https://www.moodybible.org/beliefs/positional-statements/holy-spirit/

The Holy Spirit today plays a major role in the application of salvation to the individual.

• It is the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever and causes him to see the truth of the gospel in a clear light.
• Those who respond to this conviction and place their faith in Jesus Christ receive eternal life and a new nature.
• The Holy Spirit unites the believer with Christ and places him in the body of Christ, the church.
• He also unites the believer with Christ in His death, enabling him to live victoriously over sin.
• The Holy Spirit controls the believer who yields to God and submits himself to God’s Word.
• When these conditions are met, the believer lives in the power of the Spirit and produces the fruit of the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit indwells the believer permanently. While the child of God may sin and grieve the Spirit, the Spirit will never leave the true believer.
• Absence of the Holy Spirit is the mark of the unsaved.
• The Holy Spirit seals the believer.
• This ministry guarantees the security of the believer “until the day of redemption.”
• The Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts or abilities for service to every believer.
• Although His restraint of evil in the world today will cease with the rapture,
• He will continue to be present in the earth. In the tribulation period the Spirit will be involved in salvation and filling.
• In the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Spirit will be in God’s people and the Spirit will be upon the King.

Be Filled With the Spirit

https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/transferable-concepts/be-filled-with-the-holy-spirit.html

Not yielded to God, the worldly believer is usually a miserable person — even more miserable than the non-Christian. He is in a period of stunted spiritual growth because he is not confessing and repenting of his sins, and Satan has succeeded in influencing and controlling him through the flesh.

The worldly or carnal Christian certainly experiences the conviction of the Holy Spirit and will not continue in his sins indefinitely; otherwise, he is possibly not a Christian at all. But defeated and fruitless, he depends on self-effort to live the Christian life instead of drawing on the supernatural, inexhaustible resources of the Holy Spirit. Grasping self-interest in one hand and groping for God’s blessing with the other, this person fails again and again to live the Christian life in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit.

Having experienced the joy and blessing of fellowship with God, he has lost present contact and does not know how to recapture that lost fellowship. Yet, the worldly believer can never be satisfied with that old way of life again, and in search of happiness and fulfillment, this person has become self-centered instead of Christ-centered.

As a result, he has become increasingly confused and frustrated and does not know what to do about it. He does not know how to live by faith, and instead he lives by feeling. The worldly Christian tries rather than trusts. He does not know how to stop being worldly nor how to become a spiritual Christian. The only one who can enable him to change is, of course, the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life is a miraculous and supernatural life. Christianity is not what you do for God, but what He does for you. Apart from faith in Christ, you cannot become a Christian, and apart from moment by moment faith or dependence on Him, you cannot live the Christian life. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, Christ lives His supernatural life in and through you.

But the average Christian does not understand how to draw upon the resurrection resources of Christ by faith. As a result, the worldly believer lives in spiritual poverty, not knowing or experiencing his great riches and resources, which are his heritage in Christ.

Lack of knowledge is not the only reason that Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Many of them basically do not believe in God’s trustworthiness and are afraid to relinquish control of their lives to the Holy Spirit for fear that God will require the impossible from them — that He will change their plans, ask them to give away their wealth, take all the fun from their lives, make them endure tragedies or something similar.

Though you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith and faith alone, it is important to recognize that several factors contribute to preparing your heart for the filling of the Spirit.

1. First, you must desire to live a life that will please the Lord. You have the promise of our Savior: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
2. Second, be willing to surrender your life totally and irrevocably to our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul admonishes in Romans 12:1-2, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
3. Third, confess every known sin which the Holy Spirit calls to your remembrance and experience the cleansing and forgiveness that God promises in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Being filled with the Holy Spirit, however, is not a once-and-for-all experience. There are many fillings, as is made clear in Ephesians 5:18. In the Greek language, in which this command was originally written, the meaning is clearer than that in most English translations. This command of God means to be constantly and continually filled, controlled and empowered with the Holy Spirit as a way of life.

I cannot control myself and be controlled by the Holy Spirit at the same time. Christ cannot be in control if I am on the throne. So I must abdicate. This involves faith. As an expression of my will, in prayer, I surrender the throne of my life to Him, and by faith I draw upon His resources to live a holy and fruitful life.

Develop Dependency by Listening to the Holy Spirit

https://healthyleaders.com/the-three-works-of-the-holy-spirit-dependency/#:~:text=We%20can%20develop%20dependency%20by,to%20listen%20to%20His%

Dependency is continuous walking in the Spirit. Just as Jesus lived in continuous inward fellowship with His Father, so we are to be continuously dependent on God. As we do this, the Holy Spirit changes us.

Living in constant inward fellowship with God means living minute by minute in the inward presence of the Lord Jesus by His Spirit. This does not necessarily involve emotions and feelings, but it is a spiritual consciousness of the presence of God, a lifestyle of drawing life, wisdom, peace, and strength from His life. A total dependence on God continuously looks at Him with the eyes of our hearts.

Jesus gave us a wonderful promise of abiding fellowship with God (John 14:21-23):..… He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him … My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

This is a promise of the manifestation (“show Myself”) and continuous presence (“Our home”) of God in our hearts. We can live in this continuous inward fellowship with Jesus by His Spirit. As we do this, we will draw from His strength and His wisdom in order to fulfill His purposes (John 15:4-5).

Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man abides in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.Jesus lived in continuous fellowship with His Father, and through that fellowship He drew from, and lived by, His Father’s life

What Does It Mean to Abide in Christ?

.https://www.christianity.com/bible/bible-study/what-does-it-mean-to-abide-in-christ.html

Connection with Jesus    Abiding in Jesus first of all means having a life-giving connection to him. A branch is connected to the vine, and a vine to the branch. This is what theologians frequently describe as “union with Christ.” Notice that this connection, this union, is mutual. We abide in him and he abides in us (John 15:4). If there is no connection, there is no life, no fruit.

Dependence on Jesus    But abiding also implies dependence. This aspect of abiding, unlike connection, is not reciprocal. The branch is dependent on the vine, but the vine is not dependent on the branch. The branch derives its life and power from the vine. Without the vine, the branch is useless, lifeless, powerless. Sap flows from the vine to the branch, supplying it with water, minerals, and nutrients that make it grow. And believers receive the “sap” of Christ’s grace through our life-giving connection to him. We are completely dependent upon Jesus for everything that counts as spiritual fruit (John 15:4). Apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Continuance with Jesus   Abiding also involves continuance. In fact, “abide” (Greek, meno) means to remain, or stay, or continue. For example, in John 1:38-39, two of the disciples who first encountered Jesus asked him “Where are you staying?” They wanted to know where Jesus made his residence. The word “staying” is the same word translated “abide” in John 15. To abide is to reside. To abide is to continue, to stay, to remain.

Chapter 29 Questions

1. After having read Chapter 29, please share one “take away “ thought/insight that will be helpful in your daily walk.
2. Pg 222: Discuss what it means to have an openness to the Holy Spirit’s control . What fears do you have that could be thwarting your openness?
3. Pg 223: Discuss what it looks like to be dependent upon His control. What is Thrasher saying with “ You cannot trust God for something that has not been surrendered to Him.” Discuss Thrasher’s statement “Dependence on the Spirit does not mean inactivity, but it does mean activating our faith before we activate our wills “.
4. Pg 225: Discuss what it looks like to be responsive to His control.
5. Pg 226: “ It is God’s Word that explains to us how to be open, dependent, and responsive to God’s Spirit” (Thrasher). Share how God’s Word is helping you abide in the Lord. Give specifics from your daily time in the Word.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

https://pastorrick.com/set-these-four-goals-to-grow-more-like-jesus/

We were created to become like Jesus Christ, so let’s use him as a model for growth. The Bible tells us that Jesus grew in four ways: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52 NIV).

If you want to be like Jesus, then you have to grow intellectually, physically, relationally, and spiritually. As you read through these points, be thinking of one goal you can set for yourself in each of these four areas.

The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:18, “Grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (TLB). I’ve found in my life that the smallest goal I set in this area reaps the most incredible benefits. As you think through this one, ask, “What can I do that will make the biggest difference?” Even a small thing can make a huge difference. Or what have you been putting off when it comes to spiritual growth? Do that one first when it comes to this goal.

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holy-spirit/how-are-believers-empowered-by-the-holy-spirit.html

God is a giving God. Because of that, he pulls from the unsearchable, limitless resources of his glory to give us strength or power in our inner being through the Holy Spirit.

First, notice that the location where God works is in our “inner being” or our souls. God is not concerned about our physique or attractiveness. As he told the prophet, Samuel, “the LORD sees not as man sees… the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Our identity is on the inside. That is why God focuses on our souls, and that is where he brings change and strengthens us.

Secondly, notice that God strengthens our souls with the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? We could spend so much time here but let me give a few basics.

The Holy Spirit:

• is God, the third part of the Trinity; is a person (not an “it” or a “thing”)
• is often misunderstood and even forgotten; lives within believers as the personal presence and power of God
• is our soul’s “pneuma” (Greek for “force”); our “fresh air;” the “wind in our sails”
• raised Jesus from the dead; gifts us to serve each other and reach others with the gospel
• convicts us of sin in our lives; confirms God’s Word as truth when we read it; is our best friend, comforter, uplifter, and helper 

Thirdly, notice how Paul is explaining that instead of the Holy Spirit making the Christian life better, he makes the Christian life possible. Without the Spirit, we cannot even come close to living the life that God has called us to.

That is what Paul wrote at the beginning of verse 17 that the Holy Spirit strengthens our inner beings: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” (Ephesians 3:17).

Lastly, notice that God’s goal for the Holy Spirit in our lives is not just maintenance, but abundance. Paul wrote in verse 19: “[so] that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

To be filled with the fullness of God is about allowing God to settle in, make himself at home, fully influence, overwhelm, and govern our lives. It is what is meant Paul meant in Romans 10:9 by confession Jesus as “Lord” of our lives.

https://rgcfairfax.org/3-ways-the-holy-spirit-helps-us-keep-gods-commands/

1. The Spirit strengthens, encourages, and helps the believer. Jesus introduces the Spirit here using the Greek word paracletos. This is a difficult word to translate into English. Literally, it means “one who is called alongside.” In the ancient world, a paraclete would have come to someone’s help in the way a defense attorney advocated for a defendant. Yet the word isn’t limited to court. The idea extends to someone who gives aid or who strengthens and encourages.
2. The Spirit stays with the believer forever. When Jesus introduces the Spirit as “another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:15), he’s speaking to disciples who are confused and anxious about his departure. What are they going to do without him? Can you imagine having Jesus as a friend and teacher and leader, and then having him disappear forever? Yet Jesus promises that the Spirit will be to them what he has been to them, and the Spirit will never leave.
3. The Spirit keeps pointing us to Jesus. The Spirit is not only another Helper, like Jesus, he’s also a witness who keeps pointing us to Jesus. “He will bear witness about me,” Jesus promises in John 15:26. He will remind us of how Christ has removed our guilt so we have access to God’s throne of grace. He will remind us of all that the Bible teaches us. He will stir our hearts to love Christ and desire to honor him. He will help us keep our eyes fixed on Christ so we can run our race well, fight the good fight, and finish the race with faith.

The Spirit is the key to Jesus’ disciples – both the ones he spoke to face-to-face and those today – being able to keep Jesus’ commandments. We can’t do it without him! He strengthens us, is always with us, and helps us keep our eyes on Christ. Honoring and remembering and depending upon the Holy Spirit is a crucial part of discipleship. One way I’ve found helpful to stir up faith for the Spirit’s ministry is to pray for it

Increase in Wisdom  pg 98   ( Thrasher ) ” Seeing life from God’s point of view….the ability to select the best goals for one’s life and the best means to achieve them…….the skill of living life before God .”

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/explore-the-bible/5-practical-steps-to-increase-in-godly-wisdom.html

When we look to our Savior’s example of how we should love, we see that “Jesus increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). A proverb that is a constant challenge to me reflects the importance of such growth stating, “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness” (Proverbs 15:14). Put another way, an intelligent person purposefully seeks knowledge, but fools nibble randomly, vacantly chewing on words and ideas that have no value, no flavor, and no nutrition.

What are you and I feeding our minds? Are we heeding this biblical warning about the danger of “garbage in, garbage out?” May we purposefully seek knowledge and guard against spending precious time on things that have no value. I know that I have wished and prayer for God’s knowledge and change in an area of my life only to realize two or three years have passed without my actively taking His advice and seeking it.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/get-wisdom

Now finally I want to mention five biblical instructions for how to get this wisdom. First, desire wisdom with all your might. Proverbs 4:8 says, “Prize her highly and she will exalt you; she will honor you for your embrace.” These are not cheap words. To prize something and to embrace someone are signs of intense desire and love. Wisdom must be valuable for us. We must be willing to sell all in order to buy it: “Seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4). Blessed is the graduate who walks through the commencement line more hungry for wisdom than when he entered school, for he shall be satisfied.

Second, since wisdom is found in the Word of God, we must apply ourselves in study and meditation to know the Word and do it. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7). Therefore, we must devote ourselves to know and understand the testimonies of the Lord. And here I commend not only faithful Bible study, but also regular reading of great books on theology and biblical interpretation, books that distill the wisdom of the greatest students of the word over the past 1900 years.

The third thing we should do to get wisdom is pray. Solomon was not born a wise man. He prayed for wisdom and God said, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold now I do according to your word” (1 Kings 3:11). And Daniel admitted that in himself he had no wisdom (Daniel 2:30), but he said, “To thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for thou hast given me wisdom and strength, and hast made known to me what we asked of thee” (Daniel 2:23). And we have seen how Paul prayed that the churches might be given “spiritual wisdom” (Col 1:9) and that they might have “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God” (Ephesians 1:17). And finally, James puts it as clearly as we could wish: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God” (James 1:5). The wisdom that leads to true and lasting happiness is not natural or inborn. It is supernatural. It is a gift of God. Therefore, if we would “get wisdom,” we must pray.

The fourth biblical instruction for how to get wisdom is to think frequently of your death. Or to put it another way, think of the shortness of this life and the infinite length of the next. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” 

Finally, there is one last, absolutely essential thing to do if you would “get wisdom”: you must come to Jesus. Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24, 1 Cor 1:30). Others had spoken truth; he is the truth. Others had pointed the way to life; he is the way and the life (John 14:6). Others had given promises, but “all the promises of God find their yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Others had offered God’s forgiveness; Jesus bought it by his death. Therefore, in him are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

God’s Grace   pg 99 ( Thrasher ) “ Paul said that grace was the secret to His labor. It refers to the gracious work of the Spirit who provides the motivation and enablement we need to do God’s will“

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/god/what-is-gods-grace.html

Gracious, the Hebrew word channun, in its verb form, means to be considerate, to show favor. That God is gracious would mean that he is favorably inclined toward us. That he wants to show favor to us. To do what is best for us.

God is gracious. Graciousness is not something that he puts on and takes off depending on the situation. He is always gracious. He does not decide to show us grace. Rather it is just who he is. Because he is gracious he demonstrates grace in everything he does.

Because of his love, God, who is rich in mercy, saved us by his grace. Where does love end and mercy start? Or mercy end and grace begin? I don’t believe you can really draw a line between them. They are not really three different attributes. All three are simply different ways that we as humans see God.

While God’s grace is about much more than our salvation, it is perhaps the most visible manifestation of his grace. As Paul says in Eph 2:5 and Eph 2:8, it is by grace that we are saved.

Our salvation is not because of anything we have done, or are even capable of doing. It is solely a matter of God’s grace. He offered his salvation to us simply as an act of his grace.

Salvation is by grace. But God’s grace does not end there. Believers are impacted by God’s grace in these three ways.

Justified to Stand in Grace. In Romans 5:1-2 Paul tells us that we are justified through faith. And by that same faith, we have gained access into the “grace in which we now stand.” Our position before God is a matter of his grace. 

Equipped with Spiritual Giftedness. In 1 Peter 4:10,  we find Peter telling his readers to be faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, using our gifts to serve one another. God’s grace is reflected in our lives through his equipping of believers to serve within the body of Christ; our spiritual gifts.

Growing Strong in the Grace of God. In 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul instructs Timothy to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” This reminds me somewhat of Star Wars where some are “strong in the force.” But grace is really unlike the force of Star Wars, which is a pervading universal power. In contrast, grace, for the believer, is in Christ. 

Grace does not come just to a lucky few. But is available to all who are in Christ. When I am in Christ, God’s grace surrounds me. But just because it surrounds me does not mean that I either experience or enjoy it as much as I should. 

There is no aspect of God’s dealing with his creation that does not involve his grace. A gracious God cannot fail to demonstrate grace in all he does. 

That I exist is through his grace. That the sun shines and the rain falls is due to his grace.  My salvation, my standing with God, and my eternal future with him. It is all because of His grace. 

Even God’s justice and the eternal punishment of unbelievers reflect his grace. God gives every opportunity for repentance. But, in his grace, he does not force himself on anyone.

https://www.gotquestions.org/grace-of-God.html

God shows both mercy and grace, but they are not the same. Mercy withholds a punishment we deserve; grace gives a blessing we don’t deserve. In mercy, God chose to cancel our sin debt by sacrificing His perfect Son in our place (Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But He goes even further than mercy and extends grace to His enemies (Romans 5:10). He offers us forgiveness (Hebrews 8:12; Ephesians 1:7), reconciliation (Colossians 1:19-20), abundant life (John 10:10), eternal treasure (Luke 12:33), His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), and a place in heaven with Him some day (John 3:16-18) when we accept His offer and place our faith in His sacrifice.

https://christiantoday.com/article/3-attitudes-that-will-hinder-your-growth-in-god/99525.htm

God is totally committed to our growth and molding into Christ-likeness, but we have to remember that we have a part to play, and thus must be careful to avoid certain attitudes that will hinder or impede our growth in Christ.

Arrogance/Pride   Pride or arrogance is a growth-killer. It stifles the growth of any Christian, period. The Bible expressly declares that God is against the proud, and that pride will always result to a problem in the Christian’s life.

Unforgiveness   Being unforgiving and bitter also causes one’s growth to be hindered big-time. I cannot emphasize this enough: God requires that we be forgiving, or else He won’t forgive us ourselves. If we are not forgiven of our sins, then how can we be cleansed and sanctified?

Stubbornness   Another attitude that’s sure to stifle the growth of any Christian is being stubborn. Being stubborn causes one to be unteachable, hard/impossible to correct/mold, and thus unprofitable in their faith.  Consider the Israelites who died in the wilderness despite being led out of Egypt by Moses. Their stubborn minds refused to obey God. In their rebelliousness continually did what was displeasing to Him. In the end, they were refused entry to the Promised Land.

Chapter 13 Questions

1. Pg 100: “Let your inadequacy draw you to God in prayer, and believe Him for these three prayer requests for your life and for the lives of those you love “. As Christians , what hinders us from having Christ like growth ? We all have areas that we struggle with. Share as able.
2. Read and discuss verses on wisdom:
   • James 3:17 Prov 19:8
   • Prov. 2:6 Ephesians 5:15-16
   • Prov. 11:2 Col. 4:5-6
   • Prov. 3:7 Prov. 4:6-7
3. Spiritual strength comes from the Holy Spirit.  Share a time when you needed help and the Holy Spirit “  came alongside  “.
4. Pg 99:  Share a time  ( other than your salvation) that you looked to God for His grace…..”His provision for motivation and enablement to do what he called you to do “. Every believer is in need of the grace of God for daily living so we should all be able to share !!
5. Share thoughts / insights from the book or notes.

Now Paul goes through that same history again, contrasting people’s condition under the law Gal 4:1-3), with their condition when in Christ (Gal 4:4-7). He then makes an impassioned appeal, asking them how they could want to go back to their old condition (Gal 4:8-11). In the process we see a little bit of the heart of Paul for the Galatians (Gal 4:12-20).

We Were Slaves (Gal 4:1-3)

Imagine a young boy who is the son of a rich man owning a vast estate. One day it will all be his. Indeed, it is already his by promise. However, in experience he does not have access to it, because he is still a child. Although he is lord of everything by title, he “is no different from a slave” (Gal 4:1). Moreover, he will remain in bondage until the date set by his father (Gal 4:2). In the same way, Paul says when we were children, we “were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world” (Gal 4:3).

What are these “elementary principles”? It can perhaps mean elementary things, like the ABC’s of faith, in contrast with Christ who is the “Alpha and Omega”. Children only know elementary things and have limited knowledge. It can also mean the basic elements such as earth, wind, water fire,. It also has undertones of demonic oppression. Legalistic superstition and demonic domination are closely linked.

Basically, Paul is saying that just like an heir who is a child, we were once in bondage to various things.

We Became Sons and Heirs (Gal 4:4-7)

Then there is a great “but”. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal 4:4). This is the heart of the Christmas story that we have just celebrated. Jesus came at just the right time. That involved a wait for over 1,300 years!

Various factors made this the perfect time. Rome had conquered all of the known world. They created roadways that enabled travel to remote places. Also, the Greek language had become common across the entire Roman empire, and that gave a certain cohesion to society. It was a time when the Greek and Roman gods were beginning to lose their popularity. Further, the law of Moses had done its work in preparing people for Christ by holding them in its tutelage and prison, giving them a longing for the freedom which Christ could give them.

And at just the right time … Jesus came!

Why did Jesus come? Paul gives four reasons.

1. To redeem us (Gal 4:5)
2. To enable us to receive adoption as sons (Gal 4:5)
3. To send the Holy Spirit into our hearts (Gal 4:6).
4. Being sons of God means being heirs of God (Gal 4:7)!

We looked at the meaning of being redeemed last time. It has the sense of setting free by the payment of a price or a ransom. We were slaves. Jesus ransomed or redeemed us, and set us free from slavery. The price was the blood of Jesus, shed for us on the cross. That was why Jesus came. That is how He redeemed us.

Jesus also came to enable us to receive adoption. Paul describes it in Romans like this: “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Rom 8:15). We were not just set free from bondage and slavery, but we were adopted into the family of God. What a privilege that is!

Then Paul says that because we have been adopted into God’s family “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father” (Gal 4:6). A similar passage in Romans says: “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:15-16). “Abba” is an Aramaic word. It is the way Jesus addressed His Heavenly Father in His native language. It is like “appa” in many Indian languages – you can see the sense of intimacy in the relationship. The Holy Spirit gives us this sense of intimacy with our Heavenly Father.

Finally, Paul says “So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Gal 4:7). He puts it this way in Romans: “and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:15-17). Being an heir of God is mind-blowing. This is made crystal clear by Paul saying this means we are “fellow heirs with Christ”. What is Jesus Christ’s inheritance?  All of God’s creation. The bible says that we get to share this with Jesus! As children of God, we become fellow heirs along with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the “only begotten Son of God”. We are adopted sons of God. Because Jesus redeemed us to become sons, we will share all of God’s inheritance with Jesus. I.e. We will inherit and rule the entire universe. This is much more than we can imagine, but it is explicitly stated this way. Jesus rules “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but the age to come and He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church” (Eph 1:21-22). And it then goes on to say: “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22). Jesus rules all things, and as His body, we will be the means by which He fills all things! 

Let us not be obsessed with our meager “bucket lists” in this life. We will have eternity to explore and enjoy any galaxy and planet to our heart’s content. We cannot even imagine the kind of inheritance we will have in Christ one day! “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined – all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). 

How Can We Go Back? (Gal 4:8-11)

Paul says “formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved” (Gal 4:8). He then continues, “But now you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God” (Gal 4:9). A change has happened. The slave had been adopted and had become a son. Why would that son want to go back and become a slave again?

We just talked about being sons and heirs of God. This has a mind-boggling implication. As sons, we have not only “come to know God”, but also “to be known by God”. Let that stew for a moment. Can you imagine “knowing” the Creator of the Universe? How is that even possible, except that He in His grace has chosen to reveal Himself to us. But even more stupendous: Can you imagine being intimately known by the Creator of the Universe. That He knows us personally among the billions of people in the world? There is a verse which says that He has engraved us in the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16 ). So Paul’s question is: if we have been exalted to the position of sons and heirs with all the privilege and freedom that it entails – why would we want to go back to the things to which we were enslaved in the first place?

Wiersbe points out the following differences between sons and slaves.

• Son has the same nature as the father, slave does not
• Son has a father, slave has not
• Son obeys out of love, slave obeys out of fear
• Son is rich, slave is poor
• Son has a future, slave does not.

Paul says “you observe days and months and seasons and years” (Gal 4:10). In other words, why would you go back to the very things from which Jesus Christ rescued you? Why would you trade that vibrant relationship with Jesus for external formalism? Think of the folly of this. It makes sense for the Prodigal Son to say “I am no longer worthy to be called a son, make me as one of your slaves” (Luke 15:19). But the Galatians were saying “You have made me Your son, but I would rather be a slave”. That is utter foolishness.

What does this mean for us today? Does this mean Christians should not celebrate Easter and Christmas, or worship on Sundays? No. Paul is referring to bondage to ceremonial practices.

Today it would be superstitious things Christians may do. Some obvious examples are if we read our horoscopes in the morning newspaper, and then change our behavior based on what we read. It is subtle, but it means we are putting our trust in something that God says is wrong (e.g. see Lev 19:31). Same with having our palms read, or using astrologers to figure out who we or our children should marry. The list can go on.

There are also actions that may not be wrong in and of themselves, but if we feel something is wrong if we do not do those things, then it is a kind of bondage. For example, it is a good thing to pray before we embark on a journey, and ask God to guard us and keep us safe. However, if we think that this gives us a special kind of protection, in such a way that if, for example, we forget to pray when we start the journey, and quickly pray during the journey because we think we are vulnerable because we forgot – that is bondage, and that is wrong.

The same principle can be extended to almost every other thing we do, including praying first thing after we wake up, reading the Bible every day, going to church every Sunday, etc. I know a couple who was proud that they had never missed going to church any Sunday for 40 years. Going to church is good. Making it a rule to go to church every Sunday is bondage. How about eating meat on Fridays, or fasting in Lent, etc. None of these are evil, and doing it may be good if done with the right motives. But doing them with the wrong motives to earn some kind of merit before God would be worse than not doing it at all. I hope you get what I am trying to say. Each of us can evaluate our lives, and see how this applies, and repent and submit it to God.

Paul’s Heartfelt Appeal (Gal 4:12-20)

As we move on to Gal 4:12-20, we see a different side of Paul. The curtain is opened for us to see his human, deeply emotional side. He first calls the Galatians “brothers” (Gal 4:12), then “my little children” (Gal 4:19), and he then likens his concern to them as being “again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19). In the first three chapters of Galatians, “we have been listening to Paul the apostle, Paul the theologian, Paul the defender of the faith; but now we are hearing Paul the man, Paul the pastor, Paul the passionate lover of souls” (Stott).

Paul starts by saying “become as I am, for I also have become as you are” (Gal 4:12). What does he mean by saying “become as I am”? He said the same thing when he was in trial before king Agrippa. When Agrippa asked ‘In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian”? (Acts 26:28). His response in Acts 18:29 was in effect: “I do not want you to become a prisoner like me, but I want you to become a Christian like me”. All of us should be able to say the same thing. That we are so satisfied in our relationship with Jesus with His freedom, joy and salvation, that we wish other people to be like us.

Paul goes on to say “for I also have become as you are” (Gal 4:12). He is referring to his attitude to them when he visited Galatia. He did not “stand on a pedestal”, so to speak. He put himself in their place, and identified with them. This is in accordance with his principle: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:19-22).

Here is a good principle for us. Our desire in reaching those who don’t know Jesus is to make them like us, in our faith and relationship with God. But in order to achieve this, we need to identify with them and walk alongside them, as we present Jesus to them.

Paul goes on to recount the Galatians’ attitude to Paul. He starts by saying “you did me no wrong” (Gal 4:12). He then says “you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you” (Gal 4:13). We do not know exactly what happened here. Commentators suggest that possibly Paul contracted malaria, so cut short his visit in the mosquito-infested swamps of coastal Pamphylia. They speculate that this is why John Mark may have lost his nerve and gone back home (Acts 13:13), and a very sick and fever-ridden Paul may have headed north to the invigorating mountainous plateau of Galatia. However, this is speculation, and Acts does not give any indication that Paul became sick in this way. So more likely, this is a reference to what Paul described elsewhere as his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7). It does seem that Paul was constantly plagued with ill health. His “thorn” can be translated as “a stake thrust into my body”, which suggests intense pain. If Paul’s ailment was not just incapacitating but also unsightly then Paul may be saying “you resisted the temptation to show scorn or disgust at the state of my poor body” (Gal 4:14). They did not show disgust to the messenger or the message because of Paul’s bodily condition. They instead, received him as a messenger from God or as Christ Himself. So he asks them, “what became of your blessedness”? You received the message and came to know Christ. What happened? What happened to the extreme devotion you showed to me (see Gal 4:15)? Why are you treating me as your enemy now, because I told you the truth (Gal 4:16)?

We then go on to see Paul’s attitude to the Galatians. Paul contrasts his attitude to the Galatians, with that of the Judaizers. “They make much of you …. that you may make much of them” (Gal 4:17). They flatter you so that you will exalt them. It is not for your best interest. In reality, “they want to shut you out” (Gal 4:17). I.e., they want to cut you off from Christ so that they can be exalted. Paul in contrast does not care about his own exaltation, but that of Christ. He says “I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19). A true preacher or teacher will not seek his own glory, but Christ’s. This is a good test we can apply to discern false teachers. If someone is building up their own kingdoms or seeking their own glory, it is a red flag.

Application

By way of application, I would like you to consider the experience of two Johns. John Wesley and John Newton.

John Wesley’s experience is a good illustration of what it means to be a Christian. As a post-graduate in Oxford, he formed a “Holy Club”. He was the son of a clergyman and already a clergyman himself. He was orthodox in his belief, religious in practice, upright in conduct, and full of good works. He and his friends visited inmates of the prison and the work-houses of Oxford. They took pity on the slum children of the city, providing them with food, clothing and education. They observed Saturday as the Sabbath, as well as Sunday. They went to church and to Holy Communion. They gave alms, searched the Scriptures, fasted and prayed. This describes so many of us today. However, they were bound to the fetters of their own religion, because they were trusting in themselves that they were righteous, rather than putting their trust in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A few years later, John Wesley in his own words, came to “trust in Christ, in Christ only for salvation”, and was given the inward assurance that his sins had been taken away. Later, looking back at his pre-conversion experience he wrote: “I had even then the faith of a servant, not that of a son”. Christianity enables us to be sons, not servants!

So how do we live the Christian life? Paul was perplexed at how the Galatians could have turned back to their old lives of bondage (Gal 4:20). However, this is easy for us to do as well. The way to avoid it is to constantly read the Word of God, and remind ourselves of the gospel, and of who we are in Christ. Doing this will help correct and re-orient our perspectives. John Newton’s experience is a good illustration of this. He was an only child and lost his mother when he was 7 years old. Later at the age of 11, he became involved in the atrocities of the African slave trade. He plumbed the depths of human sin and degradation. When he was 21, when his ship was in danger of foundering during a terrible storm, he cried out to God for mercy, and God reached down to Him! He was truly converted, and never forgot how God had saved him who was a former blasphemer. He wrote in bold letters and fastened over the wall of his mantelpiece, the words from the BIble: ”You shall remember that you were a slave … and the Lord your God redeemed you” (Deut 15:15). Let us also strive to remember this, so that we will have an increasing desire to live as sons of God.

I would also like us to think about how we witness. There is a place for tract distribution, or door to door evangelism. But that can never substitute for actually identifying with and walking alongside those to whom we witness. One of the reasons Paul was so effective is that he really identified with the people he was witnessing to.

What should be the attitude of a church congregation to their pastor? To begin with, it should not be by his appearance. He may be ugly like tradition says the apostle Paul was, or he may be good-looking. He may be sickly like the apostle Paul was when he visited Galatia, or he may be physically fit. He may have a pleasing personality, or he may be quite unimpressive. He may have unusual gifts, or he may be a faithful man with no unusual brilliance. But our hearts should not be swayed by these things. We should neither flatter him because we find him attractive or despise him because he is not. Further, our attitude should not be based on our own theological whims. The Galatians started off venerating Paul, but later became his enemy because he told them hard things. Instead, our attitude to our pastors should be based on their faithfulness to the apostolic message. Finally, we need to discern if our pastors or leaders are doing things that will exalt them or if their preaching and teaching leads us to become more like Jesus and to exalt Jesus. Those who flatter us or just seek to prop us up may not be true ministers of the gospel at all!

Coming to today’s text we will look at Galatians 3:1-14. Paul could have concluded his letter at the end of chapter 2. He has made his point, that justification is by faith alone. But thinking about the Galatian Christians, his feelings overwhelm him as they did in Gal 1:6, and he begins a whole new section for the next two chapters to buttress his statement of the gospel with theology. We will see the first few of his arguments here.

1. An appeal to their own experience (Gal 3:1-5)
2. The example of Abraham (Gal 3:6-10)
3. Two roads leading to two destinies (Gal 3:11-14)

“O Foolish Galatians! Who has Bewitched You”? (Gal 3:1)

Here is an interesting question. How could the Judaizers ever convince the Galatian Christians that the way of the law was better than the way of grace? Paul asks them “Who bewitched you”, or “Who cast a spell on you”? 

Of course Paul knows who deceived them. It was the Judaizers. However, there is a subtle hint here, that there is more going on. There is a spiritual battle being waged against their souls (1 Peter 5:8) which is being masterminded by Satan. Behind the false teachers, Paul sees the activity of the devil himself, whom Jesus calls a “liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

The reason this was so astonishing to Paul, is that it was “before [their] eyes that Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Gal 3:1). The word could be translated “placarded”, as in announced in a poster and waved in public. In other words, Paul is saying that “the message of Jesus as Messiah who died on the cross was plastered up in bill-boards before your very eyes” (Cole). Paul had preached about the death of Jesus with crystal clarity. Remember, Paul preached in Galatia exactly the way he did at Corinth, where he said, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Paul did not allow his preaching to get distracted from the single point of the death of Jesus on the cross. So let us ask ourselves. Is this the focus of the preaching we often hear today? If not, we may possibly be listening to a false gospel.

Why is the gospel of works so enticing? Because it panders to our old nature. It enables us to compare ourselves with others, and to feel proud. It enables us to have a sense of superiority to others. This is why we are always tempted to add to the gospel. But to yield to that temptation is deadly, and our eternal destiny could be at stake.

When Paul says Jesus was publicly portrayed as “crucified”, the word is in the perfect participle. This means it was a once-for-all event, but the benefits of Jesus’ crucifixion are forever valid and fresh. The death of Jesus was completed, and it achieved its purpose perfectly. The gospel is not good advice for men, but good news about Christ. It is not an invitation to do anything, but a declaration about what God has done. It is not a demand but an offer.

This is why Paul is saying that if the Galatians had grasped the gospel of Christ crucified – that everything necessary for our salvation was accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross, they should have resisted the spell of whoever was bewitching them. They were enticed because they did not carefully think through the implications.

Here is a sobering truth. The gospel needs to be grasped by our minds and not just by our hearts and our emotions. We need to think deeply and process its truth and make it our own. This is how we grow deep spiritual roots. Cole says “theology is nothing more than the ordinary rules of grammar and logic applied to the text of Scripture”. This is the gift that our education gives us as Christians. We can use all our study of language and grammar to help us understand the deep truths of God. Ultimately the only purpose of education is to help us understand God more. Everything else is chaff that will pass away and has no eternal value.

Was All This in Vain? (Gal 3:2-5)

Paul first appeals to the Galatians’ own experience. Usually it is dangerous to depend on our experience, so Paul will not stop here. This is a launching pad for him to buttress all his assertions from Scripture.

He asks them how they initially received the Holy Spirit. Paul is making an implicit assumption here that he states explicitly elsewhere. To have new life in Jesus Christ is to receive the Holy Spirit in our lives (see Rom 8:14). This is a good place for me to point out another false teaching that is prevalent among us today. There are some who teach that after accepting Jesus, we need to live a life of purity and seek after a “second blessing” called the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is evidenced by tongue speaking. Here Paul is clearly stating that our conversion is marked by our reception of the Holy Spirit. I would like you to keep this false teaching of the second blessing in the back of your mind as we go through today’s study, and evaluate it in the light of what the Bible says here.

Paul goes on to say “Did you suffer (or experience) so many things in vain – if indeed it was in vain?” (Gal 3:4). He is basically saying that if they go back to semi-Judaism, all that they experienced will be worthless. I.e. They will not be saved. Another way of looking at it, they “began in the Spirit” (Gal 3:3). That is they were “born again”. They had a new spiritual life. How can they feed that spiritual life by trying to be “perfected in the flesh” (Gal 3:3)? That does not make sense. They need to continue in the same way that they started. They cannot go back to what would only gratify their old natures.

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Clearly, Paul sees the possibility that all that the Galatians experienced could have been “in vain” (Gal 3:4). This is why he also says, “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” (Gal 5:3-4). He also says, “I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you: (Gal 4:19). So regarding the maxim: “Once saved always saved”; is it true? By this, if we are asking, “Can a professing Christian fall away”? The Bible’s answer is clear. “Yes”.

The reason this is not necessarily the full story is because God makes certain promises, e.g. John 3:16. All those who believe “will not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus promises that He will not cast away anyone who comes to Him (John 6:37). He promises that “no one can snatch us from His hand” (John 10:28). Everyone who is “justified” will also be “glorified” (Romans 8:30). So those who look at this question from the standpoint of what is called “Reformed Theology”, point out that if God is true to His Word, He is promising to take the responsibility of keeping all those who come to Him in faith and are “justified”. Jesus is the good Shepherd who keeps His sheep (John 10:9).

But if that is true, how can a professing Christian fall away? Here is how we reconcile both these strands of biblical teaching. We have already seen from Galatians, that it is possible to “come to Christ” without putting our entire trust in Him. In today’s society, it is possible to come to Christ for the sake of all the blessings we think we will get if we become Christians. There are people who come to Christ because they think God will become their “bartender” who will give them whatever they want, be it health, wealth or prosperity. There are many reasons people may “accept Christ” but may not really understand the gospel, who do not come solely trusting the finished work of Christ. Sometimes I have heard preachers preach that if we come to Christ, God will take care of our problems, and our lives will become very fulfilled. That is not the gospel. If they give an altar call with such a message, many may come forward without really understanding the true gospel at all. Therefore, there could be many of us who think we are Christians, but in reality have believed a false gospel and are not saved at all. We may then attend Bible studies, go to church regularly, read the Bible and pray, and yet still not be saved. Then when difficulties come, we get disillusioned with God and lose our faith. This is what happened to the seeds that fell on rocky soil and among thorns. Both started to grow, but never bore fruit. Their growth was external without penetrating into their hearts. I.e. they appeared to be saved, but never were and so they fell away. This is why we sometimes see those who appeared to be strong Christians, preachers even, who have walked away from their faith. There is no guarantee that apart from repentance they will be accepted by Jesus on the final judgment.

Then how can we know we are saved? Never 100%. The Bible uses the term “assurance” of salvation. It is not a guarantee, but a gift given to us by the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit testifies with our spirits that we are the children of God” (Rom 8:16). When we are walking with God our assurance is strong. When we stop walking with God, He withdraws our assurance, along with the sense of His Presence, to draw us back to Him. This is God’s gift to His children, to draw them back to Him through this unease that they feel. Those who subscribe to the reformed view will go as far as to say the evidence of true salvation is that a person remains faithful to Christ until death. We may wander, but God will draw us back. Those who fall away and never come back have most likely demonstrated that they were never saved. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). While we are on earth, we need to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (because eternity is at stake) (Phil 2:12). We need to battle against sin because our passions “wage war against our souls” (1 Peter 2:11) and because Satan seeks to devour us and destroy us like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). Please note, only God knows who really belongs to Him. He sometimes disciplines sinning believers with death, but that does not necessarily mean they were not saved (see 1 Cor 11:30). If you have a loved one who accepted Christ and then walked away, and is now no more, only God knows if that person had really put his or her trust in Jesus. We cannot see the heart. For ourselves however, we are warned to keep watch over our own souls.

So in summary, is “once saved, always saved” true? There are some who would say “no”. Others would say “yes” and “no”. “Yes” is from God’s standpoint. God knows those who are His, and He will preserve them and keep them in His fold (2 Tim 2:19). However in either case, from a human standpoint, the evidence of our salvation is by the fact that we remain in the faith and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Matt 24:13). It is dangerous to just look back to a time in the past when we “accepted Christ”, and be confident we will be saved. Many will say to Him on the last day: “Lord, Lord, did we not do x, y and z” (Matt 7:22), and He will say “Depart from me, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt 7:23). It doesn’t matter what we professed in the past, or even profess now. If there is no evidence of new life in us, we need to heed Christ’s warning. Let us not be lulled into a false sense of security. Regardless of which view we hold, we can only be confident of our salvation to the extent we are walking with God. This sense of assurance sometimes waxes and wanes as we live our lives, and that is God’s way of making us “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”.

However we cannot face sin, trials or truly love if we are stunted by fear, because our motivation for doing such things will be wrong. We won’t seek God for His own sake. If you lack assurance of your salvation, you will question His care for you. So if you are wrestling with doubt, spend time studying the BIble, praising God and filling your mind with Scripture. Does this make you saved? No because these are works (see Eph 2:8-9). But doing this will remind you of the gospel. We need to be constantly reminded of Who God is, and what He has done – that we are saved by grace, not works! Don’t rely on your feelings. Trust His promises.

Abraham Become Righteous By His Faith (Gal 3:6-9)

Paul then points out that Abraham became righteous while he was still a “kind of Gentile”. Let us recall the story. Abraham was an old man. Although he had no children, God promised him a son. One day he took him outside on a clear night’s sky and showed him the stars and said “so shall your descendants be” (Gen 15:5). The bible then records “And he believed the Lord and He counted it to him as righteous (Gen 15:6). Remember what we said about “justification” last week. It is a declaration by God that we are “not guilty” and have a right standing before God. This verse indicates that Abraham was “justified” in this sense at that very moment. This was well before Isaac was born, and definitely well before God instituted circumcision as the sign of His covenant with Israel. Paul is therefore pointing out that Abraham was justified by faith, and not by works.

Paul then takes this a step further. He says that Abraham is the “father of the faithful”. He takes us back to an even earlier promise God made to Abraham. “In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gal 3:8, referring Gen 12:3). Paul says this was the gospel that was first preached to Abraham. Everyone who has faith in God are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (Gal 3:9).

Two Roads, Two Destinies (Gal 3:10-14)

Paul explains this further by providing two alternatives to the Galatians, both from the Old Testament.

1. “The one who does [the deeds of the law] shall live by them” (Gal 3:12 quoting Lev 18:5)
2. “The righteous shall live by faith” (Gal 3:11, quoting Hab 2:4)

These are two completely different paths, but both offer eternal life. Do you remember Jesus’ answer when the rich young man came to Jesus with the question “What must I do to obtain eternal life” (Mark 10:17)? Jesus answered the question. “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother” (Mark 10:19). God’s promise with regards to keeping the commandments was “do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28). The problem is, that no human being besides Jesus has ever kept all the commandments perfectly. And God’s promise of life through the law has a flip side. “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the Law and do them” (Gal 3:10, quoting Deut 27:26). This means every one who tries to please God by obeying the law is under God’s curse.

Then Paul goes on to say that Jesus took on our curse on Himself. He does this by pointing to the fact that by hanging on the cross Jesus was cursed, according to Deut 21:32 which says “a hanged man is cursed by God”. This was the same curse we are under because we cannot keep the law. Jesus was cursed by God because of our inability to please God. This is why Jesus cried out from the cross “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34)? He Himself bore God’s curse for our sins. This is why we are saved when we put our trust in Jesus. Our sins have been accounted for and we have been set free or “redeemed”.

Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Redemption always has the connotation of being “bought with a price”. It is used for slaves who were purchased, or prisoners who were set free. The actual price that obtains redemption is called the ranson. Paul is saying that Jesus purchased our salvation through his death on the cross. Jesus said: “The Son of Man did not come to serve but to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The apostle Peter says it beautifully: “you were ransomed … not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). His blood was “precious”. Our redemption was costly. Yet Jesus did this for us.

Paul also says Jesus became a curse “for us” (Gal 3:13). This has the idea of substitution. Jesus’ gave up his life as a substitute for mine. He died the death we deserved. He took our place and bore our punishment. We deserve God’s curse for our sin and Jesus bore that curse in our place. Therefore, when we put our trust in Him we are no longer under that curse. The penalty of sin has been paid. We are free!

So Paul is challenging the Galatians, just as he is challenging us today. Which road should we take? One, where the price is paid in full, and our freedom from the curse of the law has been secured in Christ? Or do we think we can help God by working for our salvation? If we do, we remain under God’s curse, and are not saved. This was what is at stake for the Galatians, and what is at stake for us, if we do not rely wholly on the cross of Jesus for our salvation.

Application

What the gospel is. The gospel is Christ crucified. It is His finished work on the cross. To preach the gospel is to publicly portray Jesus Christ as crucified. The gospel is not primarily a baby in a manger or the teachings of a wise teacher, or even just the empty tomb. The gospel contains Christ on the cross. Only when Christ is seen “publicly portrayed as crucified (Gal 3:1) is the gospel being preached. This was not just a historic event that happened 2000 years ago. It has relevance today, because Jesus bought our salvation on that cross. He died as our substitute, and faced God’s curse in our stead. We need to be confronted with this crucified Jesus, and we need to come to this crucified Christ for our salvation.

What the gospel offers. The gospel offers great blessing. God’s promise to Abraham was “in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed”. What was this blessing? First it was “justification” (Gal 3:8). Second, it is the gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:5). These two gifts are interdependent. Both come together . Everyone who is justified get the gift of the Holy Spirit. This marks the beginning of new life in Jesus Christ – a life that bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). It is a life that lasts forever, where we will spend all our days in the Presence of the One who redeemed us as a people to Himself.

Although the gospel is free for us, it came at a terrible price. Paul says to the Corinthian Christians: “You were bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your bodies” (1 Cor 6:20). Jesus paid the ultimate price to redeem us. The ransom was His very life blood, that He shed for us. Let us not take this lightly, but let us bow down in gratitude and worship before this God who was willing to pay so much to set us free.

What the gospel requires. The gospel offers blessing. What must we do to receive it? Nothing. Just believe that it has already been won for us by Jesus who died on our cross to procure it for us. This is the gospel of both the Old and the New Testaments. It unifies all people of faith in the history of the world. One day we will all celebrate this gospel together with Jesus. A gospel of grace, through and through! What a blessing this is!

Relationship between faith and good works

So a question came up about why Jesus condemns people in Matthew chapter 25 based on their absence of good works: “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me” (Matt 25:42-43). 

Here is an illustration to help us understand the point.

We will be seeing from Paul’s letter to the Galatians that the gospel has a very strong foundation that goes all the way back to a promise God made to Abraham. The entire gospel is God’s outworking of that promise, that reached its climax in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Gentiles (and that includes us) became “grafted” into faith because the Jews rejected Jesus and were “cut-off”. The universal church has grown out of that solid foundation of the apostles and the prophets and we are a part of it. There is no other gospel that can save us.

Our faith is the instrument of our salvation, and the outworking of our salvation is the “fruit of the spirit” as we will see later in this book, and “good works” that glorify Christ. Without new life through faith in Christ, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isa 64:6). If there is genuine faith, the works will follow. Thus James says “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17) i.e., it was not faith at all. So Jesus can look at our lives for fruit. If he does not see any, He can say “Depart from me, I never knew you” (Matt 25:41). If there is no fruit, we are not part of the tree that comes from the one true gospel, and we will justly fall under Christ’s condemnation at the final judgment.

Early Life of Paul After his Conversion

In today’s passage, Paul is going to show us how he was taught by God Himself. Let us now turn to Gal 1:11-24. Paul says three things about himself here.

People were questioning his authority, and the source of Paul’s teaching. They were accusing him of not preaching the same gospel as was preached by the apostles in Jerusalem. There were trouble-makers following Paul and discrediting Paul’s teaching, and saying Gentiles needed to be circumcised. So Paul explains why his teaching is from God, and also consistent with that of the other apostles.

Paul Was a Persecutor

Paul was a very learned “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee … as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Phil 3:5-6). He was “brought up … at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God” (Acts 22:3).

Paul approved of the execution of Stephen (Acts 8:1) and was “ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Luke says that during this time he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), and at this time he “went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2).

Then something unbelievable happened! Saul of Tarsus the persecutor of the church became Paul the Apostle, the preacher of the gospel. This change was not gradual. While he was on the way to Damascus, He met Jesus who stopped him in his tracks (Acts 9:3-6). The glory of Jesus blinded him temporarily, and his heart made a full turn. The man who was so zealous in persecuting the church was instantly transformed into a man who would expend his life teaching and building up the church, undergoing much suffering, and paying the ultimate price for doing so.

How did this change come about? Could his fellow jews have caused it? No, they were the ones encouraging him in his rampage.  Was it caused by the Christians he was persecuting? No! They were terrified to come near Paul when he went to Damascus. So if it was neither the Jews nor the Christians, who caused it? It had to have come about by God!

Paul Became a Believer

Thus Paul became a believer in Jesus. In Galatians he says several key facts about his conversion.

1. God did it (Gal 1:15)
2. Personally to Paul (Gal 1:16). God had “set Paul apart before he was born (Gal 1:15). God set His love on Paul and set Paul apart. God does this for each one of us as well. His love to us is not general but personal.
3. By grace (Gal 1:15). Paul did not deserve this revelation, but God gave it to him by His grace. Out of that grace, God “called” Paul. The effective call of God always comes because of the grace of God. The two go together.
4. Through Christ (Gal 1:16). Paul was changed because God “was pleased to reveal His Son in me”. To accept the gospel is to see Jesus clearly. Paul saw Jesus by physical revelation. We see Jesus with clarity in His Word through the illumination of the Holy Spirit by disciplined study.
5. For the sake of others (Gal 1:16). God did not change Paul just to save Paul, but also that he would be God’s instrument in saving others.
6. For God’s glory (Gal 1:24). Any true work of God will result not in praise of a person but in God being given glory.

Let us now ask a different question. Paul was an ardent student of the Old Testament, as we know. How had he completely missed the boat regarding Jesus until Jesus appeared to him?

Paul, just like all unbelieving Jews, had “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10:2). He says in 2 Cor 3:14 of all unbelieving Jews including himself, that whenever he read the Old Testament there was a veil over his face that blinded him from seeing the truth.

The veil that prevented Paul from seeing the truth was instantly stripped away from his heart. Suddenly the Bible of his day came alive to him in a way that it had never been before. So what do you think Paul did? He went away to Arabia for 3 years (Gal 1:17). Why? He wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus told Paul on that Damascus road that he was to “witness to the things in which [he] had seen [Jesus] and to those in which [Jesus] would appear to [him]” (Acts 26:16). Did Jesus physically appear to him and teach him as is possibly indicated from Acts 26:16? We do not know for sure. However, that is not necessary for what followed. Do you remember one of the last things Jesus said to his disciples?  “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12-13). So in Arabia, Paul unlearned all that he had learned, and relearned the truth through the Holy Spirit, along with some new revelations. And boy! Learn he did! And you know what? None of this came from any human being, but directly from God Himself (Gal 1:16-17).

God used Paul’s brilliant mind as well as his intimate knowledge of the Old Testament to help him understand and clearly formulate what it really meant. Remember, Jesus said the Pharisees had failed to recognize Jesus even though a proper reading of the Old Testament should have made it obvious? “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me” (John 5:46). Paul gets to clearly understand God’s grand plan of redemption spanning the history of humanity, completely harmonizing with the Old Testament. This is the wealth that we get when we study Paul’s writings in the New Testament, as we are doing now.

Paul is Now a Preacher

Let us now create a brief timeline of the initial 15 odd years of Paul’s life after his conversion.

• Initial preaching in Damascus (Acts 9:20-22).
• Deep private study in Arabia for 3 years (Gal 1:17).
• Brief visit to Damascus, then Jerusalem. He spent only 15 days in Jerusalem meeting Peter and James, being introduced by Barnabas. Likely the other apostles were too afraid of him to meet him. During these 15 days, he also did a lot of preaching (Gal 1:18-20, Acts 9:26-28). He did not have much time with Peter and James for them to have been able to teach him the “whole counsel of God”. 
• Back to Syria and Cicilia. He may have preached on the way there. Tarsus is in Cicilia. He remained in Tarsus for 7 years working privately and not preaching much. He apparently did not want to impose himself, but to allow God to confirm his calling through others. Being so far from Jerusalem, not many Christians knew him, other than rumors “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy” (Gal 1:23).
• Persecution drove Christians out of Jerusalem, and some of them witnessed in Antioch, and many people became Christians (Acts 11:20). The church in Jerusalem sends Barnabas to pastor the new church in Antioch. Barnabas remembered Paul, and went to Tarsus looking for him and brought him to Antioch as its co-pastor (Acts 11:25-26). This is when Paul’s ministry as an Apostle officially began.
• Paul and Barnabas collect relief to the poor in Jerusalem due to their losses after the famine and persecution (Acts 11:30).
• Antioch church commissions him and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2).
• Paul and Barnabas visit southern Galatia in his first missionary journey founding these churches in Southern Galatia – Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:13-52), Iconium (Acts 14:1-7), Lystra (Acts 14:8-19) and Derbe (Acts 14:20-23).
• Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch and give a report of their journey (Acts 14:24-26).

Paul Endorsed by the Apostles (Gal 2:1-10)

So Paul and Barnabas are back in their local church Antioch. However, some of the Judaizers go there and cause trouble, saying that Gentiles must be circumcised (Acts 15:1). There is a big conflict and debate between them and also Paul and Barnabas, and they are sent to Jerusalem to figure it out. They take Titus, a gentile Christian with them (Gal 2:1).

Paul meets the apostles privately to make sure they were all on the same page (Gal 2:2). There was some conflict because of “false brothers” who infiltrated the meeting (Gal 2:4), but Paul and Barnabas did not “did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved” (Gal 2:5). The results were huge. Titus was not forced to be circumcised (Gal 2:3). The apostles found nothing lacking or wrong in Paul’s teaching (Gal 2:6-8), and extended fellowship to them. Even more than that, they endorse Paul going to the Gentiles. The only thing they asked was that Paul was not just about theology but also about compassion (Gal 2:10), and that was exactly what Paul and Barnabas were already doing in Antioch (Acts 11:30).

Application

Zeal is Not Sufficient for Salvation. Paul said that Jews are lost apart from Christ, even though they have “zeal without knowledge”. Let us note that if this was true for Jews, it is also true for every non-Christian friend we have, even the most sincere, zealous ones. It is possible to be very sincere and very zealous and not be saved. Every one of our friends needs the gospel, or they will be eternally lost.

The entire Bible is the Word of God. Let us not think that the “red letters” in our Bible, which are the words of Jesus have more value than the rest of the Bible. Paul makes it clear that everything he has said came directly from God Himself. His words are no less inspired than the words of Jesus. What we have in the books of the New Testament after the four gospels, are the things Jesus knew His disciples could not bear at the time they were with Him, and promised that the Holy Spirit would remind them of his words (John 14:26). He would also reveal to them the things Jesus could not tell them yet (John 16:12-13). This covers Acts and all the epistles. The Holy Spirit would also reveal to them things to come (John 16:13). This includes the Book of Revelation. So if you have had questions about how we know that the New Testament is inspired, here it is!

The miracle that happened to Paul happens to everyone who becomes a Christian. All of us were spiritually blind before we knew Christ. The Bible says the gospel “is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4). However, the Bible says: “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Cor 3:16). This is what Jesus calls being born again. It is a supernatural miracle that God performs in our hearts. So suddenly it is as if the lights are turned on. Paul likens this miracle to that when God said “Let there be light” during creation. “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

We See God’s Glory in Scripture With “Unveiled Faces”. Once this miracle happens in our hearts, Paul says “we all, with unveiled faces” are “beholding the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor 2:18), through the illumination of God the Holy Spirit. This is why you are all here in this Bible Study. The Holy Spirit is giving you glimpses of the glory of God and you are hungry for more. And as He satisfies that hunger while you gaze at the picture of the glory of Christ as revealed in Scripture, each of you “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18) through the power of the Holy Spirit! What a privilege each of us have to encounter God in this way!

I would like to encourage each of you who are not seeing these glimpses of the glory of God from His Word, the way I have just described. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes His Word alive to all whose hearts have been touched by Jesus Christ. So if you find the Bible to be a dry book, ask God to open your eyes, and to touch your heart. What happened to Paul happens to us – just as miraculously if not as dramatically! Jesus can really reveal Himself to you from his Word, and this is the most precious gift He gives us as believers – the unspeakable privilege of being taught the meaning of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit to enable us to grow in our knowledge and love of God.

• • The Holy Spirit prays for us in a power we don’t own. Our weakness will run out, but the Holy Spirit will keep going. When you fall asleep, are too weak, or just emotionally exhausted, the Spirit of God steps in and gives you the strength you need to continue in prayer.
  • The Holy Spirit prays for us with wisdom we lack.
  • The Holy Spirit prays for us in mercy we could never fathom.
  • The Holy Spirit prays for us with a connection we don’t possess. Who better to bring our requests to the Father than the Spirit? Being a part of the Trinity they possess a connection beyond what we can imagine. Nothing can separate us from the Father because the Spirit is that bond.
  • The Holy Spirit prays for us with God’s will in mind.
  • The Holy Spirit prays for us with love we can’t contain.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-spirit-helps-us-in-our-weakness-part-1

Be encouraged that you are not expected to know the will of God in every respect. There is one who knows. And he is praying the way one ought to pray who knows. Don’t add to your burdens the worry that you don’t know all the will of God.
Be encouraged that in your perplexity and groaning you are not being watched, you are being understood. God is searching your heart, and he is finding in your holy groanings a meaning deeper than words – the meaning of the Spirit himself.

Be encouraged that God’s work for you is not limited to what you can understand and express with words. Be glad that God is able to do exceedingly above all that you ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

Be encouraged that in your weakness and sickness and loss and hardship and danger the Spirit of God is praying for you and not against you. The Spirit intercedes FOR us, not against us. Be encouraged that as you cling to Christ and groan for his exaltation in your uncertainty and pain, the Spirit is for you and not against you.

Finally, be encouraged that God the Father hears the prayer of the Spirit. This prayer is for you. And it is always heard! Always answered, God does not reject the prayers of God.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-spirit-helps-us-in-our-weakness-part-2

When the Spirit inspires and directs the groanings in our hearts, the ultimate purpose of the universe happens: God gets the glory because God the Spirit creates the groanings in us; God gets the glory because God the Father is the one who hears and performs what the Spirit asks; God gets glory because God the Son purchased for sinners every blessing they ever receive; and God gets glory because our hearts are made the theater for this divine activity, so that we know and experience God’s gracious intercession for us and consciously give him thanks and praise.

When you feel very weak, because of suffering or decay or sickness or futility or persecution or failed plans or baffling decisions, don’t despair, as if God is angry with you or at your inability to know what to do or what to pray. At that very moment, experience the wordless groanings of your heart as groanings for the glory of Christ. And trust the Spirit of God to intercede for you about the specifics. Trust him, that because he is praying for you, your Father will bring about decisions and circumstances that will magnify Christ in the best way – in the very midst of your ignorance and groaning.

https://inallthings.org/the-spirits-groaning/

But, Paul is saying much more than that. This is not simply a passage to turn to when we feel like our prayer life is not quite what we would like it to be. Instead, Paul is pointing to a universal condition among Christians: “we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” It’s not just that the Spirit intercedes for us when we are unsure how (or what) to pray. Even when we feel like our prayer life is going along pretty good, we still need the Spirit to intercede for us.That brings us to Romans 8:26-27. If we’re honest, there have been times in all our lives when prayer has been difficult; and likely there have been seasons when prayer has been almost impossible. Can you think of a time in your life as a follower of Jesus when prayer has felt futile, yet you kept trying to pray? Or maybe a time when you wanted to pray, but circumstances in your life left you wordless? I imagine there are some of you who, at times, simply gave up and stopped trying to pray (at least for a season). Regardless of which camp you have found (or now find) yourself in, the promise in these two verses should bring great comfort. The Holy Spirit intercedes for you at times like these.

What should bring us even more comfort is that, as the Spirit groans with us and for us, he groans in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:27 tells us that the Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with the will of God. We may not always pray in accordance with the will of God, but the Spirit does. And God answers.

https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/daily-reflection/groaning-spirit-0

Here is wonderful news for us. When you don’t know how to pray, the Spirit of God is there to help. When you run out of words, God understands your wordless sighs. When all you have to bring before God are your tears, he can read the meaning of each one. Moreover, as amazing as it sounds, the triune God is praying with you, through you, and even for you. God enters into the brokenness of our world and our lives, sharing even in our groaning.

My Utmost for His Highest / November 8 / Oswald Chambers – The unrivaled power of prayer

We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.

He, the Holy Spirit in you, makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God . (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.

The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “ ….your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…..” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “….He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “ My house shall be called a house of prayer “¦. But you have made it a ˜den of thieves “ (Mark 11:17).

Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit “? If so,  we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a  “temple of the Holy Spirit. “  He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.

Chapter 8 Questions

1. 1. Page 63   Any  thoughts  / discussion / personal sharing relating to “… his tears were the only prayer that he could muster “  .   
   2. Page 64  When you are weak and don’t know what to pray, do you push through and try and pray on your own, or do you lean upon the Holy Spirit.  Discuss   “ integrity of heart “.
   3. Read Romans 8:26-27   Share any insights from the book or the notes that increased your awareness of what the Holy Spirit does for us during prayer .
   4. Page 65   “ Sometimes when we pour out our desires to God He appears to be indifferent “. Have you felt that way? What is your response when this happens?

http://www.discipleshiptools.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=37272&columnid

The Discipline of Prayer is the intimate pursuit and practice of the personal communication we have available between God and us. It is the spoken and unspoken confession of our Christian faith by engaging and proclaiming our complete dependence upon Christ as Lord over our lives. Prayer is not just a selfish wish list to get God to cater to our needs and whims; rather, it’s true purpose and the reason it is also a discipline is to shape us by what He has revealed, and to grow in faith, character, perseverance, and maturity. Prayer is meant to line us up in Christ and to conform us to Him, so it builds us up in Him. It makes us willing and able to express praise, worship, seek forgiveness from God, become more sensitive, confess sins, make petitions for one another, and help others to be shaped, too.

https://www.allaboutprayer.org/prayer-discipline.htm

Prayer is a difficult discipline we must learn until it becomes second nature. The goal is to become people who pray constantly, “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We must learn to pray, and to do so we must overcome certain sources of spiritual inertia fighting against us.

https://www.faithlafayette.org/resources/sermons/the_discipline_of_prayer

“From birth we have been learning the rules of self-reliance as we strain and struggle to achieve self-sufficiency. Prayer flies in the face of those deep-seated values.”

Not only is prayer neglected because of self-reliance but also for lack of time, lack of attention, lack of priority and because of any number of excuses that keep us from the throne of God.

When it comes to the topic of prayer many questions come rushing to our minds. What should I pray about? Do I ever bother God with my thoughts? Do I need to pray on my knees in order for God to hear me? Why should I pray? What is prayer? The thoughts boggle our minds to the point of intimidation, which often times results in prayerlessness.

Praying in the Holy Spirit

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-pray-in-the-holy-spirit

Praying in the Spirit means that the Spirit empowers the prayer and carries it to the Father in the name of Jesus. The prayer has a living quality characterized by warmth and freedom and a sense of exchange. We realize that we are in God’s presence speaking to God. The Spirit illuminates your mind, moves your heart, and grants a freedom of utterance and liberty of expression.It is helpful to acknowledge that there are varying degrees of experience when it comes to praying in the Spirit. It does not feel like revival every time we pray in the Spirit. There are varying experiences of feeling carried along or pushed forward. Sometimes praying in the Spirit will not feel electrifying at all. It will feel like groaning. The Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us according to the will of God (Romans 8:26–27).

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/webfm_send/650

It naturally follows that praying in the Spirit means to pray in harmony with the will of God. Being God Himself, the Spirit knows and can interpret God’s will to us. Indeed, this is one of the very reasons why He has been given to the Church. “He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). We can therefore count on Him to enable us to pray in harmony with the will of God. Prayer in the Spirit is prayer whose supreme object is the glory of God, and only in a secondary sense is it a blessing for ourselves or for others. This is not natural to us, for it is our natural tendency to be more concerned with our own interests and glory. The Holy Spirit will help us in this weakness, and will impart the motivation to shift our center from self to God.

https://www.gotquestions.org/praying-Spirit.html

Praying in the Spirit does not refer to the words we are saying. Rather, it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Spirit’s leading. It is praying for things the Spirit leads us to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Cooperating with the Holy Spirit

https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/daily-hope-with-rick-warren/daily-hope-with-rick-warren-january-15-2017.html

When Joshua was faced with an impassible barrier, the floodwaters of the Jordan River receded only after the leaders stepped into the rushing current in obedience and faith. Obedience unlocks God’s power.God waits for you to act first. Don’t wait to feel powerful or confident. Move ahead in your weakness, doing the right thing in spite of your fears and feelings. This is how you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and it is how your character develops.

https://www.intouch.org/Read/Blog/fervent-prayers

Fervent prayer is motivated by love and deep concern and is offered with enthusiasm, feeling, and faith. This is not a casual listing of requests, but prayer that flows from the heart over a pressing need. For example, when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was in agony and “praying very fervently” (Luke 22:44). It’s also persistent prayer that doesn’t stop asking, seeking, and knocking until God answers (Matt. 7:7).

Chapter  5 Questions

Pg 47: What does it mean / how does it look to have a disciplined prayer life ?

Pg 48-49: How do we pray in the Spirit ? Discuss new insights from the book or the notes.

Pg 49: What is fervent prayer ?

Pg 50: Discuss the steps in cooperating with the Holy Spirit to develop fervency and
compassion.

Pg 51: Discuss what the author wrote about on this page…… “to dwell not only on things that were true, but also lovely and even worthy of praise.”

The answer is “No, there is one God”. Then how?

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three different Persons. They do different work in our lives. But they are ONE in nature, one in purpose, and they do everything together. They are always united as One God and they are equal with one another. When we worship one of them, we are worshiping all three. When we pray to one, all three hear us and answer our prayers.

Together they are sometimes called The Trinity or The Triune God– Three in one God by the church.

The Gospel or the Good News of the Lord Jesus is this:

God the Father, loves us very much. He does not want us to be separated from Him by our sins. So He planned our salvation. He sent His own Son to bring us back to Him.

God the Son, the Lord Jesus, came, paid our punishment on the cross, and rose from the dead. He gave us victory over sin and Satan. He gives us eternal life.

God, the Holy Spirit, now lives in us. He gives us the power to live a new, pure life for God.

This is beautifully expressed in this song: “Thank You, O my Father, for giving us the Son And leaving Your Spirit till Your work on earth is done.”

“This is what love is: not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 Are you amazed that God would love us this way? But, it is true! So let us rejoice and be glad!!

Prayer: “Dear Father, I worship You and praise You for Your infinite love for me in giving me Your salvation through Your Son and for giving me Your Holy Spirit to live this earthly life for You. Amen.”

When the Lord Jesus left for heaven, the Holy Spirit came down to all the disciples. They were filled with wisdom, courage, and boldness to live for the Lord Jesus and to tell everyone about Him.

How does the Holy Spirit guide us?

When I gave my life to the Lord Jesus, there was a quiet, gentle voice speaking to me in my heart – the voice of the Holy Spirit. 

He warns me when I want to do something wrong. He always points me in the right direction towards the Lord Jesus.

He reminds me of my past sins and helps me repent (feel truly sorry for them) and ask God for forgiveness for every one of them. He helps me turn away from them.

He shows me specific Bible verses – just the ones I need for the day or for the situation for which I need guidance.  He tells me how to pray and what to pray.

He teaches me God’s truths from the Bible. He opens my heart and gives me understanding. And they become crystal clear to me!   

He comforts me when I feel sick, lonely, or sorrowful.  And when I am too weak or heart-broken even to cry out to God, He prays to God in my place for me!

He gives me courage when I want to tell everyone about the Lord Jesus and what he has done for me and shows me how to do it.

He directs me along God’s path and helps me serve others.

What a wonderful gift God has given us!  He has not left us alone to struggle through our life on our own. He has sent us God, the Holy Spirit, to be with us always.

Prayer: “Holy Spirit, I thank You, Lord, for living in me and guiding me always. Please help me to listen for your soft voice and obey You always.”

After He died and came alive, the Lord Jesus spent forty days with His disciples teaching them and giving them instructions. He said: “The Holy Spirit will come to you. He will give you the power to tell the whole world about Me.” after He said this, He went up to heaven as they watched.

On a Jewish festival day called ‘Pentecost’, many disciples had come together to pray. Just as the Lord Jesus said, all of them received the Holy Spirit that day! The disciples had been very afraid of the people who had killed the Lord Jesus and they had been hiding. When the Holy Spirit came, he gave all of them the courage to boldly face everyone and tell them about the Lord Jesus and the salvation He gives.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts! 

And the wonderful truth is: 

Through the Holy Spirit, God our Father, and the Lord Jesus our Savior, also live in our hearts! Can we be any more blessed than this?

In the next lesson, we will learn about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Prayer: “Thank You, Father, for your gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us always and to guide us.”