Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Home Improvement – I Thessalonians 4:1-8

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homeimprovement“We urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you…God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor…God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” (I Thessalonians 4:1-8, NLT).

A few years ago my wife and I purchased a new home. Because the house was newly built, there were many things we needed to do to it.

Wisdom’s Call – Proverbs 8

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thinkingmanProverbs 8 extols the value of acquiring wisdom. It does so by personifying, even deifying, wisdom.

In a previous meditation I said that acquiring wisdom is important because wisdom is the creative energy of God.

Proverbs 8 enlarges on that supposition: “The Lord made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago. I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began… when He laid out the foundations of the earth. I was a skilled craftsman beside Him. I was His delight every day,always rejoicing before Him. I was rejoicing in His inhabited world, delighting in the human race” (vs. 22-23,29-31).

With wisdom God established the universe and through wisdom God declared the knowledge of Himself to people.

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Examine Yourself – Leviticus 6:18, 7:21

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“Anything that touches the offerings will become holy…If someone touches anything unclean…and eats meat from the Lord’s fellowship sacrifice, that person must be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 6:18, 7:2, HCSB).

Leviticus Chapters 6 and 7 contain descriptions of the five offerings of the ancient Jewish sacrificial system and instructions to the priests in conducting these offerings.

There’s an important principle about holiness revealed in these guidelines that’s particularly important for spiritual development.

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The Glory That Never Fades – Exodus 34:34-35

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“But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord” (Exodus 34:34-35, NLT).

When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai (for the second time) with God’s commandments etched on stone tablets, the skin on his face was radiant from God’s glory because he talked with God face to face.

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Touched By God – Exodus 30:17-21

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord—or they will die! They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation” (Exodus 30:17-21, NLT).

God commanded Moses to have a washbasin and a stand constructed so the priests could wash their hands and feet before entering the holy place of the Tabernacle complex.

Because God is holy–He is distinct from His creation–then what is used for His service cannot be used for any other purpose.

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They Will Want What You Have – Acts 13:4,9-12

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“So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit…Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye…Then he said….the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind…When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.” (Acts 13:4,9-12, NLT)

Barnabas and Paul’s first missionary journey was undertaken by the leading and in the power the Holy Spirit.

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Believing or Belonging? – Acts 11:26

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“The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” (Acts 11:26, HCSB)The term “Christian” occurs only three times in the New Testament.

Besides this verse, in Acts 26:28 King Herod Agrippa asked if the Apostle Paul was trying to persuade him to become a Christian and in 1 Peter 4:16 the Apostle Peter referred to suffering for being a Christian.

The word for Christian in the Greek is Christianos and comes from christos, meaning “anointed one” with a modifier borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership.

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Daily Deliverance – Acts 10:34

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“Then Peter began to speak: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10:34, HCSB)

A Roman military commander by the name of Cornelius lived in the city of Caesarea in the region of Samaria north of Judea. Although Cornelius was not a Jew, he worshiped God in the custom of the Jews.Cornelius had a vision to request the Apostle Peter, who was staying in the city of Joppa about 50 miles away, to come to his home.

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The Power of Integrity – Acts 5:32

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“We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32, NLT)

After a first wave of persecution by the Jewish religious leaders, the early Church flourished because it had been empowered by God: “Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.” (Acts 5:14, NLT).

Acts 5:1-11 records the events that precipitated this great demonstration of the power of God in the Church.

A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold some property and brought a portion of the proceeds to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount.

The Apostle Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, recognized their deception and told them they had embezzled the money from God: “You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” (vs. 3-4).

Both Ananias and Sapphira fell dead when Peter confronted them with their sin!

Their lack of integrity had the potential to compromise the Church  and so they fell under the direct judgment of God.

The sudden judgment on Ananias and Sapphira had a sobering effect on both the believers and others who heard about the incident.  

A believer’s integrity is critical to the effectiveness of his or her witness to others.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not hindered when believers live and act with integrity.

To engage in deception and somehow think that God doesn’t know is a fundamental misconception of one’s faith (or lack of faith). That sort of behavior would certainly call into question whether the deceiver really knows Christ and has the indwelling Holy Spirit.

For the Church to thrive and effectively (and powerfully) declare the gospel, Christ’s followers must be people of the highest integrity.

“The way of the Lord is a stronghold to those with integrity.” (Provers 10:29, NLT).

Bold! – Acts 4:31

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“When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness” (Acts 4:31, HCSB).

Because Peter and John had healed a man who was lame from birth by the power of God and “were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead, using Jesus as the example” (vs. 2), the Sadducees became provoked.

These religious authorities did not believe in resurrection because they did not think it was taught in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, which was the only portion of Scripture they believed authoritative.

So they had Peter and John arrested!

When Peter and John appeared before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious tribunal, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly, passionately and persuasively proclaimed the gospel of Jesus to save and heal to these religious leaders.

The members of the Sanhedrin were amazed by the boldness of Peter and John, knowing they were not formally educated in the Jewish law. So, the Sanhedrin turned them loose but forbid them to preach and teach in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John answered that they could not stop telling the story of Jesus.

The boldness of Peter in this situation stands in contrast to his denial of Christ on the night of His arrest before He was crucified.

Boldness is referenced three times in Acts 4:1-31 (vs. 13, 29, 31):

  1. The boldness of Peter and John was observed by the Jewish religious leaders (vs. 13);
  2. the Church in Jerusalem prayed for boldness to proclaim the gospel (vs. 29); and
  3. the Church was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness (vs. 31).

Being bold is both a desired and essential behavior for Christians. Boldness was needed by the disciples in the early Church. Boldness is needed in the Church today!

Besides helping us speak the right words at the right time, boldness helps us persuade people about the truth of the gospel because they can see that we actually believe what we say they should believe.

We should pray and ask God for boldness and then expect God to empower us with boldness to speak and live righteously as a convincing witness and testimony to the gospel of Jesus in our lives.

“Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness.” (2 Corinthians 3:12, HCSB)