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And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52
Do not get drunk with wine, for that living recklessly; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18

Paul taught the early believers to “be filled with the Spirit.” Being filled with the Spirit is both a privilege and an essential part of living a Christian life. The word “filled” is in the present tense and is to be a constant, repeated way of life. We are to be filled and then “re-filled” again and again.

As we grow more and more intimate with Jesus, we live more completely and continuously by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is in us:

“Since the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies through the presence of his Spirit in you” (Rom. 8:11). (more…)

So I say, walk by the Spirit…
Yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit…
Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives
Galatians 5:16

We’ve been looking at the Holy Spirit theologically and so far we’ve looked at Him from the perspective of Academic theology, Historical theology, Spiritual theology, and today we’ll look at the Holy Spirit from Practical theology.

Practical theology asks the “What now?” Given the truths we’ve discovered, how do we personally apply what we know in a hands-on way? How does this change you and me?

1. First of all, the Holy Spirit gives us supernatural power. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It’s telling that Paul warned us to stay far away from Christians who don’t have power (2 Tim 3:5). Just look at the disciples before and after the Spirit indwelled them at Pentecost (Acts 2ff). What now? What are we going to do with this power? (more…)

[Jesus said,] I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. John 16:7

In today’s verse, Jesus gives us an amazing promise about the Holy Spirit, yet many of us just gloss over it: It is to our advantage, He said, that He return to heaven, because then we can receive the Spirit. If asked whether we would rather have Jesus beside us or the Spirit inside us, how many of us would really choose the Spirit? This is where Spiritual Theology comes in.

When spiritual theology looks at a principle, it asks “So what?” What difference does it make? How does this work out in our every-day lives? What does my own (and other’s) life-experience teach us about this?

Did you know that the largest Christian denomination on earth has only in the last 25 years conceded that the earth is round? That’s right. For centuries they taught flat earth. Then as that position became harder to defend they sort of let the matter go quiet. Finally, on Oct 31, 1992, they capitulated. What took them so long? They didn’t have their Spiritual Theology down. They clung to badly interpreted proof texts and ignored the evidence of orbiting spacecrafts. They ignored experience.

For many Christians, the same thing holds true when they consider the Holy Spirit. They cling to badly interpreted proof texts and ignores all that the Holy Spirit is doing in other parts of the Body. Complaining about ‘excesses’ and warning of Satan posing as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14), they tuck the Holy Spirit into a category of things not understood and go on their way. (more…)

I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter (Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener), the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be with you—and He will never leave you…You will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you. John 14:16,17

Last time we talked about 4 ways to look at any hard-to-grasp topic in the Bible. 

1.      Academic theology asks What? What can we learn intellectually and how should we interpret that information?
2.      Historical theology asks When? It looks at what has been learned over time and how does it relate to our current understanding?
3.      Spiritual theology asks “So what?” How does this work out in our every-day lives? What does my own (and others’) life-experience teach us?
4.      Practical theology asks the “What now?” Given the truths we’ve discovered, how do we personally apply what we know in a hands-on way? How does this change you and me?

So today I want to look at the first way to look at the Holy Spirit: What information do we have? (more…)

Then, taking a deep breath, [Jesus] blew on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:22

When we look at a topic like the Holy Spirit there are at least four ways to look at it: academic, historical, spiritual, and practical. All are theological, and most people only look at the Holy Spirit one or two of these ways, which accounts for why the topic of the Holy Spirit can get so clouded. 

So today I want to consider HOW we look at the Spirit…

Academic theology (including systematic, biblical, exegetical, and lexical) explores the “What?” questions. It’s based on logic, philosophical questions and cognitive understanding. If we were to look at water from this viewpoint, we’d see a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, and consider the qualities of water (liquid, solid, gas), its erosive nature, etc. Of course, Academic theology begins looking at the Spirit from the texts of the Bible, and quickly breaks down those texts in an orderly and logical way, reaching conclusions based on that orderly scholarship.

Historical theology explores the development of doctrine over time. It asks the “When?” questions. It uncovers and presents the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in evangelical tradition or other traditions and how it has evolved from the time of the Bible writes and church fathers to arrive at the state it is today. Using our water analogy, we’d see the historical: what did people used to think about water, how has that changed? Where is the latest thinking leading? Of course, historical theology begins with the texts of the Bible and quickly moves on to how those texts were interpreted in the early church, the church of the Middle Ages, the reformation, various renewal and revivals since then. (more…)

The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  2 Corinthians 13:14

Last time I provided two high-level steps to pursue if we want to meet with the Holy Spirit personally: 1. Ask the Holy Spirit to meet with us and reveal Himself to us in personal ways. 2. Ask people we know who seem to walk closer with the Spirit than we do to pray for us to receive more of the Spirit’s tangible presence in our lives.

Simple, right? Well, it’s amazing how many Christians are afraid to do that. Why? Because we don’t have an accurate concept of the Holy Spirit’s personality. So when we think of the Spirit it’s all kinds of weird… maybe even creepy… emotions. We know that this is God we’re talking about, but many of us have heard about Christians that are into the Holy Spirit that don’t fit our model of Christian decorum.

If that describes you, then let me admit that there are excesses out there. True. But that’s no reason to live in spiritual poverty just so you won’t be linked with the excesses that sometimes associated with spiritual wealth.

It’s kind of like some poor person saying, “I don’t want to be wealthy… have you seen the headlines in the grocery store checkout mags? Those wealthy people are wacko!” If that’s how you feel, let me tell you that there are plenty of wealthy people who aren’t wacko—you just never read about them in the grocery store checkout.

The same applies to what today’s verse calls, “the communion of the Holy Spirit,” which Paul prays over the Corinthian believers. If we knew the Holy Spirit as a person, this wouldn’t be a problem. You *hear* about people doing odd things in meetings where the Spirit is moving. (more…)