For the week of June 28, 2006

Is the Holy Spirit present?

What assurance do you have that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life?  In your church?    First, there is the promise of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38.  Every person who identifies his or her life with Christ in baptism is given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  At our conversion to Christ, God's Spirit comes to dwell with our spirit.    It's a promise.

Second, Galatians 5:22 tells us how we can know the Holy Spirit is at work in a church—by the fruit he's growing there.  I don't recommend that you go out searching for the perfect church, because there is no church where Christians are always perfect, all of the time.  So here's what you need to be asking instead, "By and large, do I see the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control—growing in this fellowship of believers?"    By the way, you too are part of the fellowship, and you are either contributing to a fruitful church by walking in the Spirit, or you are sapping the strength and vitality of the body with an un-Christ-like spirit.  

Here's the third assurance.  You know the Holy Spirit is among us by the gifted people you see doing God's work.    Romans 12:6-8 tells us that the Spirit gives gifts to Christians to encourage the church.  There are speaking gifts and there are serving gifts.  It's not only 10% of believers or even 50% of believers who have spiritual gifts—it is 100% of us who are gifted.   In a Spirit-filled church, you find Christians actively exercising their spiritual gifts to serve and build up one another—in big ways and small ways, in the public and behind the scenes.

Here's one more to add to your list:

You know you are in a Spirit-filled church if it is being led by the Holy Spirit.   How does he lead us?  Through the Spirit-inspired word.  The Holy Spirit will never lead his church apart from this Book, will he?    That means we have a responsibility to be "people of the Book"—to interpret the Bible faithfully and share its message with others in a way they can understand and apply to their lives.  If we will allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit—completely and fully—let me tell you, we are going to be blessed in incredible ways. 

--William ("Billy") Sherman--