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June 24th, 2012

6/24/2012

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WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Most of Christians know that Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
We need to keep in mind two fundamental facts about the Holy Spirit.
1. Holy Spirit is a person
The Scripture clearly refers to the Holy Spirit as Person.
He is not some kind of force or a thing to address as ‘it’.
Holy Spirit communicates through His mind. (Romans 8:27)
Holy Spirit speaks like person. (Acts 13:2)
Holy Spirit commands as we see in Acts 8:29.
Holy Spirit has a will to distribute the gifts of the Spirit to whomever He wants. (1Cor 12)
Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:30 that Holy Spirit grieves like a person.
In the words of our Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit is declared as ‘He’. (John 16:3)
2. Holy Spirit is  God
Acts 5 records the incident happened with Ananias  Sapphira.
They have sinned against Holy Spirit for telling a lie.
In verses 3-4, Apostle Peter clearly equates Holy Spirit to God.
3. Names given to Holy Spirit
He is called ‘The Lord’ in 2 Cor 13:18; He is called the Spirit of God in 1 Cor 2:10;
He is called the SPIRIT of Truth in John 15:26.
Lastly Holy Spirit is called ‘the Eternal Spirit.
Heb 9:14, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
We see here the glimpse of TINITY in action.
We need to keep this basic understanding of the Holy Spirit in our faith walk.

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June 11th, 2012

6/11/2012

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Some preacher said that Bethlehem is ‘God with us’;Calvary is ‘God for us’; and Pentecost is ‘God in us’.
Three persons of the Trinity (God Head) visited Planet earth in the course of human history.
God the Father visited when Moses was receiving the Law and the Ten Commandments.
He descended upon Mt Sinai in Shekinah GloryHoly Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity came upon the first believers at Pentecost.
He visited from time to time to equip certain individuals to do tasks for God in the Old Testament.
At Pentecost HE came to stay on Planet Earth till Lord Jesus returns.
Lord Jesus first came as a child at Bethlehem, lived for 33 and half years, died for human sin, on the third day HE rose from the dead and appeared to many before HE ascended to heaven.
HE will come again in glory for the Second time as King of Kings and Lord of Lord to rule the earth for 1000years.
THE CONTRAST OF THE EVENTS AT MOUNT SINAI & PENTECOST
At Mount Sinai the birth of the Law of God and at Pentecost the birth of the Church.
At Mt Sinai, divine visitation was for Moses for a specific purpose of giving the Law.
At Pentecost, Holy Spirit as tongues of fire rested on each individual to indwell them.
At Pentecost, God gives Holy Spirit to all believers to transform them internally.
Holy Spirit’s significance is thru HIS Presence, HIS Purity and HIS Power. 
THE PRESENCE
Pentecost presents the indwelling of God in the believer by way of the Holy Spirit.
Today all believers are indwelt with the Spirit at the moment of their conversion.
The awesome presence of God is now available to all at any given time.
The real truth of Pentecost is that the supernatural presence of God in every believer.
THE PURGING
Like the fire that purifies the gold and silver, Holy Spirit does the same in a believer.
HE cleanses us. HE changes us.  HE makes us like :Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit begins to cleanse all uncleanness of the heart and brings out the best in us thru purification.
Holy Spirit ultimately sees the reflection of Lord Jesus in every believer in HIM.
THE POWER
Today we may not be speaking different languages but gives power to speak boldly.
To share the Gospel without confusion and fear
Because of the Power of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel message is proclaimed worldwide.
Without that power, the Church of the Lord would not have grown to what it is today.There was Power at Pentecost and the same power still rests on all believers today.
Because of the Power people faced all persecutions, difficulties and even death.
That indwelling Power compels us to go where we can never dream of going.
That indwelling Power energizes us to do things we can never dream of doing.
We have the Presence, we have been purified, and we have the Power.
Let us humbly submit to His Presence, to His Purification process and to His Power.

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June 03rd, 2012

6/3/2012

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Zechariah 3:1-10
Today this Scripture helps us to understand that God is more interested not in our outward dress but what we are inside.
Zechariah sees a strange vision in the temple where The Angel of the Lord, Joshua in filthy clothes, Satan and other associates were present.
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD is Lord Jesus in His pre-incarnate manifestation.
It is called CHRISTOPHANY and He is the one speaking in this vision.
Joshua was the high priest in the temple.
Satan is accusing Joshua for his unworthy dress and filthiness.
Here in the vision Joshua represents filthy, unworthy Israel to worship the LORD.
Why because of their exile living and compromising with other religions and practices.
Most of the people in Zechariah’s day had been born in Babylon
The Lord orders to take of those filthy clothes and put on brand new.
8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.
What Zechariah was seeing in that vision are things to happen in future during the period of ‘The Branch’
The Branch is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is going to remove the filthy garments of all humanity and replace them with fine garments of righteousness.
Adam in the Garden of Eden brought sin into this world.
Since then all humanity was stained with sin and filthy, unclean in their heart
Joshua is a typical picture of every person who is lost in sin.  
Are we religious or we redeemed?
Most of the people living in the world today fall under the first category.
If they are just religious, they are classified as filthy and unclean to have a heart that cannot become the Temple of the Lord.
Today we have no Temple like Jerusalem Temple.
The Scripture says that we are the Temple of the Living God.
Our heart becomes the temple of the Living God.
The Redeemed are the ones who are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The redeemed has a new heart fit to become the Temple of the Lord.
They are provided with garments of righteousness.
The redeemed are the best dressed people in the world.
1 Sam. 16:7b: “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
In Heaven, the list of the best-dressed people is updated every second.
The redeemed are the best dressed people in the world.
Today you may ask yourself this question: Am I religious or am I redeemed?

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    Author

    Pastor John Sesham
    Abundant Grace Community Church, Hayward.

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