in love with the people. I fell in love with their openness. I fell in love with their passion. I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. To top it off, the message was exactly what I needed to hear. Imagine that! ;) We just so happened to start a new series on the Holy Spirit. Seriously, perfect timing to pair with the conversations I've had recently, the book I've been reading recently and ultimately exactly what God has been teaching me.

Below are my notes, thoughts, quotes, etc all meshed in one.

Acts 18:24 "Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures."

Sounds great, right? He had a thorough knowledge of the scriptures...this is something to be envied. However, the latter part of vs 26 says that Priscilla and Aquila "invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."

God is thoroughly in the scriptures, but there is so much more to God than just knowledge. The question that needs to be asked is this, "Do I have a living, acting, knowledge AND experience of the Holy Spirit?"

John 4:24 says "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

There is no separating the Spirit and truth. You can't say that you believe in the Bible but not believe in the Holy Spirit. My pastor said "Get off the see saw! You are missing out AND actually swinging in error." We can not continue to separate the Spirit and truth...And here is proof:

From the very beginning Genesis 1 says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. He was there from the very beginning. The Holy Spirit is the co-eternal, exact representation of God on earth with us. Genesis 1:26 reveals a plural pronoun saying "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness."

2 Corinthians 13:14 says "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." The Father, the Son and the Spirit - three in one. God is calling us to embrace the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." We can't treat the Holy Spirit as a commodity. The Holy Spirit grieves and loves. The Holy Spirit is not an "it". You can't choose God and Jesus without the Holy Spirit. They are all co-equal.

John 14:16-17 shows that the Holy Spirit is our advocate.

John 14:26 shows that the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds us.

Jesus by choice limited himself to time and space. In John 16, Jesus explained to his disciples that it would be BETTER for him to leave and for them to have the Holy Spirit because we can have the Spirit all the time. Jesus could only physically be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit dwells within those who believe. The presence of God IS the Holy Spirit.

Example: the wind. We can't see it, but we certainly see the effect. A relationship with God should be accompanied with the effects of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

Pastor Fred then pointed out something that I had never really thought of before. He said "The spirit realm is more real than the physical realm. The Spirit of God created the physical world so all of reality actually dwells in the Spirit of God." Now if this doesn't get you excited, I'm not sure what will!

Ephesians 1:13 says that we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. When a king marked a document with a seal it was binding and authoritative. No one could take that away. How true is that that we are marked with the very Spirit of the living God - the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! No person, no spirit, no entity, no experience, no sin, no fear, no doubt - NOTHING can separate us from the Spirit living and dwelling in us.

Meditate on the Bible, yes, but there is SO much more that He wants to show us as His children!

Joshua was told by God to study the law of Moses. Joshua was obedient and knew the law backwards and forwards. But then God told Joshua to march around the walls and shout and then the walls would fall down. Where was that in the law of Moses? It wasn't. He had to listen to the Lord's Spirit. The Bible provides truth but the Holy Spirit speaks in the NOW way.

Romans 5:8 shares God's love being poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. I certainly want God's love. I can't receive God's love, or healing, or blessing or favor through any other facet except His Spirit.

I can memorize every scripture in the Bible. In fact, I would personally love to do that. But what good is it, if we are not whole-heartedly listening to the Spirit for what we are supposed to DO?

Accept the Spirit. Accept His role in your life. Experience, literally, a whole new world of possibilities.