HOLY SPIRIT SERIES, complete Yr. 1

Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES Introduction To know our Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is to know the Lord and every aspect of His personality. We speak of God’s guidance and love, of Christ’s shepherding and indwelling, yet what we really mean to say is that Christ dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. He is he third person in the trinity that is deity. While God the Father is seated in heaven, and Christ the Son has ascended to His throne, ever living to make intercession for us, the Holy Spirit has been sent to earth to stand beside us, live in us, encompass us about, protect us, lead us, and to speak to us. He is truly God and if we expect to live in God’s presence, we must know Him as God. This series is intended to acquaint students, first of all, with Who He is, then with what He has done and finally with what He is doing today in the life of Christ’s church and in their lives as individuals. In “The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament,” students will come to know Him and His function in the eternal Godhead. In “The Holy Spirit in the New Testament,” they will see Him as the vehicle of salvation, healing, deliverance and guidance. In “Gifts of the Spirit I & II”, they will examine the gifts Christ has sent through Him to His church. You will be the instructor to enlighten students on the charismatic gifts, their purpose and their administration. In “Fruit of the Spirit,” you will teach His indwelling power to produce in them the very qualities of the personality of Christ. It is my prayer that when you conclude this study, you, as a teacher, will have sparked in the students, the feeling that they have merely scratched the surface of the fathomless well that is the richness of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We pray that you as well as your students, will be inspired to continue praying and studying your whole life through to know Christ in a greater way through the anointing of His Holy Spirit. In His love, Patricia T. Smith, President Covenant Treasure Institute Material herein not to be copied or reproduced in any manner without obtaining permission from Covenant Treasure Ministries, P O Box 667, Elgin, TX 78621. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES INDEX TEACHER EDITION Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 1, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 2, The Spirit of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 3, The Spirit of Wisdom & Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 4, The Spirit of Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 5, Spirit of Might, Knowledge & Fear of the Lord . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 6, Holy Spirit in the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 7, Anointing & Spirit Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 8, Spirit of Prophecy & Law of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 9, Evangelism, Teaching & Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 10, Baptism in the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 11, Gifts–Talking Like God (Tongues & Prophecy) . . . . Test Review Lesson 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 12, Gifts–Thinking like God (Wisdom & Discernment). Test Review Lesson 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 13, Gifts–Acting like God (Faith, Healing & Miracles). . Test Review Lesson 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 14, Fruit of the Spirit, Introduction & Love . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 15, Fruit of the Spirit, Joy & Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 16, Fruit of the Spirit, Longsuffering & Gentleness . . . . Test Review Lesson 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 17, Fruit of Spirit, Goodness & Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesson 18, Fruit of the Spirit, Meekness, Temperance . . . . . . . . Test Review Lesson 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 17 Page 18 Page 25 Page 26 Page 30 Page 31 Page 34 Page 35 Page 38 Page 39 Page 42 Page 43 Page 46 Page 47 Page 49 Page 50 Page 52 Page 53 Page 56 Page 57 Page 59 Page 60 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 68 Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 1, HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT By Patricia Smith The Holy Spirit is part of the trinity of God. His first revealed name in Genesis is “El” meaning “the strong eternal one.” He is one. This means that in all of time, space and creation, there is only one substance that is deity. However, even the Hebrew name “El” implies plurality. This is why, in Genesis 1, God speaks (the part of God that is His Word) and says “Let US” make man in OUR image and likeness. While many religious creeds have sought to downplay the role of the Holy Spirit, the bible student immediately recognizes His importance. Perhaps because He is often spoken of as “the” Holy Spirit, we tend to think of Him as an impersonal “it”. However, Jesus was also called “the” Savior, “the” Son of God, “the” Christ, “the” Messiah, yet we know that He was manifested as a true Person. So we need to think of Holy Spirit as our friend, our Comforter, our Helper, the God who stands beside us and in us. He is the One who hears our prayers and carries them to the throne of the Father and He is the One who brings back the answer and whispers to us in our inner man the word of God. In His conversation with the woman at the well of Samaria (John 4:24) Jesus made a profound statement. He described deity to her like this: “God is a Spirit.” Now He was not implying that this was all there was to God, because, after all, He Himself stood before her in a body of flesh, and according to scripture He WAS God in the flesh (John 1:1-14). What He intended for her to understand was that God is a Spirit who cannot be contained in any human framework. He wanted her to know that He was as uncontainable as the very air she breathed, and that He must therefore be worshipped with her “breath” or her very life. In both the old and new testaments, the words for “spirit” (“ruach”, Heb., “pneuma” Greek), have the same meaning. They mean, “BREATH”….sometimes a blast, sometimes a puff, sometimes just a steady stream, but always they mean BREATH. So it is rightly said, that Holy Spirit is the holy “breath” of God, the “breath of life”. (Compare Gen. 2:7 where it is said that “God breathed into his (Adam’s) nostrils THE BREATH OF LIFE”) What did God breathe into Adam? His Own Breath….His Holy Spirit! His own Life Force! The first book of the Bible, second verse says: “and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the SPIRIT OF GOD moved upon the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:2) The last book in the Bible, last chapter, 17th verse says: “…and the Spirit and the Bride says “come” (Rev. 22:17) So we find Him from Genesis throughout the entire Bible. On the first day of creation, God commanded the “Light” to shine out of the darkness. For the purpose of our study on Holy Spirit, let us examine what happened on Day 2 of creation. Gen. 1:2-5 gives us this account and tells us that God said: “let there be a firmament (Heb. “a vast expanse of sky”) or, what we call the earth’s atmosphere and the stratosphere. This is the place where the celestial bodies of sun, moon, stars and constellations find their home, the place that weather travels through, the air that sustains all life. This “firmament” God named “Heavens” (Amp. Bible) and it divided the waters that were previously covering the earth, so that part of them lifted up above the earth and the rest found their homes in the valleys of earth. Through this action, the rivers found their courses and the seas their basins, thus allowing dry land to appear on Day 3. David tells us in 1 Sam. 22: “The channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered at the blast of the breath of His nostrils”. Again in Ps. 33:6, “by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and the host of them by the BREATH of His mouth.” So on Day 2, God simply began to BLOW and the waters divided! This vast expanse of air and sky that we live in as tenants of earth, was the result of one blast of the breath of God and we still breathe it today. Men seem to be doing their best to pollute it. When you go outside and consider the vast expanse of the heavens, take a deep breath and know that what you are experiencing as “space,” feeling as “wind” and breathing as “life” is actually that one blast of His breath He blew on the second day of creation. Job 33:4 says “the Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.” Again in Job 34:14, 15: “If he gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath (inhale) all flesh shall perish together and men shall turn to dust.” Think of it. Should God simply breathe “in” the entire firmament and all life would be gone! That should be a sobering thought to men. To study the natural is to find a picture of things in the Spirit. 1 Cor. 15, Paul tells us that “first” there are natural things and then the spiritual. So for us to study the natural science, is to give us a picture of things heavenly. So let us study “breath” on earth. Job 37:10 says: “by the breath of God, frost is given”. Job knew nothing of the molecules or atoms that were 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen. He did not know the process of condensation, evaporation or the effect of cooling masses upon the atmosphere, yet by the inspiration of the Spirit he made this natural observation. Relating this back to God’s breath actually BEING the atmosphere, this statement is entirely and scientifically accurate! Job 14:21 says: “his breath kindles coals and a flame of fire”. Job did not know that oxygen produces fuel, yet by inspiration of the Spirit he made this statement which is entirely scientifically accurate! Isaiah 11:4 says: “with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” Here Isaiah speaks prophetically of the second coming of Christ and the fiery demise of antichrist and all his host. When Christ, who IS Himself God, appears, speaking the Word, His very Word is powered by the “breath” or Spirit, producing spiritual fuel that will kindle a destroying flame upon His enemies. A scientific statement! Isaiah 30:33 says: “He hath made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.” Here, Isaiah is speaking of hell, calling it “Tophet” not realizing that oxygen is a fuel producer, thereby making this a scientific statement. Speaking of that original blast of His breath that created our atmosphere, dividing the waters; there is in this atmosphere 12 trillion tons of oxygen. Oxygen is a colorless, tasteless gas, yet in its purest form in the heavens, when combined with an electrical discharge it creates the aurora borealis or the “northern lights”. This is just a tiny portion of one breath of God! Can you imagine the awesome glory of God in its entirety? ½ of the earth’s crust is comprised of oxygen, 9/10 of water is comprised of oxygen, 2/3 of the human body is comprised of oxygen. It is the most reactive substance on earth. It will combine with or react to practically every other substance on earth. When it reacts with a fuel it burns. If you have ever used a cutting torch or welding machine, this is the breath of God that kindles coals and a flame of fire. When it reacts with a fuel like oil, natural gas or coal, it can convert chemical energy to movement. “In Him we live and move and have our being!” When it reacts with carbohydrates in your body, it releases energy. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” When it occurs as a molecule of 3 atoms it is called “ozone” which is a thin layer of gas that shields all living things from UV radiation. Remember Abraham preparing to cut covenant with God in Gen. 15? God said to Him, “Abraham… I AM your shield….” Evidently when the 3 parts of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit combine together to breathe on you, there is an invisible shield that protects you from all the element of spiritual wickedness in high places, from the rulers of darkness that continually try to put holes in your spiritual “ozone!” This shield is invisible to you, yet very visible in the spirit world. Therefore you shall “not be afraid for the terror by night, or the arrow that flies by day, nor for the pestilence (disease) that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. (Psalm 91) The air itself is comprised of nitrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is heavier than nitrogen, so its weight helps create the pressure on the earth’s surface. Does this remind you of the scripture that speaks of the “weight of His glory?” Water molecules contain 3 atoms, 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen. 9/10 of water is oxygen and without it there would be no life in the water and all sea and water creatures depend on oxygen in the water for their life. In you, as you breathe it in, it goes to every cell in your body and does this: nourishes cells, provides energy, allows chemical transport, breaks down waste and toxins, and DRIVES THE DESIRE TO BREATHE! Now compare this with the spiritual. We love Him because He FIRST loves us. If anything in you feels a desire or drawing toward God it is because His Spirit has first driven the desire to breathe in your spirit man. It strongly builds your immune system and fights hostile organisms. Just as air fills a room and fills the entire expanse of atmosphere, so does His Spiritual air (breath) fill us. This breath is the Spirit that translated you out of the Kingdom of Darkness and blew you over into the Kingdom of His Son. This is the breath that God breathed into your inner man dead in sins and trespasses, the breath of eternal life that permeates your spirit. This is the rumbling that the saints in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost heard. The “sound as of a rushing (rumbling, causing sound) mighty (violent) wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (ghost, breath, wind) and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2) So as we meditate on His wonderful Spirit, let us study His attributes, knowing that He is the ONE who is with us on this earth, 24 hours of every single day, never leaving or forsaking us. And just as oxygen or natural breath dwells in our natural man, giving our natural bodies life, so does Holy Spirit literally dwell within our spirit man, giving us God’s own eternal life. And as you meditate, consider that everything oxygen does for our natural bodies and the world around us, so does Holy Spirit do for our spiritual man and the unseen spirit world around us! Hallelujah! This is a never-ending study that will cause the “eyes of your understanding” to be enlightened, so continue to meditate on this long after this particular lesson is ended. It will be life and health to all your flesh! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 1, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Who is Holy Spirit? He is God, the third person of the trinity. What is Holy Spirit? He is the breath, the life force, of God. Where is Holy Spirit? He is everywhere, particularly as it pertains to us, dwelling IN us. The trinity of God can best be described by the analogy of an egg In your own words, explain this analogy: Teacher’s note: grade on depth of research, understanding and use of words. What is the Hebrew word for “spirit”? “ruach” and what does it mean? breath. What is the Greek word for “spirit”? “pneuma” and what does it mean? breath. What was the “firmament” that God created on Day 2 of creation? the earth’s atmosphere and stratosphere. According to 1 Sam 22 and Psalm 33:6, how did God create this firmament? by the blast of his nostrils, the word of the Lord and the breath of His mouth. All things “natural” are a picture of all things spiritual. How much of the earth’s crust is comprised of oxygen? one half. How much of water is comprised of oxygen? 9/10 Oxygen is the most reactive substance on earth. When reacting with fuel, oxygen burns. When reacting with oil, natural gas or coal, oxygen converts chemical energy to movement. When reacting with carbohydrates in the human body, oxygen releases energy. When 3 oxygen atoms combine together, they form one ozone atom. Ozone is a thin layer of gas that shields all living things from UV radiation. Natural ozone can be compared to the spiritual shield of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the spirit world. One of the things oxygen does in the human body is to drive the desire to breath. This corresponds spiritually to Holy Spirit driving our desire for God. Just as oxygen breathed into our natural man gives our natural bodies life, so, Holy Spirit or God’s breath, breathed into our spiritual man gives us God’s eternal life. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 2, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD By Patricia Smith It is in the Old Testament that we discover who the Holy Spirit is, and His work and function as eternal God. In Isaiah 11:2, the prophet Isaiah lists 7 qualities of the Spirit so that we may discover His personality, and in so doing, we begin to understand the personality of God. He calls Him the “spirit of the Lord.” This identifies Him as the motivating power and life force of the Godhead. It is the Spirit that causes God to be alive and to be all that He is! It is the Spirit that empowers and performs every thought that the Father puts into words. Now consider that Jesus is the total WORD OF GOD. All that the Father ever thought or would think was expressed in His body of flesh. Jesus said, “All power has been given unto me in heaven and in earth.” This is because HE has been given the “spirit without measure!” Meditate if you will on the fact that ALL POWER in heaven and earth originates in the Spirit of God. This is why Jesus told Pilate that he would have NO power over Him, had it not been given to him from heaven. When we think of the scripture references to “ALL power,” we have a tendency to relate this only to spiritual matters…power to save, heal and deliver, God’s power over the enemy, spiritual warfare, etc. However, the word “all” is inclusive of everything having to do with or relating to “power”. This would include all natural power, which is amazingly significant. Look at the power residual in the universe that we do know something about. Consider Niagara Falls! Consider the devastation wrought by the atom bomb in WWII, which is simply the result of splitting an atom, which is the smallest building block in all creation! If you have ever seen a movie or tape of an atomic blast and the accompanying mushroom cloud of devastation, consider running the tape backwards and watch all the power contain itself in the tiny package of one split atom. Then, stop to realize that this is just a minute portion of the power of the God who created it! Consider the forces of wind and of water and of fire. Imagine the combined power of the “LIFE” in every thing on earth. Consider the force that propels the planets on their course and balances them in space. Is it any wonder that someone wrote the song “My God Can Do Anything”!!! We sing with the prophet Micah: “I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord” The Old Testament is full of occasions of the manifestation of God’s power, beginning with the awesome creation of the entire universe as we know it. TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 2, The Spirit of the Lord 1. In the Old Testament, we discover Who Holy Spirit IS, and His work and function as Almighty God. 2. In Isaiah 11: 2 the prophet outlines 7 qualities of the Spirit. What are they? 1. Spirit of the Lord 2.Spirit of Wisdom 3.Spirit of Understanding 4.Spirit of Counsel 5 Spirit of Might 6. Spirit of Knowledge 7. Spirit of the Fear of the Lord 3. All power originates in the Holy Spirit of God. 4. True or false: In the Bible, the words “all power” relate only to spiritual matters. false 5. All power “on earth” would signify the combined power of the life in everything on earth. 6. Name an instance of God’s power being manifested in the Old Testament Teacher’s note: any correct instance will suffice. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 3, SPIRIT OF WISDOM & UNDERSTANDING By Patricia Smith Isaiah says He (Holy Spirit), is the “Spirit of wisdom.” The word “wisdom” here is taken from a Hebrew root word “chakam” that means “to be wise (skillful) in mind, word or act.” He is the motivating factor performing the very wisdom of God. God planned / purposed the great plan of redemption, something Paul called “wisdom hidden since before the world was!” and the Holy Spirit orchestrated it! Jesus was His Word, full of wisdom by the Holy Spirit! The wisdom in the mind of God is the function of the Father, the words of the wisdom of God are manifested to us in His Son Jesus, THE ACTS OF THE WISDOM OF GOD ARE THE FUNCTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Consider the grand act of the creation of our world. The foreknowledge, the wisdom, the master plan, was all hidden in the mind of our Father, God, yet none of it happened on a practical level until HE SPOKE. The Word of God (according to John chapter 1), was the spur to action, the force behind the creation, the instruction to carry out the master plan. Then, Holy Spirit actually and literally performed the acts or workmanship of creation. Much as any building or structure has first an architect, then an engineer, and finally a general contractor. Consider the even more wonderful act of redemption. It was first hidden in the Father from before the foundations of the world, when in the Father’s wisdom, His foreknowledge presented not only the creation of man, but his downfall. His wisdom then devised a plan whereby man could be redeemed by His own purchase, sending His own Word to become flesh and voluntarily be the substitute for every sinner, thus effecting justice and enabling mercy! The Word of God then was made flesh to carry out the plan, and finally Holy Spirit actually and literally performed the acts of the Word and raised Him from the dead and now continues this work, searching for lost sheep, calling out to the lost, baptizing believers into Christ and will finally carry us all home either at the time of our death or the rapture at the appearing of Christ. Isaiah also calls Him the “Spirit of understanding.” Thank God! With all power and all wisdom, we would be banished from the face of the earth unless He is an “understanding” God. Holy Spirit understands all of creation. He understands universes, geology, geography, trigonometry, history . . . you name it. There was only one thing past His understanding. And that thing was SIN. So in His wisdom, the Father set about to understand what it was that would make a man rebel against Him and indeed against his own self! What could hold a man created in God’s very image and likeness in total bondage and cause him to love darkness rather than light? He could only find out by experiencing it Himself. So God the Father purposed to “know sin,” He separated His word from Himself, (His express image) and sent Him to earth to partake of flesh and blood, and then voluntarily was “made sin” not only that He might pay the price of divine justice to redeem us, but that He might KNOW US! And in knowing us, that he might UNDERSTAND US! It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of understanding that makes intercession for us in our prayers, that has compassion on us and applies the Word to renew our minds and the blood of Jesus to cleanse our unrighteousness! Yes, it was the Father’s plan, yes, it was the Son’s obedience and sacrifice unto death that acquired such riches for us, but it is the Holy Spirit that “shows” us what we have and applies it to our lives! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 3, Spirit of Wisdom & Understanding What does the Hebrew word for “wisdom” (chakam) mean? to be wise (skillful) in mind, word or act. The wisdom in the mind of God is the function of The Father The words (or expression) of the wisdom of God is the function of The Son The acts (or performance) of the wisdom of God is the function of The Holy Spirit In the act of creation, the Father planned or masterminded, the Son was the Word spoken, the Holy Spirit was the master builder or workman In the act of redemption, the Father planned or masterminded, the Son was the Word made flesh to institute the plan, the Holy Spirit performed the plan In your own words, describe any action in the bible in which you plainly see the wisdom of the Father in the planning, the work of the Son putting the wisdom of the plan into action, and the work of Holy Spirit practically implementing the wisdom into a visible act and result. Teacher’s note: any correct instance will suffice. Grade on depth of research, use of scripture, understanding of concept and use of words. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 4, SPIRIT OF COUNSEL By Patricia Smith The scripture says He (Holy Spirit), is the “Spirit of Counsel.” This word “counsel” means “advice or advisement.” Advice is something that someone gives you out of his or her own experience. Usually, if it is good advice, it has been tried and proved in that person’s life and if you will take heed, it can spare you from taking the wrong course of action. It goes without saying that the Spirit of God has been a participant in every “experience” that has occurred from eternity past. Therefore, He is well qualified to “counsel” with us or be our guide. He was a participant in the ultimate human experience when He filled Christ without measure, when He was tempted in all points like we are, when He went to the cross in faith, when He “walked through the valley of the shadow of death” with Him and empowered Him to rise again in victory! Yes, He qualifies to give advice to us! If we will heed His counsel in every circumstance and situation we find ourselves in, we will never be “steered wrong!” In the course of our lives, from childhood through old age, we find ourselves in uncharted territory, stumbling, needing help in circumstances that require wisdom and counsel from someone who has been there before us. At these times, we often seek counsel from friends, pastors, psychologists, counselors or even Christian counselors who do this on a professional basis. This is not a bad thing, as the Word teaches us there is “safety in a multitude of counselors.” (Proverbs 11:14) The world system has turned counseling into big business, charging exorbitant amounts of money for “rehab centers,” “counseling” by the hour, “seminars” on parenting, budgeting, time management, anger management, addictions, etc. etc. Just about any need a person may experience in this life can be met according to claims of varying counseling agencies. On the other hand, the world is also full of myriads of people who have been to and through every program and counseling agency known to man for their particular problem and have still come up empty and still need answers. Even “Christian” counseling may not always be “Christian” and leave people feeling inadequate and frustrated. What, then, is the answer to the needs of people today, of people in and out of the church, Christians and non-Christians? The answer is counseling, but here is the defining quality of the counsel. In order to have any lasting effect, the counsel must be that of Holy Spirit. He is the ONLY one qualified to give advice that is alive and carries with it the underlying power to perform that advice in your life. Consider, if you will, the problems of addiction. Let us say, for example, that a person is hopelessly bound in a drug addiction. He may go to rehab, go “cold turkey” and get physically free for a time. But the addiction is not in his body, it originates in his spirit. Taking away the addictive substance for a time does nothing to change his spirit. Even steps to correct his thinking may work for a while because it can change the mind, but even this is temporary because the spirit is still unchanged. It takes spirit to affect spirit, so all the efforts of man to help and change another is, at best, fleeting and frustrating. Now, if this same person is dealt with through the wisdom of the “counsel” of God’s Word, there is power and the actual life of God in that Word to effectively “counsel” the spirit of the man and in so doing, change him forever! Therefore, it should be the ultimate goal of every Christian who ever thought about advising or counseling another, to, first, seek the mind of God through His Word. Next, pray for the Spirit of Counsel to use him or her simply as a vessel through which He may speak and work in a counseling setting. Remember, it is only the Spirit and the Word that can truly and eternally change someone and change their situation, so pray earnestly for power in the Spirit to be the vehicle of the counselor they are looking for! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 4, Spirit of Counsel What does the word “counsel” actually mean? advice or advisement Advice is something someone gives you out of his or her own experience. The Holy Spirit of God has been a participant in every experience that has ever occurred from eternity past. Therefore He is qualified to be a Counselor. Proverbs 11:14 tells us that there is safety in the multitude of counselors. Worldly counseling and unfortunately sometimes Christian counseling can leave people feeling inadequate and frustrated. The reason for the answer to question 5 (above) is that the only effective counseling is that of The Holy Spirit. The counsel of Holy Spirit is different because His advice is alive and carries with it the power to perform that advice. Addictions originate in the spirit of a man. It takes spirit to affect spirit. This is why Holy Spirit is the only effective counselor. If you intend to counsel someone, you must 1) Seek the mind of God through the Word, and 2) Pray for the Spirit of Counsel to use you as a vessel. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 5, THE SPIRIT OF MIGHT, KNOWLEDGE & FEAR OF THE LORD By Patricia Smith Isaiah tells us that He (Holy Spirit) is the “Spirit of Might!” The Hebrew here means “force, valor, victory.” You might paraphrase that by saying that He is the Spirit of Victory in every battle! Because of His ultimate power as the Spirit of the Lord, He is victorious in all things. He cannot be defeated. It is He who fights our battles for us and then turns around and gives us the victory. There is an old song that says: “Thou who never lost a battle . . .stand by me!” When we enter the blood covenant in Christ Jesus, as portrayed in the covenant of Promise made to Abraham, our friends become His friends and our enemies are automatically His enemies. This is why the first thing Jesus told His disciples after He had breathed on them and said, “receive ye the Holy Ghost,” was “whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23) The presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Might in your life will “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you!” (Gen. 12:3) We know that Abraham’s covenant still applies to us according to Gal. 3:29 because we are “in Christ.” So it is of the utmost importance that we decide to forgive those who trespass against us. Otherwise they fall in line to be dealt with by the Spirit of Might who will go to battle for us against our enemies! Bear in mind, this DOES NOT apply to “family squabbles” when we get crossways with other Christians. The same spirit resides in them and He will not go to war with Himself. But it is of serious consequence when unregenerate men persecute or do despite to the children of God. They “know not what they do.” They don’t know that they are challenging the very Spirit of Might in us! We must follow the example of Jesus on the cross and be quick to forgive them! Had Stephen not followed this example as they were stoning him to death, Paul,(later to become the great apostle), would perhaps never have been saved, as he was present and “consenting unto his death.” It is something to give pause and think about. Isaiah then says, He (Holy Spirit) is the “Spirit of Knowledge.” Because He is God, He knows the “mind of God” the Father. God “knows all things.” That doesn’t leave much for the imagination. All things are simply that: “ALL THINGS.” When He comes to reside in us and upon us, He brings perfect knowledge of everything the Father and the Son “know.” This means EVERYTHING. When Solomon was gifted by God with the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, he not only knew about people and human nature, but he understood about the fishes in the sea and the birds of the air, about the animals and all creation! (1 Kings 4:33) You can be assured, not only does Holy Spirit know about all things natural, He also knows what every single scripture in the Bible means and for what reason it was recorded. He was there when it happened, He was there when it was written. In fact He is the one who caused it to happen and caused it to be written! On a trip to Israel, our guide told us that the walls of Jericho didn’t really fall down in response to Israel’s obedience to God. What do you think? Why don’t you ask the Spirit of Knowledge . . . .He was there, undoubtedly blowing upon them! Modern theologians say that Jesus wasn’t really born of a virgin and will argue Greek and Hebrew with you to prove it. Why don’t you ask the Spirit of Knowledge and see what He says. He was there, overshadowing Mary and planting the seed of God in her! They tell us that Jesus did not bodily rise from the tomb. Why not ask Him . . . He was there, breathing life into the cold, lifeless body of Jesus and changing Him from mortality to immortality, from corruption to incorruption, in a moment and the twinkling of an eye! He is the EYEWITNESS to it all, and His job is to “show it to us!” Because He is the Spirit of Knowledge, that is why Jesus said He would “teach us all things and guide us into all truth.” Finally, Isaiah says He (Holy Spirit) is the “Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.” The Hebrew word here for “fear” literally means “reverence.” Since it was the mind of the Father that originated all things and conceived all things and it was the obedience of the Son who carried it all out, the Spirit with His knowledge of these things automatically creates within us a sense of reverence at the awesomeness of God. He Himself “stands in awe” of the Father and of the Son. How is this possible? Let us put it on our level so we can understand it. Do you realize that you can be found in opposition to yourself? You can literally rebel and fight against yourself. This is what cancer cells are. . . . your own living body cells turning to fight against your own body to kill it. Stress. . . . the greatest factor in the destruction of our immune systems seeks to destroy us when our minds are in such turmoil and fear that we open the door to disease our own bodies! Just as the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord is in awe or reverence of the Wisdom of the Father and the Obedience of the Son, David was in awe or in reverence of his own body when He said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” We can certainly learn from God, in whose image we are made, (a trichotomy), how to bring unity to our bodies, our souls and our spirits. As Christians it is possible to find ourselves worshipping in our spirits, worrying in our minds and bringing sickness to our own flesh all at the same time. “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS IN CHRIST JESUS” Who, even though HE WAS GOD, CO-EQUAL AND CO-ETERNAL, reverenced His Father and became obedient to Him. What if God the Son had rebelled against His Father? What would the corresponding action of the Holy Spirit have been? What if the Father had done despite to His own Son? What would the Holy Spirit have done? Thank God, HE IS THE SPIRIT OF UNITY and the Spirit of the Fear (or reverence) of the Lord! And it is His Spirit that filled Christ and inspired Him to obedience and awe and respect for His Father, not rebellion and sickness and death! Allow Him to be in you to inspire you to revere, to worship, to thank and praise Him who loved us so much that He sent His Son. He, in turn, loved us so much that He bankrupted Heaven and slapped Hell into oblivion for us! For the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Bear in mind, “fear” does not mean “fright.” The bible plainly tells us that God hath not given us a spirit of fear (meaning fright). It is the enemy who deals on that level. But to “fear” the Lord is to hold Him in the highest awe and treat Him and His Spirit with the utmost care and reverence. Granted, when His wrath is poured out upon the earth, men will indeed be afraid, as well they should be. But for us under the covenant of the blood of His Son, we who trust beneath the shadow of His wings, hidden under the rock, the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord will cause us to worship in spirit and in truth, in awesome respect and love! These seven definitions probably correspond to the “seven spirits of God” that John saw before the Throne in Heaven.(Rev.4:5) The number seven signifies spiritual completion and perfection and indeed the Holy Spirit is the complete perfection of God and HE IS IN US AND UPON US! What a mighty God we serve!!! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 5, Spirit of Might, Knowledge & Fear of the Lord What the does the Hebrew literally mean, when it is translated “might” in the KJV? force, valor, victory According to Abraham’s covenant, God will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. What scripture tells us we are part of Abraham’s covenant? Galatians 3:29 If our enemies are “His” enemies, and His Spirit of Might dwells in us, what would be the consequence to our enemies? justice and the curse of God. Since this is the case, we should be quick to forgive our enemies. In your own words, write a paragraph using John 20:22,23, and 1 John 5:16, explaining how far YOU feel YOUR power to forgive extends. Teacher’s note: there are no right/wrong answers here. Grade on depth of research and thought, use of scripture, understanding and use of words to express opinion. According to 1 Kings 4:33, when God gifted Solomon with knowledge, what were some of the things he “knew” about? birds, fishes, trees, animals Holy Spirit has been an eyewitness to all human experience from the beginning. This qualifies Him to be the Spirit of Knowledge. In most cases, when scripture speaks of the “fear” of the Lord, what does this literally mean? awe, reverence Fear does not mean fright, because perfect love casts out fear. The 7-fold description of Holy Spirit that we have just studied probably corresponds to the seven spirits of God, that John saw, as recorded in Rev. 4:6. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 6, HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT By Patricia Smith It is in the New Testament that we find the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as prophesied in the Old Testament resulting in the birth of the church and the powerful anointing for the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. This marked the beginning of the dispensation of grace, which will be in effect until the coming of the Lord in the end time. In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit moved “upon” men of old, going at will, moving and removing. In the New Testament, He has been “poured out.” Just as He came upon Jesus and “remained,” so He comes “into” us at our new birth and “onto” us at our Spirit baptism, remaining permanently, never to leave or forsake us! BORN OF THE SPIRIT We are instructed by Jesus Himself that we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3). With this birth comes the seed of Christ by the Spirit that grows (as we feed and nurture it) into the stature of the fullness of Christ, until there is a “grown up” Christ in us. When God created Adam, he created him as He had created all things…with the “seed in itself” (Gen.1) and therefore able to reproduce “according to its own kind.” From the beginning, seed was introduced as the only means of reproduction on earth. Each seed contained within it the ability to grow into the exact replica of the life from which it had come, nothing more, nothing less. If you plant grass seed, you will get grass, nothing more, nothing less. If you plant an apple seed you will get an apple tree, nothing more, nothing less. When two robins mate, male “seed” fertilizes the female eggs and you get little robins. Not little finches or sparrows, just robins…nothing more, nothing less. Adam was no exception. Adam had seed in himself. When he and Eve came together as husband and wife, they were going to reproduce themselves…little Adams and little Eves. In their perfected state, God blessed them and commissioned them to “be fruitful and multiply.” Here it is of interest to note that God is an eternal God and therefore His Word is eternal and without compromise. Everything God says is eternal, and everything God does is eternal. Therefore when He “blessed” Adam and Eve and told them to “be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the Earth” that was an eternal blessing. Regardless of centuries of sin and blasphemy, God’s original blessing remains on Adam’s race. That is why, thousands of years later, we are still fruitful and still multiply on the face of the earth, and why we exercise dominion over the earth and its creatures. God is faithful to His Word and therefore must be trusted and believed! While Adam was in his perfect sinless state, the seed in him was perfect and sinless, but not incorruptible. In other words, although not yet corrupt, he was subject to corruptibility, based on his obedience or disobedience to God’s Word. Had he and Eve conceived children at this point, they would have been exact replicas, perfect, but not incorruptible, because that is the seed Adam possessed. After Adam and Eve sinned, their commission still remained, to be fruitful and multiply. Now, however, they had proved to be corrupt, and Adam’s seed had been corrupted. They began to have children and those children could only be the replica of the seed from which they were conceived. Therefore, they were born in a corrupt state. Their father was a sinner; therefore, they were born sinners because they sprang up of sinful seed. As they grew, they began to multiply and the seed that was in them reproduced “after its own kind.” Their children were, of necessity, also sinners with the “seed in themselves.” And on it went for countless generations, until here we are today, sons and daughters of Adam, with physical “seed” in ourselves, reproducing ourselves in our children. We are born sinners, reproducing sinners. For this reason, it is not possible to make ourselves righteous or otherwise acceptable to God in any fashion. Men have devised methods, self-sacrificing, self-effacing, ritualistic means and ways to be approved by God, to make themselves “right,” and all they have done is produce “religion.” They have taken vows of silence and locked themselves into monasteries, they have rolled up into pretzel-like shapes and stared at the sun until they have gone blind, they have consorted with wizards and spirits, they have approved and disapproved foods, lifestyles, cultures…yet in all of this one fact remains. As far as God is concerned, they are “dead in sins and trespasses.”(Eph.2:5). Why? Because the day Adam sinned, he died (was separated from Life), and although he continued to exist for a time in his body of flesh, the corruptness of his dead spirit finally ate through to the flesh and he died physically. So although Adam was able to procreate, he was “dead” in God’s eyes, and could only reproduce dead children. Here is the example of a dead body. Although the best funeral directors can do wonders with makeup, hairdressing and fragrance, and you pass by the casket remarking how “lifelike” and “like themselves” they look, still, all you have is a dead body, fit for nothing but burial. In the same way, we can fix up, make-up, fluff, buff, gel, spritz and spray, but we are DEAD SINNERS, because we were BORN THAT WAY. We are fit for nothing but burial, and all the “righteousness” we can come up with is “filthy rags” in the sight of God. (Isa. 64:6) We can do “good deeds.” Can an unrighteous person do a righteous act? Yes, of course. Even the mafia visit their sick mothers in the hospital! Isn’t that a righteous act, visiting the sick? But does that make them righteous? NO. So performing “good things” will not suffice to make us “good,” neither will it make us “Christian.” We can attend church every Sunday of our lives, we can sing in the choir, we can observe the Ten Commandments to the best of our ability, we can just, (as a lot of people say) “do the best we can, and be good to our neighbors,” yet nothing can change the fact….WE ARE DEAD SINNERS BECAUSE WE WERE BORN THAT WAY. BEING AS CHRISTIAN IS NOT SOMETHING WE DO, IT IS SOMETHING WE ARE. So is there no hope for us? With all due respect to religion everywhere, and all men’s attempts to improve, there is only one logical solution. What would that be? We would have to be BORN ALL OVER AGAIN, only this time, BORN FROM THE SEED OF A SINLESS FATHER. Now are we beginning to understand the words of Jesus when He told Nicodemus, “you must be BORN AGAIN…..that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” (John 3) So, God (who had seed in Himself) planted HIS SEED, in a human virgin named Mary, and reproduced AFTER HIS OWN KIND from the womb of a daughter of Adam. Obedient to the words of the angel Gabriel, she called her Son, Immanuel (GOD WITH US), and named Him JESUS (Jehovah is salvation). This is the first act of Holy Spirit in the New Testament. It was He who “overshadowed” Mary and caused her to conceive this seed of the Father. (Luke 1:35) But herein lies the “good news.” This Jesus, planted by God, conceived by woman, was a “new creation,” the likes of which had never been on earth, Son of man, yet, Son of God, Son of God, yet Son of Man…a new species. When tempted in all points that Adam, Eve, or any of their children had ever been tempted in, he endured the temptation, WITHOUT SIN, thus proving to be INCORRUPTIBLE!!! Like anything with life, (conscious or unconscious life) He had “seed in Himself” and was (and still is) able to “bring forth after His own kind.” He did not use that privilege while He sojourned on this earth, choosing instead, to become our Representative Substitute, assuming our sinful identities, and volunteering to receive our justice once for all. This He did at a place called Calvary, when nailed to a tree He bore our sins and our sicknesses, our transgressions and iniquities, our sorrows and our banishment from God, and died our death, crying out “IT IS FINISHED!” But wonder of wonders, that is not the end of the story! Because of His proven incorruptibility, it was not possible that death could hold Him! On the third day, He arose! Immortal! Never to die again! Incorruptible! Not subject to corruption! Proven Righteous! Proven justified! Proven sanctified! Proved glorified! Now listen: ….AND HE HAS THE SEED IN HIMSELF TO REPRODUCE AFTER HIS OWN KIND! Now the scripture says, that we can be “born again of an incorruptible seed, by the Word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23) Listen to the translation in the Amplified Bible: “You have been regenerated (born again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.” Think of it! No wonder scripture calls us “new creations.” We are a new species, born again with a different father from Adam. Born again from the seed of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. What does that make us? Christians! How does this happen to us? Only one way: just as Mary was overshadowed by Holy Spirit on earth and conceived the seed of God, so must we be overshadowed by Holy Spirit to conceive the seed of the Word of God (Jn. 1:1), in order to be born a new spirit, a literal reproduction of Christ on the inside of us. Holy Spirit is the only member of the Godhead on earth, so without Him, we could never hope to have this experience. Jesus said that no man could come to the Father unless the Spirit drew him. So the first work of Holy Spirit in our lives is to draw us to Christ. He “convinces us of sin, righteousness and judgment” and points us to the Savior. At the moment we say, like Mary did, “according to your Word be it unto me,” He is there, overshadowing us and planting this precious, incorruptible seed in us. No matter how wise the plan of the Father, nor how obedient the Son to finish it, without Holy Spirit to hover over us, bringing us to the place of hearing the Word, receiving our permission and planting this seed in us, we could never be saved! This is why Jesus said, “all sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness.” (Luke 12:10) BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT After our “new birth”, we are further admonished to receive the “baptism” in the Spirit, which is usually accompanied or evidenced by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance (Acts 2). This baptism that parallels Jesus’ earthly experience (Matt. 3:16) empowers us, as it did Jesus, for ministry and demonstration of the power and attributes of God. (Luke 4:4) The new birth, occasioned and performed by Holy Spirit, is NOT the BAPTISM in Holy Spirit. The new birth is Holy Spirit baptizing you into the life of Christ (eternal life), the baptism in Holy Spirit is Christ baptizing you into the power to put into actual practice what you have received. You may see the saints on the Day of Pentecost as the example. They were already born, (as you cannot baptize something that is not yet born) by the words of Jesus who had appeared to them and stayed with them 40 days, teaching and preaching. Now they must be empowered to put into action what had been “birthed” in them. We have often heard about Jesus having the “spirit without measure.” Let us examine carefully His exact words on that subject. In John 3:34, He says, “for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” He spoke this of Himself at the time. However, look at the account in John 20:21-22 where the resurrected Christ appears to his disciples who are behind locked doors; He says to them, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hat sent me, even so I send you.” Then He “breathes” on them and says, “receive ye the Holy Ghost.” He indicates that the Spirit (without measure) is no longer contained in His earthly body, but as God sent Him (by birth), so new He “sends” us (by new birth). It is the church that now on earth “speaks” the words of God and the church that is now given the Spirit “not by measure.” This is an exciting thought upon which to meditate. Jesus was born of God’s seed and was God’s Son from the moment of conception, yet He did no miracle and did not begin His ministry to others until His baptism at Jordan, both in water and by the Spirit, (for John saw Holy Spirit come down from heaven, abide upon Him and remain). Please note that Holy Spirit IS NOT A DOVE, He merely descended, according to scripture, LIKE a dove, which would indicate a fluttering, beautiful descent. If John saw Him descending AND remaining on Jesus, it was evident that Jesus did not complete His entire earthly ministry with a dove on His head. He came in a BODILY SHAPE (undoubtedly the shape of a man, as we are made in God’s image and likeness, and Holy Spirit is God!), and abode upon Jesus, hovering over Him. This writer believes that if people’s spiritual eyes could have been opened, they would have seen a bright Shekinah glory all around Jesus, which would have been this descended manifestation of Holy Spirit. The important thing to note is that Jesus was ALREADY born of God, and had been the Son of God since His conception in Nazareth and His birth in Bethlehem. This Holy Spirit baptism came 30 years later to empower His ministry. The saints in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, had ALREADY been born sons and daughters of God, but now, just as in the case of our father, Jesus, Holy Spirit was coming to empower them to be witnesses. The commission was that we should be “witnesses unto Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and the uttermost (farthest extremities) parts of the earth.”(Acts 1:8) To those who would say that this experience was limited to just those early saints, and was available only until the death of the last apostle, herein is a knotty problem. The commission included the farthest extremities of the earth, and the empowering of the Holy Spirit was the evangelistic tool given by the Father (the promise of the Father), to perform the commission. At what time did the early church or the early church fathers ever visit Alaska, or Hawaii, or Texas? When were they in Minnesota or Maine? Did they ever travel to Mexico? How about the islands of the Caribbean? No, the commission to the church has not yet been fulfilled, so why would the tools to do it be taken away? Or, on what particular calendar day, at what particular hour and minute of that day, did this privilege and experience cease? Were the saints advised of the approaching deadline for healing, deliverance, miracles of any sort? Allow us some folly. Imagine being a saint in the first century. Baptized in the Holy Spirit, you went about spreading the gospel; laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. You stayed in a state of faith, because, at the admonition of your dear apostle Jude (1:20), you continually prayed in the Holy Spirit. You spoke with new tongues, and on occasion, you prophesied. When you told someone that Jesus was alive, you didn’t just tell them, or prove it to them from your bible (Old Testament) or even from the letters that were circulating even then from an apostle named Paul. No, you SHOWED them with a supernatural word of knowledge, or wisdom, or a miraculous healing of their bodies or a miracle like the loaves and fishes. You laid hands on people who were addicted to drugs (yes they had them back then), drunkenness, sexual perversions, and watched the power of the Holy Spirit deliver them in an instant. Not even 12 steps! You attended church, and when you came together, it was pretty lively. (1 Cor. 14:26) Someone had a tongue, and another, an interpretation, everyone prophesied as Holy Spirit inspired them. Someone would read a psalm, and my, oh my, the praise and worship! Then nearly always, someone, (perhaps even you), would have seen something wondrous in the Word. Holy Spirit had come along and lifted the curtain, revealing a tremendous underlying truth, and well, that just couldn’t be kept a secret! So someone would give a revelation! Then you would pray and share testimonies of the awesome things Holy Spirit had done that day and the day before. You would all take communion together and oh yes, if anyone happened to be sick, no problem. The elders just gathered around them, anointed them with oil and prayed and the Lord raised them up. Once in a while, you got to deliver someone who was possessed with demons and see them come out of that bondage to new life in an instant! The Lord added to the church every single day, and really, it was a wonderful time! Afterward, everyone practically hated to go and couldn’t wait to get back and bring someone with them. But one sad day, a breathless messenger arrived at your door, waving a piece of paper, thrusting it into your hand and rushing off to find the others to deliver the same paper before it was too late! You looked down at the page and saw written therein: MEMO Date: July 24, 0096 To: All Christian saints, and those to whom it may concern, both now and in the future: From: Brother Knows-It-All Subj: Sad news It is my sad lot to inform you; John, our last apostle, is dying. Therefore any saint (or sinner) who needs healing, miraculous deliverance, provision or spiritual experience of any nature, must present themselves immediately at the door of his home. Perhaps you may get there in time, perhaps not. If not, too bad, those days are gone forever. The church will now regress into a time when we will not be able to access anything of the supernatural by way of deliverance, healing or miracles. To wit: We will no longer be able to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, and of course, casting out devils will be a thing of the past. There is simply no deliverance for these folks. Perhaps we might contribute to the building of institutions where they can be cared for, and who knows? Someone in the future, may actually come up with controlled substances which can mask the effects of their unfortunate possessions by evil spirits. We will no longer be able to edify ourselves, building up our faith in the Holy Spirit by praying in tongues, (unable to communicate i.e., speak to God in mysteries). Anyone found doing so after 2:39 p.m., August 1, 0096, will be declared a heretic. Of course, we will also be completely ignorant of anything coming our way in the future because the gift of prophecy will be gone. (Anyone seeing Agabus or any of the other prophets, must consider it their somber responsibility to inform them that they MUST CEASE AND DESIST PROPHESYING after the aforementioned date and time) When we testify of Jesus, we will now be witnessing by word only, as we will be unable to demonstrate the word with power. We will still, of course, with our holy lifestyles, attempt to be a good influence on people and encourage them to attend our gatherings in hopes that they may want to be like us, (although it should be noted that our gatherings will not be quite like they used to be). By way of encouragement though, we will still be able to gather together and read some of the apostle’s writings, as I understand they are combining them into what is sure to be a best-seller. At least that way, we can still read about the good old days when Holy Spirit was operative among us. I understand we will be encouraged to memorize these things and even preach about them, but, of course, without actually experiencing any of it. So again, let me encourage you to make haste to our dear dying brother John’s home, where, even if we cannot all be prayed for by him, we can at least give our glorious past a good send-off, facing our uncertain, unexciting and fearful future with some good fellowship. And take heart, because in the sweet-bye-and-bye, we will meet on that beautiful shore. P.S. Maybe we can have dinner on the grounds P.S.S. Someone needs to tell Anna, Mary Magdalene, (and who was that woman from Samaria that won a whole city?) Philip’s four daughters, and also Priscilla and Phoebe, they’ve got to stop preaching, as women will no longer be acceptable vessels for the Lord’s use. The prophet Joel’s words, “your sons AND YOUR DAUGHTERS, shall prophesy” will be considered null and void after 2:39 p.m. on August 1, 0096. Anyone who has been converted as a result of their preaching will have to do it all over again in order to be saved. TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 6, Holy Spirit in the New Testament In Old Testament times, Holy Spirit moved upon men, whereas now, He has been poured out upon us. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again. God created Adam with seed in himself, to enable him to reproduce after his own kind. Adam proved to be corruptible, and consequently his seed became corrupt. Because of Adam’s sin, all of his offspring have been born dead spiritually. The only cure for us lies in being born all over again, from the seed of a different sinless or incorruptible father. The seed of God is incorruptible and sinless. God’s seed was planted in a virgin named Mary. God’s sinless offspring, born of a woman, was called Immanuel (God with us), and named Jesus (Jehovah is Salvation). Jesus proved to be incorruptible. After rising from the dead, Jesus was immortal and incorruptible, and had seed in himself, to reproduce after His own kind. If you have received Christ, you have been born again of an incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. If anyone has this experience, they have received through the ministry of Holy Spirit, because Jesus said, “no one comes to the Father” except the Spirit draws him. After our new birth, the next step is, baptism in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism empowers us to be witnesses. In your own words, write a paragraph stating why you feel the baptism in the Holy Spirit is relevant or not relevant to the church today. Teacher’s note: There are no right or wrong responses. Grade on depth of research, use of scripture, understanding and concept and use of words to express opinion. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 7, ANOINTING & SPIRIT LEADING By Patricia Smith ANOINTING In both old and new testaments, the word, “anointing,” carries with it the description of a pouring of oil over the head, signifying the authority to carry out a particular commission. For this reason, Holy Spirit is often symbolized throughout the bible as oil. It is He who is poured out upon us for authority to do the works of Christ. As in Jesus’ life and ministry the Spirit anoints for a reason. That reason is the same as it has been since Jesus walked into the synagogue and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set a liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18) Who can receive this New Testament “Gift of the Holy Spirit?” Whosoever will! According to Jesus Himself in Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The principal commission of the church in all ages has been to win the lost. In order to do this, the scripture says, God has chosen the “foolishness of preaching” to save them. To preach, is to speak under inspiration and anointing of the Holy Spirit and comes from an old English root word which means “priest.” So, in essence, when we “preach” we are essentially acting as a source of communication and intercession from God to men and also from men to God. To expound words on our own authority (whether we are proficient public speakers or not), will never accomplish the salvation of souls. We must, without doubt, be commissioned of God, and receive an anointing of His Spirit, to carry out this communication. How could we be expected to actually be a vessel that God communicates to men through, unless we had the mind and spirit of God operating through us? Imagine a person from the U.S. going, say, to a 3rd world country, without having been chosen or commissioned by the U.S. government. As such, this person would be without knowledge of our policy towards this country and its government, without an understanding of what he was there to accomplish, and without any authority whatsoever to speak in behalf of the U.S. He could make promises, but he could not back them up. He could speak with great oratory skill, wonderful speeches, but with no power behind him to do anything of which he spoke! Involve the class in some speculative discussion along this vein, and parallel this with someone attempting to preach or prophesy without an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Different jobs require various skills and methods of operation. Therefore, in addition to our initial “baptism” in the Holy Spirit, it is of the utmost importance that we seek a particular “anointing” by Him for the task or tasks we are appointed to by Him. For example, if we play an instrument or sing, we MUST HAVE a special anointing for this or we will just be someone singing and playing, no matter how talented we are or how good it sounds! Men are spirits, with souls, living in bodies. ONLY SPIRIT can TOUCH, COMMUNICATE AND CHANGE SPIRIT. Whatever assignment God has given us as a part of His soul-winning church, it is essential to seek the anointing on that ministry. Otherwise, we will be attempting to reach spirits with simply our own abilities and talents, i.e., our flesh. If we preach, in any capacity, whether in or out of the pulpit, we must have HIS ANOINTING to accomplish anything. In my own life, I can recall attempting to first sing for the Lord. It was a display of failure! Then I came to the Lord and asked for His anointing, and never will forget the first time I was singing and it seemed as though the heavens opened and a great power came upon me so that I could hardly stand. Then, as I sang, people began to weep and respond to that Spirit. When I first began to preach, I attempted to do so with great amounts of study and carefully chosen words [still a good practice], and even a lot of prayer. However, I had neglected to seek a particular anointing on my preaching and teaching. There were no results. In desperation, I fasted for a week and prayed exclusively for an anointing to preach. At the end of this time, I took the pulpit and again, it was as though heaven opened and poured out upon me a great authority and power and from that point people began to respond to the Lord under this ministry.) This anointing (the gift and call of God) is permanent, (Romans 11:29) and though you “feel” it more at times than others, you must always be aware that it abides in and upon you. Do not rely on your feelings to determine the amount of anointing in which you are operating. Rely on the fact that you have been anointed by the Lord to do this certain thing (you will most certainly be aware when it happens) and then proceed to move out in your ministry in the faith that it is always there. This anointing can be perverted but never taken away. If you will read the account of Lucifer’s fall in Ezekiel 28:13-19, you will notice the things that the prophet said he had been, with the emphasis being what he once was. Everything is past tense, until he says in verse 14…”you ARE” (not you WERE, but you ARE) the ANOINTED cherub. Lucifer was once created and anointed for a particular task, that task was to be the head of his angelic order. If you read the original description of his person, (vs.14)he was the only angel in the bible ever spoken of as having a built-in music system, with “pipes” (like a pipe organ) within himself. Undoubtedly he was the worship leader of all the angelic host and creatures in heaven. And he was anointed to do so! Upon his fall, and particularly upon the triumph of Christ at Calvary, he lost all the privilege that he once enjoyed. HOWEVER, even though his glory days are past and never to be regained, he is still the ANOINTED cherub. Think about it…how else could he influence a third of the angels and millions of Adam’s race to follow him unless he had an anointing? Yes, he still has the anointing, but he is a frightful example of one who has perverted that anointing for his own evil purpose. The music that he uses to snare the youth of today, that causes them to give themselves over to addictions and perversions and even suicide…this is anointed music, but with satan’s perverse anointing. In this same vein, let us here interject this thought. One must never assume or judge spiritual purity and right standing with God by the anointing. Right relationship with God comes only from the cleansing of the blood and the constant washing of water by His Word. We are each responsible to maintain our own personal relationship by prayer, and communication through the Word, repenting when we commit known sin and walking with Him on a daily basis. The anointing is there regardless, and sometimes when you are at your worst, the anointing will accomplish that for which it was given. This is the reason that some “great” ministries have continued for long periods of time with great success, only to find out that there was a serious sin problem in the life of the minister. This disparity between the anointed ministry and the relationship of the man or woman with the Lord has been the cause of many losing faith. It is a sober thought that you can destroy what a lifetime of anointed ministry has accomplished, by your character or lack of integrity. This is why Paul admonished us to “think soberly” and as much as is in us, to “walk worthy of our calling”. If we are operating anointed ministries and find ourselves overtaken in a sin, whether it be a sin of commission or one of heart or attitude, REPENT and confess that His blood has redeemed you from this. Then, as Dr. Irvin McCorkle always says, “get up before the saints see you!” As a closing thought, once we have the anointing of Holy Spirit on our lives and ministries, we must take care to always be conscious of the fact that it is only His anointing that grants us whatever measure of success we enjoy in our ministries. Never allow pride to enter in, because that is the entrance point of satanic example and can result in misuse and perversion of the anointing. But rather, operate in your ministry knowing that it is “God that is in you, both to will and TO DO….” Take no credit to yourself, recognizing that you are dead in Christ. You can avoid the pitfalls of pride and also of discouragement by realizing that you are operating under the anointing of Holy Spirit. You need not go into lengthy explanations of this to people who attempt to compliment you. Just a simple “thank you, I’m glad it ministered to you” will do. But in your heart, receive the compliment and pass it on to the Holy Spirit, to Whom it belongs. This takes a great load off of you, especially when you receive criticism and not compliments. You receive the criticism the same way…a simple “I’m sorry it did not minister to you” will do, then pass it on to the Holy Spirit, to Whom it belongs. Thus, pride is avoided from compliments and discouragement from criticism! BEING LED OF THE SPIRIT Matt. 4:1 says, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” In His role as “guide,” He leads us in directions we need to go. Sometimes the path is not always pleasant to our flesh, as in this case when Jesus was “led” into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted of the devil. Of interest is the fact, as evidenced by Luke 2:27, that we are not always specifically aware of this being “led” or guided by the Spirit . . .”and he (Simeon) came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law. . . .” Simeon was a priest who was coming to the temple which was not an unusual occurrence. It seems to indicate that he was not purposely coming in response to some mysterious voice. He was probably not even aware that this was a special “coming in.” Nonetheless, he was led by the Spirit. At other times the Spirit will speak expressly, as evidenced by Acts 8:29, “then the Spirit said unto Phillip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” This and many other instances in the book of Acts attest to the very manifest voice of the Spirit. So we are safe in saying that whether we are acting in direct response to an instruction or completely unaware of a spiritual guidance we are “led by the spirit of God” if we are the sons of God. Sometimes this leading can also go so far as to be physical transference from one place to another, as in the case of Phillip after he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch; Acts 29:39, “and when they were come up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Phillip, that the eunuch saw him no more.” Phillip was later “found” at Azotus, a good distance away. While this is most unusual, it still happens today. Brother David duPlessis experienced this phenomenon while in Africa. He was called to exorcise a demon in a village about 10 miles from where he was staying. As he started out walking (for there was no other mode of transportation) with some other brethren, the Spirit said to him, “David you are needed,” He replied, “I know Lord, I’ll go as fast as I can.” He intended to run and as he lifted his right foot to run, the next time it came down he was in the hallway of the home where he was needed. He said it was years before he testified to this experience because in tribal Africa if they had known this they would have tried to worship him as some sort of god, so he kept it to himself. Guidance is not always quite so evident. Paul was a well-organized, professional person. He made schedules and plans for his journeys in the ministry. He did not wait for a mysterious voice or sign before he started on a missionary journey. He simply prayed, then purposed in his heart where he wanted to go, figured the best route and went. However, he always kept his heart and mind open to intervention by the Spirit. As in the case where he intended to go to Bithynia, however, Acts 17:7 says, “but the spirit suffered them not.” Herein is the key: Your life is now “led by the Spirit” because you are a son of God. So pray, then strike out in the direction you think is most advantageous to the gospel, your family and yourself, keep your heart and mind open, submit to a pastor. If you start to go in a direction where you are not intended to go the Spirit will let you know! Don’t sit around doing nothing, waiting for some great manifestation or vision. It most likely will not happen. Just get busy about the Master’s business. How do you know what that is? READ THE WORD and you will know! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 7, Anointing & Spirit-Leading 1. Anointing symbolizes authority to carry out a particular commission. 2. Oil is often the symbol of Holy Spirit being poured out upon someone for a special assignment or commission. 3. In Luke 4:18, Jesus said He had been anointed for five particular ministries. What are they? 1) preach the gospel, 2) heal the brokenhearted, 3) deliverance to the captives, 4) recover sight to the blind, 5) set at liberty them that are bruised. 4. The principal commission of the church is to win the lost, and to accomplish this, God has chosen the foolishness of preaching. 5. The word “preach” comes from a root word meaning priest, which means to serve as communication between God and man. 6. People are spirit, so in order to reach them effectively; we must minister from God’s Spirit. 7. True or False: Once you have experienced the anointing of Holy Spirit on your ministry, you can then judge the amount of anointing you have by your feelings at the time. False 8. Satan is the prime example of someone perverting the anointing. 9, True or false: You can always judge someone’s relationship with the Lord by the amount of anointing they exercise in their ministry. False 10. If you always acknowledge that it is Holy Spirit performing the ministry in you through the anointing, you can avoid both pride and discouragement. 11. True or False: Guidance can be very evident instruction or at times without any particular awareness on the part of the believer. True 12. True or False: You can know you are led of the Spirit if your way is always pleasant. False 13. True or False: You should have a plan in your life involving your ministry. True Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 8, SPIRIT OF PROPHECY & LAW OF THE SPIRIT By Patricia Smith SPIRIT OF PROPHECY The Holy Spirit in His New Testament capacity empowers believers to prophesy. In his treatise on the gifts of the Spirit in I Cor. 12-14, the Apostle Paul makes a startling statement when he says, “for ye all may prophesy, one by one,” (I Cor. 14:31) “and let others judge.” (I Cor. 14:29). This fulfills the prophecy of Joel that Peter pronounced as being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost 33 AD when he said, “and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17, 18) To prophesy simply means anointed or inspired utterance. It does not always necessitate foretelling the future, although it certainly can enable one to do so. However, inspired preaching / teaching also falls under the category of “prophecy.” Any spirit-filled believer is capable of prophecy and this prophecy is not just confined to a church building! We can speak under inspiration of the Holy Spirit to our families, our friends, our neighbors and even complete strangers we meet in the work or marketplace. The apostle John tells us that the “testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). Claim your anointing by the Spirit and begin to move out in confidence of it. YOU ARE SENT! If you speak the “words of the Lord” you can speak under the anointing and therefore “prophesy” to all you come in contact with! THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT There is a law operating in the world. Since Adam’s sin and mankind’s progression into it, this law says that we are subject to sin and to death. Romans 8:2 calls it, “the law of sin and death.” This law says that we must sin and live in sin and because of that fact we must die. Death does not mean termination. No one, sinner or saint, can be “terminated” no matter what the world says. This is because we are spirits and spirits are eternal. We have a soul and simply live in a body. Death means “separation” from our bodies, “separation” from our loved ones on earth, and in biblical terms “separation” from God. Whether we are dying a limited death of sickness and disease or facing actual cessation of life, the fact is we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). This is because our spirits have been separated from God before we ever die a physical death because of the law of sin. All in all, this law presents a bleak picture for the future. THE GOOD NEWS IS . . . THERE IS ANOTHER LAW! When the Holy Spirit came to us, He brought another law with him that nullifies the first law. It is called “the law of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ,” and it “hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2)!! Under this new law we are not subject to fear, sickness, disease, poverty or the strangling bondage of the fear of death. Does this mean we will never die? Our physical bodies will die, or fall off, but when we are born again that new creation will never die. We will change tabernacles, change planets, but we won’t ever die or be separated from God! In the meantime, Paul tells us that “if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (or give life) to your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:11). If we would meditate on the magnitude of this statement . . . if we had no other scripture but this one . . . the simple fact should be enough to inspire us to faith for our health and prosperity in this mortal body! Ambassadors from foreign countries (and their families) who come to live in the U.S. are not subject to our laws. They are not legal citizens and are only temporarily involved here. Because their citizenship lies in another country, they have immunity to prosecution here, even if they were to commit a crime under our laws. For example, our laws prohibit polygamy. A visiting Arab sheik may have a bevy of wives yet is not subject to prosecution for bigamy in our country. His law and our law contradict, but because he is not a resident here, His law supersedes ours. Now consider that according to the Word of God, we are “pilgrims and strangers here” and “our citizenship is in heaven.” (Quite another country altogether) This planet earth, in which we are temporarily involved, has one basic law that pervades every country on it…The Law of Sin and Death. We, however, as citizens of Heaven, have quite another law…The Law of the Spirit of Life!!! Everything about this world is passing away and the lusts thereof! It is predicated upon sin and considered dead in the sight of God. We however, are ALIVE FOREVERMORE in His sight and our law far supersedes the law of earth. The world operates from a base of fear. People are motivated in every area of their lives by fear. Fear of sickness and disease crowds doctor’s offices, hospitals, health food stores, health clubs, libraries, pharmacies, alternative practitioners offices...the list is endless. Fear of death motivates the entire “safety” premise that drives us to fingerprint our children, legislate seat belts, car seats, alarm systems, test for lead and asbestos…the list goes on. This extends into more subliminal areas, such as the fear of the death of relationships, (divorce) finance (employment). If you think about it, the fear of those operating under the law of sin and death is the motivating factor of every significant aspect of life on planet earth. We are living here, no doubt about it. To become so quasi-spiritual that we forget the practical aspects of life in a fear-driven world is to be foolish. Jesus said we would be “in the world” yet “not a part of it.” We are here on assignment. While on assignment, we are subject to our surroundings, but never forget that we are under a higher law. The world may say we are sick. A well-meaning physician may tell you that your condition is terminal. That may very well be true under the law of this planet, but our law is the absolute LAW OF LIFE that says “with His stripes ye were healed.” IT”S THE LAW!!! The law of this world may say that you are destined for bankruptcy because gas is $3.00 a gallon and the economy is failing. While it may appear to be the case, we do not bow to the law of sin and death, because the law of our citizenship says, “and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” Our law commands us to tithe, and as long as we are obedient to the law, the benefit is blessings we are not able to contain. IT’S THE LAW!! The law of this world says that we must be fearful every moment about ours and our children’s very lives. The law of our citizenship says: “The angel of the Lord encamps round and about those that fear Him” and again “The Lord is the light of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” The world says we must fear the threat of terrorists on every hand. No one is ever safe anywhere! Our law far supersedes that one! Our law says: “You shall NOT be afraid of the terror by night or the arrow that flieth at noonday.” Undoubtedly, you can think of many examples contrasting the law of sin and death and the law of the Spirit of Life. TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 8, Prophecy and the Law of Life To “prophesy” means to deliver anointed inspired utterance. True or False: To prophesy always means foretelling future events. False According to the Word, the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ. The prophet Joel said that your sons and your daughters would prophesy. The apostle Paul said we all may prophesy. The operative law in this world is the law of sin and death. The operative law for the Christian is the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. “Death” does not mean termination, but rather, separation. The world and the people occupying it are dead in sins and trespasses. This means they have been separated from God. We, who have been born again, are now alive unto God and our citizenship is in heaven. Our law supersedes the law of this world. In your own words, give an example of the contrasting laws of this world and ours. Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, content and word usage. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 9, EVANGELISM, TEACHING & ADOPTION By Patricia Smith EVANGELISM IN THE SPIRIT To be aware of the magnificent truth “Christ in you (in us), the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). . . . and the indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit, then to keep this truth to ourselves should be considered supreme selfishness. The four leprous men in the Old Testament who left the city to confront the Syrians and found God’s mighty deliverance in their behalf were rejoicing in their good fortune when all of a sudden thoughts came to them about the rest of the starving city they had left. They said, “we do not well: this is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace, . . .now, therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household (II Kings 7:9). It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, under the new covenant, to empower us to win souls. The only reason the church is still on earth (because our citizenship is in heaven), is to evangelize. Jesus commissioned us when His parting words to the church were, “preach the gospel to every creature”. Paul said, “my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (I Cor. 2:4). He also made the statement that the Gentiles were actually made “obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have FULLY preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom 15:18-19). Thus indicating that to preach or speak without the demonstration and power of the Spirit is NOT preaching or speaking IN FULL, as to what God desires to do. This is the reason we who have a Pentecostal/Charismatic experience are called “full gospel” in belief and experience. It is one thing to SAY that God will deliver you and it is quite another to accompany that word with the laying on of hands for the deliverance experience. It is one thing to SAY God will heal you and it is another to lay hands on the sick and let them experience the power of God. When the word is preached with demonstration and power, the gospel is believed and people in need come “out of the woodwork” just to hear the word and experience for themselves what God can and will do in their lives. ANY MINISTRY MUST HAVE THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT OPERATING IN THEIR MINISTRY OR THEY WILL NEVER ACCOMPLISH WHAT GOD HAS CALLED THEM TO DO! This is a strong statement but it is true. The anointing to preach with power and demonstration should not be something we talk about in hushed whispers. It must be something we covet and earnestly desire more than anything else. Anything less is far below the standard God has placed for ministry in His church. TEACHING FROM THE SPIRIT In Old Testament times, God spoke only to those “in charge” (prophets, priests) and the rest had to be “taught” by those who had heard from God. Now that the Holy Spirit has come to whosoever will . . . He is present in you to “teach you all things” IN YOUR HEART, in burning revelation that changes you. The scripture so often quoted that our “eyes hath not seen, nor our ears heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9) . . . CONTINUE READING! It goes on to say. . . “BUT GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO US BY HIS SPIRIT!” (V. 10). Paul then explains that being made in the image of God, we too have a spirit. It is not God’s Spirit, not a demon spirit, but our own human spirit. And no one can possibly KNOW or understand another person’s spirit. The only person who knows your spirit is YOU! (and God of course). For example, if I am an “angry” person, there is a way that I hear or see things that sparks a volatile response in my spirit, causing an overwhelming feeling of anger to well up inside me. Now unless you could be “in me” and see things the way I see them, or hear things the way I hear them, you could never KNOW the feeling of my response to what I hear and see. You could study about my anger, try to find reasons for my anger, try to persuade me intellectually to control my anger (they even have anger management courses), but the fact is, you could not EXPERIENCE my anger unless you were in me! By the same token, Paul says that NO ONE “KNOWS” the Spirit of God, except God Himself (V. 11). No one can see the way He sees, hear the way He hears, and perceive things the way He perceives them, except Himself. What a sad situation. This would appear to eliminate us from ever “KNOWING GOD.” But thank God, Paul doesn’t end his treatise there, he goes on to say, “NOW WE HAVE RECEIVED (past tense), not the spirit of the world, but THE SPIRIT WHICH IS OF GOD, that we might KNOW the things that are FREELY given to us of God” (I Cor. 2:12). This is how New Testament saints learn. This is why John said that we need not that another teach us, but that the same anointing we have received will teach us. This is not memorizing scripture, or quoting a sermon we have heard. We can do that endlessly and never KNOW the things of God. Peter spoke about those who were “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth” (II Tim. 3:7). If we are taught something in our spirits it is revealed to us by the Spirit of God, who is our teacher. Once you have been taught by the Spirit, what you have been taught can never be taken away from you. It is indelibly written on your heart. Why then does God say that “teachers” are a “gift” to the church and part of the five-fold ministry? Because the God called teacher is called and anointed by the Holy Spirit to speak the words of God. The Spirit Himself then takes the word that is spoken and carries it to the heart of the hearers. Without the anointing of the Spirit, the teacher may as well be teaching history or geometry. It will provide human knowledge, but will not change a heart or life. Paul makes a startling statement in II Cor. 3:3; he says to the Corinthians that they are “manifestly declared to BE THE EPISTLE (message) of Christ, ministered by us, written NOT WITH INK, but with the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” This tells me you ARE THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST and if I have ministered to you in the Spirit, the Message of Christ has been written on your heart with the INK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. In other words, the agent that makes the message visible is Holy Spirit. If I want to SEE Christ in you, then I must minister to you with the Holy Spirit. Then you will not just possess the message of Christ, you will BE the message of Christ to the world. THIS IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALONE. SPIRIT OF ADOPTION He is called the “Spirit of Adoption” (Rom. 8:15) because it is His New Testament work to cause us to “become the sons of God.” Israel was the “natural sons” of God. In their failure to bear fruit, their branches were taken from the olive tree and we were “grafted in.” This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Because He has made us to be God’s very own children, we have Him within us causing us to be able to cry “Abba” Father. The best translation of that Hebrew word is “dear daddy.” It is a term of endearment that a small child would use towards his father. We are, according to Galatians 4:4-7, no more a servant, but a son and an heir of God through Christ. We do not serve for wages, subject to dismissal if our work is not up to par, but we are children in the house subject to discipline, but not dismissal. We are told, as His children, that if we “walk in the Spirit” we do not have to worry about “fulfilling the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). We are told, as children, not to “grieve,” the Holy Spirit, because He has sealed us to redemption (Eph. 4:30). We are told, as children, not to “quench” the Spirit (I Thess. 5:19). We are told, as children, not to be “drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but to be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). How do we do this? By “speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. By giving thanks for all things and by submitting ourselves one to another” (Eph. 5:19-20). Finally, Paul tells us to put on God’s armor and then pick up a weapon. That weapon is the word of God, which, he says, is the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). It is the Spirit’s weapon against all that the enemy tries to send our way. Finally, as children, the Spirit has messages for the churches. Seven times in Revelation we are admonished to “hear what the Spirit saith to the church at. . .” He is still “speaking to the churches today”. What is He saying to our church? Are we listening? TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 9, Evangelism, Teaching & Adoption To keep the truth about the gospel to ourselves is the supreme example of selfishness. The reason God has left His church in the earth is to preach the gospel to every creature. Paul advised us that preaching by word only, without the power and demonstration of the Spirit was not the full gospel. Any ministry must have the anointing of the Holy Spirit operating in that ministry or they will never accomplish what God has called them to do. In Old Testament times God spoke only to certain individuals and the rest were to be taught by these few people. In New Testament times, Holy Spirit is present to teach every believer. In your own words, explain why, if Holy Spirit is the teacher, that God gave to the church the gift of teachers. Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and word usage to express thought. The people of Israel were the natural sons of God. When they rejected Jesus, God grafted us into His “olive tree” (church), so we are now adopted into God’s family. We can now cry abba Father. The best English translation for this is dear daddy. According to Gal. 4:4-7, we are no longer servants but a son and heir of God. As children, Gal. 5:16 tells us that if we walk in the spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. True or False: Jesus is still speaking, through the Holy Spirit, to His church and individual church bodies today. True Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 10, BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT By Patricia Smith When Jesus left the church He promised those who loved Him that He would not leave them alone, but He would send the same motivating, creative, powerful, loving Spirit that resided in Him to live in us. He also promised God would open up heaven and pour out of Himself, (this Spirit) UPON them in order to make HIMSELF visible on the earth. You see, when Jesus was here, He made God visible to us, just as He told Philip, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) NOW WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO MAKE HIM MANIFEST TO THE WORLD, so that we can say, “if you have seen us (the church) you have seen the Father.” This is certainly not possible by trying to become an imitation of God. That is what we end up . . .an imitation, and usually a poor one at that. The only way to show Him to the world is to have the SAME SPIRIT. That is precisely what He has given us. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (I Cor. 2:12) SO WHERE IS HE? Amazingly enough, He is in us and upon us and remains. Just as Jesus when He was baptized in water came up to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, so also He is given to us. First we are born inwardly of the Spirit; the Word is planted in us by the Spirit, creating a new man/woman, and then we are empowered by the baptism of the Spirit. So now the Holy Spirit of God Himself is in His church and in and upon his people on earth. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME? To simply invite Christ to come in and take possession of your life means that you have received the “seed of the Word of God.” Just as Mary received seed planted by the Holy Spirit and Jesus grew inside her, so also are you “born again” by the indwelling Spirit and Word. In order to demonstrate this power within you, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is literally an out-pouring of God Himself. Remember the story of Hannah (I Sam. 1:15). She was “sorrowful of spirit” and told the priest that she was literally “pouring out her soul” to God. You have probably had this experience. In times of great emotion, whether it is the welling up of praise within you or the expression of great thankfulness or great sorrow, you know what it feels like to “pour out your soul.” The Day of Pentecost was 50 days after Passover. Jesus was crucified on Passover, was in the earth 3 days and on the third day went to heaven and presented His blood as our High Priest, He then returned (the same afternoon) and breathed upon His disciples saying “receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:22). He stayed with them 40 days and then returned to heaven telling them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. They went to an Upper room in Jerusalem and continued in prayer, some say 7 days, some say 10, but regardless, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, the Father in Heaven, so full of love and joy for the return of the Son and the dedication of His children, began to well up in mighty swells within Him until He literally began to “pour out” of Himself, His own Spirit upon them, baptizing them. This empowered them to think as He thinks, act as He acts and talk as He talks. So it is with every one of us. When it is time for the baptizing, and upon your asking, God rejoices in Himself so much that He literally runs over . . . and pours out of Himself upon you! It comes simply by asking and receiving. WHY DOES HE BAPTIZE US? He baptizes us to put a seal upon us (II Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13) and then gifts us to “exhibit” Him to each other and to the world. His very power and personality comes with this baptism (Acts 2:38) and to us it is given to demonstrate how He acts, thinks, talks, feels, etc. HOW DO I RECEIVE THIS BAPTISM? Do you remember when you received Christ as your Savior and were born-again? How did that happen to you? At some point and in some way, you heard the Word of God, whether it was through a preacher, a friend, a TV show, a book. However the Word came to you, it was sent at that moment by Holy Spirit to your heart. You said, “yes” to that prompting of Holy Spirit, repented of your sins and gave Jesus your will and your permission to be Lord of your life. You walked away from that experience with a certain “knowing” in your heart that you were saved. Now at that moment, to an untrained eye, you did not look one bit different. If you were asked to prove to an unregenerate person that you were saved and now a citizen of heaven, indwelt by God Himself, you could not do it. Yet, you knew, because of the Word of God you had received. You simply heard it, believed it, received it, and now you are confessing it….saying it out of your mouth, as a result the evidence of a changed life began to manifest in you. The baptism in the Holy Spirit comes exactly the same way. You must first hear that it is available to you as a Christian. Acts 2:39 records the apostle Peter as saying that this promise of Holy Spirit baptism is “to and for YOU and your children and to and for all that are far away, [even] to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself”. (Amplified) Now you have heard. Next, you must believe it. If God says it, there should be no problem for a Christian to believe it. Now you have believed it, and so you simply come to God, open your heart and receive it. The next thing that happens is that you will confess out of your mouth that you have received it; only the Spirit Himself will give you the utterance, so that your confession will be in another tongue that you have not learned. In the past, so much emphasis has been placed on speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of your baptism that people began to seek the tongues rather than Holy Spirit Himself. This would be rather like a person seeking a changed life without seeking Christ! It simply could never happen. You must go to God seeking HIM and seeking JESUS to baptize you in His Spirit! Yes, the tongues will come, but tongues are not the baptism in the Spirit, they are simply a result of the baptism. Bro. David duPlessis used to give the example of someone walking into a shoe store and asking for a pair of tongues. That isn’t done. You walk into the shoe store seeking a pair of tennis shoes and the tongues come with them! When you ask God for baptism in the Holy Spirit, receive it at that moment, because all God’s promises are “yes” and “amen”. Then begin to testify that you have received Holy Spirit in your heart and say “amen” to that! Whether you begin to exercise a prayer language at that moment, a week or a month later, is immaterial. Another side note is that the evidence of tongues is not for the people who are praying and laying hands on you. It is not up to them to decide whether or not you have received the baptism. The evidence is for YOU. This writer personally received the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit at a prayer meeting by the laying on of hands and began confessing it publicly. A week later, in a completely unrelated instance, at home, the tongues came in such swells of glory that it lasted off and on for three days! Although the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a requirement for going to heaven, it is certainly not to be put in the category of some suggestion God may have made. God doesn’t make suggestions, He gives commandments. We do not have the option of choosing what we will obey and what we will reject. If we do, it may not affect our status as citizens of heaven, but it will definitely affect our daily walk and indeed our very lives. This applies to all the commandments of God, not just the ones which we approve! If a Christian thoroughly understands Who Holy Spirit is, and grasps even a particle of the concept that this great and majestic God, the Holy Spirit, desires to envelop them in a very real Presence and remain, empowering them as long as they are on this earth….Who, in their right mind, would say “no thank you?” . ENTER THE GIFTS It is not given to one person alone to manifest all of God, but we are, as a body, growing up into the head, which is Christ to demonstrate His person to the world. So, once we have received the baptism in the Spirit, He (Holy Spirit) distributes (as HE wills) to each of us at different times and different manners the ability to think like God (Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Discerning of Spirits), to talk like God (Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, Prophecy) and to act like God, (Faith, Miracles, Gifts of Healing). We do not all exhibit every gift. But at certain times, if we have been baptized in Holy Spirit, we are subject to be used in a gift simply by virtue of the fact that we are available. When a gift of the Holy Spirit is exercised, something happens! Someone is changed, someone receives revelation, someone receives a touch from God, and someone sees HIM! If this is not the case we had best examine the source. True giftings produce true results. GIFTS ARE GIVEN Through prophecy Through laying on of hands (spiritual impartation) Through preaching Through the Word Gifts are exercised according to the faith of the person using them. (Rom. 12:6) We are told to be good stewards of our gifts, and to be certain that what we are speaking and ministering is glorifying Him. (I Peter 4:10, 11) We will discuss each gift separately, and see them operative in the O.T. and in the life of Jesus in our next lesson, Gifts of the Holy Spirit. TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 10, Baptism in the Holy Spirit We have been chosen to make God manifest or visible to the world. In order to demonstrate the power of God within you, you must be baptized in the Holy Spirit. True or False: The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a separate and distinct work of God in your life and is different from the indwelling that comes with the new birth. True. 4. The baptism in the Holy Spirit brings “gifts” with Him. These “gifts” can be put into three categories that enable us to: 1. talk like God, 2. think like God, 3.act like God. 5. True or False: Any born again believer can be baptized in the Holy Spirit and become a candidate to be used of Him in the performance of His gifts. True 6. Speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 7. A believer should not seek tongues, but rather, should seek The Holy Spirit. 8. To receive this Spirit baptism, you must first hear the Word of the Lord, next you must believe it, then you must receive it, and finally you must confess it with your mouth. 9. Once baptized in the Holy Spirit, you then become a candidate to be used in the gifts He brings. . Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 11, GIFTS – TALKING LIKE GOD By Patricia Smith The gifts of the Holy Spirit are numerous, however for our purposes; we will be discussing those labeled as the “charismata” or the 9 gifts outlined by Paul in I Corinthians, Chapter 12. These gifts can be divided into 3 categories, enabling us to: Talk like God Think like God Act like God We of the “Pentecostal” persuasion are most familiar with the three gifts that allow us to exercise the speech of God. . . .These are: tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy. TALKING LIKE GOD “TONGUES” We will begin with “tongues.” What is the speech of a tongue? It is a language, a vocal expression of an inner thought in a manner that can be communicated to another. When God created Adam, God SPOKE to him. (Gen. 1:28, 29) “and God SAID unto them . . be fruitful and multiply . . . . and God SAID . . . behold I have given you every herb bearing seed. . . .” If God “said” things to them, then we must conclude that God not only created them with the power of speech, but also taught them a language. What language did God speak? Undoubtedly to us, it is an “unknown tongue.” Angels have tongues or languages. (I Cor. 13:1) But then God gave Adam the opportunity to exercise his own speech and language making abilities when he commissioned him to “name the animals.” (Gen. 2:19-20) Since God and Adam were “bilingual” they spoke each other’s language without misunderstanding. When Adam sinned and was banished from God’s presence, he could still speak both his own and God’s language. This Language was passed on to subsequent generations and “the whole world was of one language and one speech.” (Gen. 11:1) Because of this phenomenon, it appears that since men were made in God’s image, there was NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE TO THEM. Our society continually proves the truth of these words of God. With our technology we can clone living things, go to the moon, travel through space, and we have created the communications super highway. All this we have accomplished while living in a world hampered by the language barriers of each country and race. No wonder God said that nothing would be restrained from people made in His image that all had one language! In order to keep history from developing faster than His redemptive plan, He “confused” their language at the Tower of Babel in order to slow, but not to stop, human progress. So at Babel, God created the language barrier; perhaps through means of a great earthquake since they were “scattered” at that time. From that time on men went from speaking a mix of God/man language to “every man for himself,” developing their own languages so that now where one lives determines the language he/she grows up speaking. Language barriers are the result of sin and separation from God. BUT ONE DAY. . . When God in His mercy dealt with the sin problem through His son Jesus, He made a way for us to be reunited with Him just as Adam had been in the garden, walking and talking with Him! Proof positive of this came on the day of Pentecost, AD 33. The Holy Spirit came rushing into an upper room in Jerusalem and THE LANGUAGE BARRIER WAS REMOVED IN CHRIST!! God came speaking to men of all tongues and languages. Who did He use? The 120 disciples in the upper room. (Acts 2:4-11) Sixteen different languages are listed as being spoken by the disciples that day. THIS IS THE GIFT OF TONGUES IN OPERATION and it still operates today. There is however an UNKNOWN tongue, which in this writer’s opinion, would be the language of God in the beginning. . . . the official language of Planet Heaven; the language with which He originally spoke to Adam in the garden when He visited in the cool of the day for fellowship. Now that this fellowship has been restored to us in Christ, in our prayer times we are given the ability, by His Spirit, to speak mysteries unto Him. Such speaking edifies THAT PARTICULAR BELIEVER ONLY. (I Cor. 14:2-4) This form of edification releases the cry of your heart to God and presents it according to His will. (Rom. 8:26-27) This is the RIGHT of every Spirit-filled believer and is NOT LIMITED to those exercising a “gift of tongues” in the congregation. It can accurately be stated that for one to speak in tongues to God is to speak edifying mysteries that builds you up in your faith. However, for one to speak to other men and women in tongues is to allow God to speak through you, to them. This is the evangelistic GIFT OF TONGUES in operation. “INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES” Next, we have “interpretation of tongues.” This gift understands and then verbalizes the message that is being communicated. Believers are told not to confuse God’s congregation when they are gathered together in a service by delivering a speech in tongues and then not interpreting it to the body. We are told to pray that we might interpret such messages ourselves (the speaker of the message), but if this is not the case then another may “interpret” but in all public instances the message should be interpreted or else the speaker of the tongue should keep his message to himself. Even though these speech gifts have been abused, and misused, they are very valid manifestations of God Himself and Paul said we should “covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak in tongues.” (I Cor. 14:29) Interpretation is not a translation and hearers should not expect the interpretation to be an exact word for word translation of what has been said. Thus sometimes there is disparity between the length of the message and the length of the interpretation. An interpretation is given in the person’s own words through his own mental process, even though it originates in his spirit. Always remember it is given through the vocabulary and choice of words of the person who is speaking which explains interpretation being given at times in “King James English.” As a young Christian, I believed that if God were to speak to His church in this day and time, He would most certainly use the language of the present century. Therefore, it troubled me that people would start out to interpret a message or give a prophecy by saying “Thus saith the Lord”……Or, “hitherto, thou hast,”etc. etc. Holy Spirit soon taught me that people use their own words, and if they read the King James Bible (as I do) and they are not careful, they will think that God Himself still talks in Elizabethan English. However, do not negate the message simply because the messenger chooses to use these archaic words. Stop being critical and open your heart to receive the crux of the message. “PROPHECY” While tongues and interpretation are given as a sign to unbelievers, “prophecy” is mainly for them that believe. (I Cor. 14:22) This word propheteuo in Greek literally means to foretell events OR speak under inspiration. So while prophecy can be a foretelling of the future, it can also simply be speaking under divine inspiration, which would include exhorting, preaching and teaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that it is EVERY BELIEVER’S privilege to prophesy. When we “come together” we are told that some would have “psalms” to give, some might have a “revelation” to expound on, etc. It does not mean that every one of us will get up and begin to foretell future events. New Testament prophecy should be “judged” by these criteria “. . . he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” (I Cor. 14:3) Ideally, anything spoken in a service should be spoken under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it should minister grace to the hearers. It should exhort, build up and/or comfort the body. Judge what is spoken by this alone. In these last days, there has been a revival of the gift of prophecy, and, as always accompanying a genuine move of God, there arises the counterfeit. Always remember, for there to be a counterfeit, there must of necessity, always, be an original. Do not be guilty of despising prophecy, simply because it has been misused. Beware of “parking lot prophets.” These are folks who will take you off by themselves or out in the parking lot where no one else can hear and tell you off-the-wall things that would never stand up under judgment of the body. Do not receive prophecies into your spirit that do not line up with the word of God. New Testament prophets will speak things to you that will confirm something you have already been thinking about. They will not encourage you to do things that are against scripture, and most certainly, they will not pry into your private life. Some have even been told they were married to the wrong person, or that the Lord was telling them they should go into debt in order to give vast sums of money, etc. Please have enough wisdom to reject these kinds of prophecies and the so-called prophets who give them. The test of a true prophet is whether or not his or her prophecy comes to pass. However, the word tells us that we should “covet” (or strongly desire) to prophesy, and we should not despise prophesying. Just be wise enough to judge the prophecy by the written Word of the Lord. When it is real, it is one of the most powerful manifestations of God speaking on earth today! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 11, Gifts-Talking Like God True or False: Angels have tongues or languages. True How do we know from the account of Adam’s walk with God that God had a language? God “said” or spoke to Adam. We know that God gave Adam opportunity to exercise his own language-making abilities because He asked him to name the animals. True or False: If God had not confused men’s language at the Tower of Babel, nothing would have been impossible to them. True. Speaking to the Lord in an unknown tongue does what for the believer doing it? Edifies him/her. Tongues + Interpretation = prophecy. Interpretation of tongues is not a literal translation, but rather an interpretation of what has been said. Tongues given in a public congregation are primarily a sign for unbelievers, while prophecy serves both believers and unbelievers. True or False: Prophecy is a very special gift and should never be examined or judged by anyone else. False. What are the three criteria for judging prophecy? 1) comfort, 2) edification, 3) exhortation. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 12, GIFTS – THINKING LIKE GOD By Patricia Smith Words of wisdom, knowledge and discerning spirits originate in the mind of God. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5), we are admonished. This is only possible through the gifting of the Holy Spirit. We all have human wisdom, knowledge and discernment (some more than others), but this is NOT to be confused with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “WORD OF KNOWLEDGE” A “word of knowledge” is knowledge of something that ONLY GOD COULD KNOW (i.e., Jesus seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree. . . . .knowing the woman at the Samaritan well was living with a man unlawfully and previously had lived with 5 husbands. “WORD OF WISDOM” A “word of wisdom” is not human wisdom, which the Bible tells us stems from the “knowledge of good and evil.” Human wisdom is a “wisdom of words” that has been “made foolish by God” and has been replaced in the kingdom by the “foolishness of preaching.” GOD’S GIFT OF WISDOM is a word from God that brings understanding from His Spirit of “His things”. . . . it reveals spiritual things that are hidden, it unveils mysteries in the word and it brings an understanding that only God has of how to deal with a particular situation. (Recall Jesus’ response to the Pharisees concerning the woman taken in adultery . . . .concerning paying taxes . . . . concerning the authority with which He ministered) Always pray for the use of this gift in conjunction with the use of all other gifts. Perhaps this is where the charismatic movement got such an unfavorable reputation . . . . because the gifts were in operation without the gift of wisdom guiding them! This writer had occasion to exercise this gift when a young woman came to me concerning her failing marriage. In everything she told me, she was scripturally in the “right” while her husband was very “wrong.” After saying the obvious things concerning forgiveness and praying together, bible reading, etc., suddenly a thought hit my mind, and I said, “Sharon, when all the world was WRONG, and Jesus was the only one RIGHT, what did HE do? After a long and thoughtful pause, she said very quietly, “He died.” In that instant, she saw herself and realized that she had to die to this perceived injustice and in so doing, begin to live without “rights” and “wrongs” and casting blame. The result? A healed marriage. That was the gift of a “word of wisdom” in operation. “DISCERNING OF SPIRITS” The “discerning of spirits” that springs from the mind of God is certainly NOT the natural discernment with which we pride ourselves . . . . the ability to keenly observe someone and come to some conclusion about their faults and then blame it on the devil. Many a devil has been cast out who was never there to start with. This has resulted in absolute folly in the body of Christ. While some of it is laughable and seems harmless enough, in actuality it is an appalling departure from the basic tenets of the New Testament. Christians who sinned in the New Testament are constantly admonished to repent, to confess their sin and to forsake it and count it forgiven by the blood of Jesus and go on to allow Christ to “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” by the “washing of the water of the word.” If we constantly blame some demon spirit for our failures, then we are absolved in our minds from the guilt that we must rightly deal with. “The devil made me do it”. . . .so let’s just chastise him, cast him out and here I am now clean by the fact that someone has said words over me to “cast out” the offending spirit. Those involved in such doctrines need to read James’ account of sin in a Christian’s life. He says that a man is “drawn away of his own” (not some foreign spirit’s), but “HIS OWN lust and enticed.” Then “when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. DO NOT ERR MY BELOVED BRETHREN.” (James 1:14-16) This is not to say that demon possession, obsession, control and influence are not a very valid and growing part of today’s society. It is multiplying at an alarming rate! People are opening themselves up to demon spirits by dabbling in the occult, calling 1-800’s for consultations with witches, wizards, spirit mediums, astrologers and etc., etc., . . the list keeps growing . . . pornography, homosexuality. . . .all orchestrated by demon spirits. There are spirits of infirmity producing disease and illness in people. I recommend you do a BIBLICAL study on the subject of demonic activity. JUST YOU AND YOUR BIBLE AND YOUR CONCORDANCE . . . . .no books opining pigs in our parlors, etc. The gift of discerning these spirits is the supernatural ability to perceive whether a person is simply ill, mentally, physically, emotionally ill or actually controlled by a demonic spirit. It is the ability to perceive whether doctrine is pure and wholesome or the work of satanic spirits masquerading as “angels of light.” It is given so that you may effectively minister to oppressed people by knowing whether their problems are due to possession and control by an actual foreign spirit residing in or upon them or whether it is simply a health or emotional problem requiring the laying on of hands. (Study Jesus’ and Paul’s use of this gift.) TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 12, Gifts – Thinking like God Words of wisdom, knowledge & discernment originate in the mind of God. True or False: We all have human wisdom, knowledge & discernment. true A word of knowledge is something only God and the person involved, could know. Give an example of Jesus using this gift. (Teacher: any example that demonstrates this gift is acceptable) Human wisdom stems from the knowledge of good and evil. God’s gift of wisdom is a word from God that brings understanding of His things. Give an example of Jesus using this gift. (Teacher: any example that demonstrates this gift is acceptable. True or False: The gift of discernment is our ability to observe someone and conclude what their problem is, and then cast the devil out that is causing it. false. In your own words, write a paragraph that best describes the gift of discerning spirits. (Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and use of words for expression) Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 13, GIFTS – ACTING LIKE GOD By Patricia Smith FAITH The gift of “faith” is God’s supernatural faith that enables the one so gifted to believe for impossible things! This gift has been given in some measure to some who have used it to a miraculous end and then others have expected that they could imitate the method and obtain the same results. Not so. God’s gifts are not to be found in formulas or rituals. The gift of faith may be given for one isolated circumstance and does not imply that even the recipient of the gift may use it again in exactly the same way. (Recall Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead . . . a one-time occurrence when one was brought back from the dead after 4 days! So it could not be said that he was sleeping.) This miracle was not repeated in Jesus’ ministry. It was a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit in operation for that particular occasion. It comes by hearing a rhema word from God to your spirit that creates a certain KNOWING that God is preparing to do a particular thing in spite of the laws of nature or the circumstances surrounding the situation. HEALING “The gifts of healing”are the demonstrations of God’s willingness to heal sick and afflicted bodies. There are many instances of healings in the Old Testament; Naaman the leper, Hezekiah’s terminal illness, etc. The methods are varied (dipping in Jordan, laying on a plaster of figs). It is even affirmed by Jesus in the New Testament that it was a covenant right of Israel, when he looked at the woman bowed over for l8 years with a spirit of infirmity, and said, “she OUGHT to be healed,” since she was a “daughter of Abraham.” The New Testament gives us many examples and methods of healings; a man’s withered hand (he was told to stretch forth his hand), servant healed (by the spoken word of Jesus), the power of the Lord was present to heal (as Jesus was teaching). These gifts of healing continued on after Jesus’ death and resurrection and continue still today. MIRACLES Finally “the gift of miracles” enables the gifted one to perform an act that transcends natural law, i.e. walking on water, multiplying loaves and fishes, changing water into wine, miracles of healing, raising the dead, etc. Always remember, that the gifts are distributed “severally as He will.” In other words all of us do not possess these gifts all the time. Some may possess some of them all the time, all of them some of the time, but never all of them all of the time. They are distributed throughout the body by the will of God and the Holy Spirit. Remember, they are given as evangelistic tools. Are we winning souls with them? Different individuals use them in different ways (different in administration), but there is One Spirit manifesting God’s complete life in the body of Christ made up of a multitude of believers. Keep your heart open. Pray to be used. Covet the best gifts, but a more excellent way is the way of love . . . the way of relationship. If you concentrate on your relationship . . . the rest will take care of itself and do not worry, you will not be excluded when it comes time for the operation of a gift! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 13, Gifts – Acting Like God The “gift of faith” is God’s supernatural faith that enables us to believe for impossible things. A gift of faith comes to you by hearing a rhema word which creates a knowing in your spirit that God is going to do something miraculous. True or false: God did not heal people in the Old Testament. false Jesus said that a certain woman ought to be healed because she was a daughter of Abraham. Give some examples of various healing methods used by Jesus. Teacher’s note: grade by depth of research, understanding of concept and use of words for expression. True or False: The gift of healings passed away with the apostles in the first century. False. The gift of miracles is the performance of an act that transcends natural law. Give two New Testament examples of the gift of miracles in operation. Teacher’s note: grade by depth of research, understanding of concept and use of words for expression. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 14, FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, INTRO & LOVE By Patricia Smith INTRODUCTION “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matt. 7:16 (NIV) When Jesus taught, He always spoke in terms that were familiar to people. Consequently, a lot of His teachings are paralleled with things like animal husbandry (sheep, goats, etc) and agriculture (seeds, fruit, harvesting, etc). When He spoke of “fruit” He had reference to the product that a plant or tree bears that has the “seed in itself.” Many a sermon has been preached to bring condemnation to people by threatening them with being “cut down and cast into the fire” if they don’t produce fruit. However, if we examine Jesus’ words carefully, we will see that He is simply saying “you either are or are not a branch on my tree.” References to being “cut off” pertain largely to the nation of Israel as in: “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will bear fruit.” Matt. 21:43 The key word speaking about New Testament “fruit” is BEAR, not “produce.” “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4 (NIV) So then, “fruit-bearing” is not a task we are expected to labor to do. Jesus plainly states that He provides the life-giving “sap” from the vine. We are only the branches and branches do not produce fruit. They simply “bear” or provide a place or a support for the fruit that grows of itself from what is furnished in the vine. Another popular misconception seems to be that “bearing fruit” means winning souls. Now, while the “seed” of the Word will produce spirit and life in others and can be spoken of as fruit, still yet, we must realize that most importantly, the fruit that we bear as individuals is called “the fruit of the spirit.” I believe this is what Jesus had reference to when He said: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8 (NIV) This is in harmony with what He said when He spoke about the world knowing who we were by our love, not by how many souls we won that day. Do not misunderstand, evangelism is ultimately the most vital function of the church on earth, however, this writer does not believe that we show the world we are Christ’s disciples and thus glorify the Father by going on evangelistic campaigns. The “fruit” He speaks of here in His dissertation of John chapter 15, is the fruit of the Spirit. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, - - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 15:16 (NIV) Interestingly, Paul gives us some insight to our “fruit bearing” when he tells us that if we are attempting to serve God legalistically (under the law) we are not bearing fruit. This is what happened to Israel! He says that the reason we died to the law through Christ was so that we might “bear fruit unto God.” “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” Romans 7:4 (NIV) Now if we are expected to “bear the fruit of the Spirit” we must know what it is. They are listed for us in Gal. 5:22, 23; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Eph. 5:9 says, “(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)” It is important, before we begin examining this “fruit” that we realize how it comes to us. Paul answers that question in Phil 1:11 which says, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” This fruit “comes” by Jesus Christ. It is not worked up, drummed up, shouted up, prayed up or preached up. It is the result of abiding in the vine. Therefore, we should not concern ourselves with struggling and laboring to produce fruit, but with constant “abiding” in the vine. When that happens (back to relationship [abiding] again) we are automatically fruit-bearers. It cannot be otherwise. Now having established this fact, let us look at what we can expect from a life of “abiding.” Let us go back to Gal. 5:22 and look at this “fruit.” The first quality mentioned is indeed the . . . first and foremost. It is: LOVE They will know that we are Christians by our LOVE. Very simply stated, if you are a born-again child of God, you will have love. Love is NOT a mushy feeling, not an affectionate attitude towards everyone (although that is mentioned as a New Testament admonition . . . being “kindly affectioned” one to another, Rom. 12:10) but the God-kind of love that is in the Greek “agape.” There are varying types and kinds of “love” in the world. Some good, some not so good. For example, there is the love of a parent for a child, the love of a man to a woman (as in the marriage relationship), there is “puppy love,” and love that we have for “things.” But none of this is the divine quality that qualifies as fruit of the Spirit; that love is the God-kind. It is probably most correctly translated in the KJV as “charity” because it is a love that gives selflessly and expects nothing in return. Where can we see this love? Go to the cross of Calvary, linger there, meditate there, consider there the quality of God that so loved us, so longed and yearned toward us that He emptied Himself to reproduce Himself in an only Son. Then, He wrenched that only Son from His bosom and sent Him to planet earth knowing He would be despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, ridiculed, betrayed, denied, mocked, spat upon, beaten and crucified. Consider the quality of the Son. He knew Himself to be One with His Father, yet He yearned and longed after us so much (it ran in the family) that He agreed to be made everything He and His Father hated in order to suffer divine justice in our place. All this just so He could draw us to Himself, forgive us, cleanse us and cause us to be children of God. Is it any wonder John said, “BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called he sons of God.” (I John 3:1) Galatians 5:14 tells us “The law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as theyself”. Love is the sum of the whole law. If I then am abiding in Christ, in the vine . . . this is the kind of love that flows into the branches. It is the kind of love that puts self aside to the good of others. The kind that: Suffers long: it can endure evil and provocation, without being filled with resentment or revenge. It will put up with many slights form the person it loves and wait long to see the kindly effects of such patience. Is kind: Seeks to be useful and not only seizes opportunities to do good, but searches for them. Envies not: It is not grieved at the good of others, envy is the effect of ill-will. The mind that is bent on doing good to all can never will ill to any. Does not put itself forward or is puffed up: It is not bloated with self-conceit. True love will give us esteem for our fellow mankind; this limits esteem of self. Love calms angry passions, does not seek to ensnare, is not cross, contrary or contradictory. Love abhors falsehood and flattery. Does not behave in an ungodly manner: It does nothing out of time or place but behaves with courtesy and goodwill towards all others. Seeks not her own welfare: Love is the utter enemy to selfishness. Self-love is natural to all men. A reasonable love of self is given to us by our Savior, this gives us the measure to love others – “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” Love never seeks its own way to hurt others. Is not easily provoked or exasperated: Where the fire of love is kept, the flames of wrath will not easily kindle, or keep burning for long. Anger cannot rest where love reigns. Thinks no evil: It cherishes no malice or gives way to revenge. It does not suspect evil of others. It does not hunt and rake out the faults of others. Takes no pleasure in iniquity: It wishes ill to none, much less will it make this a matter of delight or rejoice in doing harm or mischief. Rejoices in truth: It gives satisfaction to seeing truth and justice prevail among men, and mutual faith and trust established. Believes all of God’s words & hopes to the end in His promises: Indeed love does by no means destroy prudence and may wisdom dwell with love. Love is apt to believe the best of everything and everyone; it will judge well and believe well. When in spite of inclination and cannot believe well of others, it will yet hope for the best. Endures all hardships for His sake: It is not based on earthly circumstances but sees beyond the moment knowing God is in control and is faithful to His Word. Never fails: It is a permanent and perpetual grace, lasting as eternity. Happy is the person who has this heavenly fire glowing in his heart! (1 Corinthians chapter 13) TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 14, Fruit of the Spirit, Intro & Love Fruit is the product that a plant or tree bears that has seed in itself. True or False: In the New Testament, we are told to produce fruit. False Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. As branches, we do not produce fruit, we are only called upon to bear fruit. Bearing fruit means that we simply provide a place to support it. True or False: Bearing fruit means only winning souls. False. If we attempt to serve God under the law, we are not bearing fruit. Where in the Bible can you find a list of qualities of the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22,23. This fruit comes by Christ Jesus, and is a result of abiding in the vine. True or False: The world will know we are Christians by our love. True. True or False: Love is a mushy feeling and an affectionate attitude towards everyone. False. “Agape” is the Greek word and means the God-kind of love. Where can we see this God-kind of love demonstrated in the Bible? At the cross. List the 15 qualities of the God-kind of love outlined in 1 Cor. chapter 13: 1) suffers long, 2) is kind, 3) envies not, 4) does not put itself forward, 5) is not puffed up, 6) does not behave in an ungodly manner, 7) seeks not her own welfare, 8) is not easily provoked, 9) thinks no evil, 10) takes no pleasure in iniquity, 11), rejoices in the truth, 12) believes all of God’s words, 13) hopes to the end in His promises, 14) endures all hardships for His sake, 15) never fails. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 15, FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, JOY & PEACE By Patricia Smith JOY “Joy” is the next divine quality we will “bear.” The word translated “joy” in the New Testament is from the Greek meaning “cheerfulness” or “delight,” i.e., a calm. It is interesting that in the book of Philippians, Paul uses this word more than in any other book of the Bible. He was himself in Rome, suffering imprisonment, persecution and certain martyrdom under the reign of Nero, the insane and harsh emperor of Rome. Yet the book is full of references to “joy” and “triumph.” This fruit of the Spirit is the sure and certain knowledge deep within our spirits that everything will be just as God planned! Therefore, why should we worry or fret? In this hi-tech age, full of stress that is literally killing people by destroying their immune systems, opening them up to the ravages of all sorts of disease, let us allow this “fruit” to be borne on our particular branch. Depression will not be a part of our lives when we bear this fruit. Jesus, it is said, “for the “joy” that was set before Him endured” Heb. 12:2. If that quality was sufficient to keep Jesus cheerful, delighted and calm through Gethsemane, on through Calvary, what will it do for us? It is when people in the world see this “fruit” in the midst of troubling circumstances that they have to acknowledge that we are different. We are in the world, yet not a part of it, untouched by the ravages of cruel circumstances. I personally recall back in the 70’s when pastoring, an evangelist was conducting a service at our church and I was on the front pew. As he was preparing to make an “altar call,” something welled up on the inside of me and try as I might, something (I knew not exactly “what”) was incredibly funny and I was desperately trying to control it. My shoulders were shaking and finally the whole pew began to shake until the people behind me began to notice. At last, I could hold it in no longer and began to laugh out loud. People behind me began to laugh also, until the whole church was rocking with laughter. Not knowing what to do, the evangelist, who, by this time was laughing so hard himself he could scarcely talk, just began through his laughter to say, “Is there anyone here who does not know the Lord and who, if he or she died tonight, would go to hell?” (ha ha ha) A man in the back, who was laughing uproariously, raised his hand, and said, “It’s me! (ha ha ha) “I know I’m lost” (ha ha ha) “I need Jesus!” (ha ha ha). The evangelist said, “Well, come down here and let’s pray for you” (ha ha ha). That man came forward laughing, prayed through laughing, and finally, through the laughter, he began to weep and acknowledge that God had saved him. He laughed and cried his way back to his seat, and incredible things began to happen as people filled the altars and were healed, delivered and set free. Now that was BEFORE it got to be popular and a source of contention in the church. What do you think? PEACE The Greek word here for “peace” means literally “to join,” translated “peace” or by implication “prosperity,” It can be “one with Him,” quietness, rest, or “set at one again.” It sheds light on the scripture that says, “He that is joined to the Lord is ONE Spirit” (I Cor. 6:17). We are absolutely joined at the hip, at the head, at the elbow. . . .you name it, we are joined to the Lord. If that be the case, whatever could we possibly find that would be sufficient to upset us? The fruit of being joined to Him is a quietness of spirit, a rest in our hearts, and it goes without saying, prosperity of all things. Why should I be defensive when I am joined to Jehovah-Nissi, who never lost a battle? Why should I be sick when I am joined to Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who healeth thee? Why should I be distraught when I am joined to Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our peace? Why should I yield fruits of death when I am joined to Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness? Why should I fear anything when I am joined to Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord who is present with me? Why should I be in poverty when I am joined to Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides? If we meditate on this, and realize that this “at oneness” is a reality in us, we will begin to bear the qualities of peace, quietness, and rest so that all will know that if they take a bite of the fruit we bear, they too can cease from fear of evil. What would it mean if you were literally “joined” to another person. What about Siamese twins? What are the results of this? Then relate this literally to your spirit, being “joined to the Lord.” Does this bring revelation to you? How? TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 15, Fruit of the Spirit, Joy & Peace The word “joy” means cheerfulness or delight, i.e., a calm. True or False: This is a sad world and a Christian at some point will have to suffer depression. False It is often preached that the world will see we are different. How does this relate to the fruit of joy in you? Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and word usage for expression. The Greek word translated “peace” literally means to be joined . According to 1 Cor. 6:17, we are joined to the Lord, and therefore, we are one spirit with Him. In your own words, consider some of the names of God, and explain how this being “joined” makes a difference in your life. Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and word usage for expression. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 16, FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, LONGSUFFERING & GENTLENESS By Patricia Smith The Greek for “longsuffering” means “forbearance” over a long period of time. Forbearance literally means “putting up with” or enduring. Turn the word around and it is self-defining … SUFFERING, LONG. We can see the quality of longsuffering in God when He endured the failure, sin and opposition of His own people from Adam to Christ. We see it in Jesus Himself as he endured the misplacement and lack of faith, lack of understanding and even His denial by His own disciples! If we allow this divine quality to be produced in us, we will be tolerant of others, praying always for them, preferring them above ourselves. I think forgiveness plays a large part in this fruit. Perhaps that is why forgiveness is not of itself mentioned here with fruit. It falls under the category of longsuffering! GENTLENESS The word used here is used only once in the New Testament and means “usefulness” and excellence of character and demeanor. It seems to denote a quiet submission to what would be in this instance the will of God. It would be the opposite of loud and boisterous putting of ourselves forward. It would be the quality of always being willing to be of use in any capacity, without a show or sounding a trumpet before us. This was illustrated best in Jesus life when He girded Himself with a towel and came with a basin of water to wash His disciples’ feet (the job of the lowest slave in the house). It certainly did not mean He was a namby-pamby wimpy excuse for a man. It simply meant He knew who He was enough to know that whatever He did He brought dignity to the task. If your next door neighbor goes on vacation, parks his own car at the Holiday Inn, gets out his bags and lugs them through the lobby and up the stairs to his room at the end of the hall, you’ll never even hear or think about it! BUT IF PRESIDENT BUSH GOES ON VACATION, AND ACTUALLY PARKS HIS OWN CAR, GETS OUT HIS OWN BAGS AND CARRIES THEM UP TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS TO A ROOM AT THE END OF THE HALL…..it would be all over the 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. news, complete with pictures that would be flashed all over the world on satellite TV! What is the difference? The difference is obvious…President Bush occupies the position of the most influential and powerful man in the world. It really has very little to do with his person…it is HIS POSITION that has brought dignity and promotion to the most menial of jobs. Much of our hesitancy to be “gentle” souls, stems from the basic fact that we simply don’t realize our worth and who we truly are in Christ and in this world. We may look in the mirror at ourselves and think that we are not much to look at, not very important, not too smart, not too educated, etc. etc. (the list is endless of ways we can demean ourselves). We can really beat ourselves up when we try to imagine what God must think of us! Many people spend their whole lives trying to wipe out this self-image by living aggressive, pushy, retaliatory lives. In so doing, they simply become obnoxious. Here is the key that will take us from being an “angry” person to a “gentle” soul. Here is a key of knowledge that will unlock a great and effective door in our Christian life and walk. It is not the door to weakness, but the door to power. King David said: “thy gentleness hath made me great.” (Psalm 18:35) Interestingly enough, just before he said that, these were his words: “He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms.” (Ps. 18:34) Evidently, the quality of God’s gentleness is not something that makes us weak, opinion-less people. How did David correlate this self-image he apparently had of one who could successfully war and subdue enemies, yet at the same time be a “great” person by reason of “gentleness”? Look at the beginning of vs. 35: “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up…” So then, we must come to the realization that God has given us the gift of salvation (redemption, preservation, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, righteousness), and now He upholds us with His right hand! THIS MAKES US SOMEONE TO BE RECKONED WITH! This mindset will allow you to bring dignity to whatever task is before you. If you are carrying out trash, do not think of yourself as a lowly soul doing a lowly and unthankful job. Think of the wonder of it all…..God’s most precious possession, a king and a priest on the earth, actually stooping, humbly, on purpose, to carry out trash! You see, just as in the hypothetical example given of President Bush, it is not WHAT you are doing; it is WHO YOU ARE, doing what you are doing that dignifies the task. Once you can grasp this truth, the fruit of gentleness can become uppermost in the way you conduct your life. It will no longer be necessary for you to retaliate in violence towards someone who doesn’t validate your worth. What if someone demeans you? What if someone doesn’t seem to value your opinion? What if you are called upon to do something menial? What if no one recognizes your contribution? SO WHAT! You will know who you are and God knows who you are. Just as Jesus stooped to wash the feet of his disciples in the true spirit of gentleness, you can literally do the lowest task, or be slighted or ignored, without taking offense. You do this, with the calm and gentle assurance that “as He is, so are we in this world.,” Because “thou hast given me the shield of salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness has made me great.” May we endeavor to allow this spirit of gentleness, to abide in us! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 16, Fruit of the Spirit, Longsuffering & Gentleness The Greek for “longsuffering” means forbearance. Give a biblical example of the Father’s longsuffering. Teacher’s note: grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and word usage. Give a biblical example of Jesus’ longsuffering. Teacher’s note: grade on depth of research, understanding of concept and word usage. Forgiveness plays a large part in cultivating longsuffering. The Greek for “gentleness” means usefulness and excellence of character and demeanor. A person’s position will bring dignity to any task. We are people to be reckoned with because God has given us salvation, and He upholds us with His right hand. It is not what you are doing, but who you are, that brings a sense of dignity to whatever task is before you. We can live without taking offense if we cultivate the fruit of gentleness. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 17, FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, GOODNESS & FAITH By Patricia Smith GOODNESS The Greek here means “virtue” or “beneficence.” It comes from the root word “god” itself and really means to have the character or virtue of God as well as His capacity to be the supreme benefactor of our race. Goodness encompasses morality, and in this world today it is a wonderful thing to know that we do not have to produce goodness. It would be extremely difficult. Those who live their lives trying to be “good” enough are destined for misery and failure. What a blessing to know that it is “fruit” and not a contrived labor. It is the very life and character of God that we are joined to, the God who lives within us by His Spirit and who will manifest His own character in us. We must allow Him to do this by offering up our bodies as living sacrifices. His character would encompass a wide range of morality . . . cleanliness of spirit, thought and deed, honesty, sincerity, certainly no envy, bitterness, strife or jealousy. Peter tells us in 2 Pet. 1:3-8, things we can “add” to our believing faith that will cause us to be “fruitful”. These things are the characteristics of godliness. They are first, virtue, which in itself is a divine quality or essence of God Himself. You may recall Jesus, when touched by the woman with the issue of blood, saying that “virtue” had “gone out” of Him. It was something spiritually tangible that He felt. How do we acquire this “virtue” or “goodness”? It’s a fruit! We have it because we are joined to Him. As we draw closer in Him in our relationship, the more “goodness” we will bear. John summed up the essence of “goodness” or “godliness” when he tells us that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all”. (1 Jn. 1:5). Therefore anything that cannot stand up under the “light” of scrutiny is darkness and certainly not goodness. He also tells us that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:7, 8) and very simply, if we are born of Him, we will have love as our very core. When we yield our bodies and minds to that inner core of “godliness” then we will manifest or bear the fruit of goodness. Anyone attempting to act like God will usually end up a poor imitation of Him. It cannot be stressed enough, that genuine goodness comes from spending time with God in prayer, letting Him speak to us through His word, keeping a servant’s attitude and loving one another. FAITH Faith is simply taking God at His word and acting upon it. Whether that word is the written word or a “rhema” word expressly spoken to us at a given time under a given circumstance, faith is accepting that word and going forth from the point surmising it to be unalterable truth. Faith focuses on the unseen and reacts in the natural. Jesus exercised the ultimate faith when He became willing to go to His death KNOWING that God would raise Him from the dead. Could He see that? Could He feel that? Could He touch that? No . . He just knew His Father well enough to know that if He said it, it was so! When we live our lives every day dependent not on bread alone, but on what God says, taking it at face value, believing it and acting on it, then we are allowing faith to be borne by us! What is faith? Hebrew 11, the famous “faith” chapter, starts with the definition of this “fruit.” It tells us that faith is a NOW thing, that it is a SUBSTANCE, that it is an EVIDENCE of things that we don’t see with our natural eyes. Then it goes on to list a multitude of examples. Remember, faith is also a “fruit.” It comes from hearing from God! How do we hear from God? Once again, by spending time with Him in His Word! TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 17, Fruit of Spirit, Goodness & Faith The Greek word for “goodness” means virtue and comes from the root word god. True or False: Goodness is a fruit and not a contrived labor. True. According to 1 Jn. 1:5, God is light and in Him there is no darkness. According to 1 Jn. 4:7, 8, God is love, and if we truly love God, we will love one another. If we are truly born of God, we will have love as our very core. Faith is taking God at His Word, and then acting on it. Faith focuses on the unseen and reacts in the natural. The definition of faith in Hebrews 11, tells us that faith is now, and that faith is a substance, and an evidence of things unseen. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. We hear from God by spending time in His Word. Covenant Treasure Institute THE HOLY SPIRIT SERIES LESSON 18, FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE & CONCLUSION By Patricia Smith MEEKNESS The word means “humility” that finds its root in the word “humble.” We are admonished to “humble ourselves” under the mighty hand of God for a reason. The reason is so that He may exalt us in due (or His) time. To be humble is not to be anybody’s doormat. Jesus was certainly the most humble of all when He submitted Himself in the Garden Gethsemane in His agony to the Father’s will. Yet we find this humble man braiding a whip outside the temple and then driving the money changers out of the temple, turning tables over as He did! Number 12:3 says: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” This becomes doubly interesting when you realize that Moses was the one who authored the book of Numbers! So we can certainly see that a false humility or downgrading of oneself is not genuine meekness. To be humble is be submissive to the will of God in all things. Meekness was demonstrated by the Apostle Paul when he replied rather tartly to the High Priest who ordered the soldier holding him to “smite him.” He said, “God will smite you, you white-washed wall.” (Acts 23) But when he realized the man was the high priest, he honored the office itself enough that even though he was being wronged for the gospel’s sake, he then apologized by saying he was sorry, he had not realized the man was the High Priest. To be meek is the opposite of allowing anger to dictate your responses to anyone. Remember, you don’t have to produce fruit, only allow Jesus to produce it in you, then, you just bear it! TEMPERANCE Temperance means to be tempered, or strong in self-control, exercising self-restraint. Not many messages are delivered from pulpits these days on the subject of temperance. No doubt because this is a quality that most of us have not cultivated. Jesus, of course, exercised temperance in all things. Temperance does not necessarily mean abstinence. It means being in control of your body, your mind, your emotions, your spirit. It does not mean one cannot enjoy life. (I Tim. 6:17) says, “He giveth us richly all things to enjoy!” Paul summed it up well when he said, “all things are lawful to me, but not all are expedient.”(I Cor. 6:12) We must weigh the things we are enjoying in the light of love. Paul said he knew that an idol was nothing and therefore eating meat sacrificed to one had no particular stigma in his sight. However, if a brother weak in the faith felt that this was wrong, Paul had enough “temperance” flowing through him that he stated he would “eat no more meat as long as the world stands.” He said that while all things were lawful to him, he would not be “brought under bondage of any.” In other words, he was balanced enough, had enough temperance in him, enough self-restraint, that he could “take or leave” anything even remotely questionable. He suggested to us that if we had faith and were temperate in our partakings that we should have it to ourselves and in no way to put a stumbling block in front of others. What do you think Paul meant when he said, “all things are lawful to me?” How do you apply this to your life? Conversely, what did he mean when he said, “but not all are expedient?” The Amplified bible reads like this: “Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me, but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.” What are some things you could “lawfully” partake of that would not be considered “helpful” or “good for you to do?” What are some things you could “lawfully” partake of that would cause you to become a “slave” or things that would bring you “under its power?” At this point, you will most likely come up with things such as drugs, alcohol, etc. These are genuine answers, but name some things that you can partake of from your spirit, which can enslave, such as partaking of gossip, being critical, making judgments of others, stubbornness, grudge holding…..How do these things enslave? Christians need to allow this “fruit” of self-control to be borne in them in every area of their lives…their bodies (all addictive substances), their souls (all things that can addict the mind and weaken the will) their spirits (where lusts and evil thoughts are conceived) Again, be sure students understand that it is not a matter of “biting the bullet” and “will power.” It is will power, yes, but the good news is, it’s HIS WILL, which is POWERED by HIS SPIRIT, because it is the FRUIT of HIS SPIRIT! If there are any areas in your life that you feel hopelessly bound, areas that you have continually worked on and failed, THERE IS AN ANSWER and THERE IS HOPE!! Once again, the answer lies in one thing….RELATIONSHIP. You must spend time with God in prayer, letting Him speak to you from His Word, worshipping Him from a thankful heart. That is all that is necessary. If one will do these things (do them to excess!) He will produce that fruit of temperance in you and you will find these things automatically lose their hold on you. CONCLUSION The verse immediately following the listing of the qualities of “fruit of the Spirit” sums it up quite well, by saying: “and they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Col. 1:10 says, “and we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy (Strongs: appropriately, as becometh) of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” (NIV) Finally, there is one more “fruit” that Paul talks about in Hebrews, and that is the fruit of our lips, our praise unto Him. Let us never allow ourselves to be barren of this fruit, for it is in this sacrifice of praise that we continually build our relationship. We become more and more aware of this “at oneness” with Him, and in so doing, the fruit-bearing becomes automatic! Heb. 13:15 says, “By Him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. It is not enough that we cease doing evil, but we must learn to do well. Our Christianity obliges us not only to oppose the works of the flesh but to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.God will do this IN US. All our part involves is to seek a relationship with him and allow or give Him permission to work His works and fruit in us. TEST REVIEW The Holy Spirit Series, Lesson 18, Fruit of the Spirit, Meekness, Temperance & Conclusion The word “meekness” means humility. To be humble is to be submissive to the will of God in all things. True or False: Being meek is the opposite of allowing anger to dictate your responses. True. Temperance means to be tempered or strong in self-control. True or False: Temperance always means abstinence. False In your own words, write a paragraph telling what you feel Paul meant when he wrote that all things were lawful for him, but not all things were expedient. Teacher’s note: Grade on depth of research, understanding concept and word usage. There is one more fruit that Paul mentions in Hebrews. It is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. We are to bear this fruit continually. If we continually build our relationship, our fruit-bearing becomes automatic. 70