Christians Have the Holy Spirit, Part 2

Chuckle: Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., it takes to make "a mess."

Quote: “To God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, Three in One, Be honour, praise, and glory given By all on earth, and all in heaven.” --Isaac Watts

GOD'S SPIRIT IN YOUR SPIRIT

"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the (Holy) Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you" (Romans 8:9-11 NIV).

Again, this fact is clear. With Christ's Spirit in you, you are alive - you have been born again and belong to Him. When a person repents and receives Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell, abide, live, make His home in and with your spirit. You become a child of God and the Holy Spirit authenticates this fact and seals your salvation for eternity.

When speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, ". . He lives with you and will be in you" (John 14:17 NIV). ". . . no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:3 NIV). We must have the Spirit within us to understand spiritual things. listen carefully: "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14 NIV).

Galatians 4:6, "Because you are sons (children), God sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts . ." What is God saying? You can be baptized and join a dozen churches, but if you have not experienced a work of and by the Holy Spirit in your life, you are not a child of God -- not a Christian.

Rom 8:16 NIV, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's Children." What does "His Spirit testifies with our spirit" really mean? It's not necessarily an emotion, or feeling. It is, for example, when you're reading your Bible lesson concerning repentance and salvation, you sense the Holy Spirit saying, "you have received Christ and now you belong to me."

Ephesians 1:13 (NIV) puts it another way. ". . . having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." When you genuinely receive Christ, His Spirit marks you with a seal as belonging to Him forever. In Paul's day, they knew a letter was from the king because it bore his seal. Also, a letter with the king's seal was certain to arrive at its destination.

Brands on cattle are the marks of their owner. When someone comes to Christ, God says "I'm marking you with my seal: (1) first, I'm making your relationship with me official. (2) Second, I'm branding you with my Spirit, (3) Third, I promise to deliver you to your eternal destination, heaven.

Love, Jerry & Dotse