Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Today it's not as risky to confess the Holy Spirit works directly in a believer's life. Twenty-five years ago it was another story. We were grilled in school to never go liberal by saying the Holy Spirit works directly in our lives. I kept such a vow with great pride until the Word would not let me do so another day.
But what about an organization or a group heritage that deletes the Holy Spirit from it's belief code? How will such a system function? Simply by reading the above passage taken from Ephesians 4:1-3, the message is piled high with Holy Spirit fruit words: gentleness, patience, love, and peace. This is the kind of people produced by the Holy Spirit. He bears this sort of produce in God's children.
So what will the church look like if she denies the Holy Spirit activity? The opposite would be true: hateful, bitter, prideful, impatient, and divisive. These marks identify many of the early Restoration groups. Such still exists in strong pattern. If the Holy Spirit is denied access to a group, they cannot possibly bear His fruit nor experience His unity.
Our charge is to determine whether the church of Christ, as far as we have influence, will possess the Holy Spirit or the Hollow Spirit. May we grow in the traits He puts forth.
3 comments:
That makes a lot of things make so much sense....and it is scary true.
I have been so out of touch lately. I am so sorry about all the ice you have had. I hope and pray things are looking up and getting warmer!
Even though it's not as risky to confess our belief in the Holy Spirit, are we as Christians actually letting the Holy Spirit work in our lives? If we don't allow the Holy Spirit to take over our lives and bear fruit, He surely won't be able to bear much fruit in our churches either. Great Thoughts! It was so good to get to "hear" you today!
Brother Terry, wonderful encouragement today! If we don't surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to be "the spirit" in our lives then isn't the spirit of the flesh going to prevail? Oh how we have missed the mark and cheated ourselves of the precious gift God gives to us, His Spirit! Thanks for the blessing of encouragement.
Eddie
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