I’m back to YWAM and focusing on what teaching had an effect on my heart and perspective. This is not really a summary of any sort but a collection. In 1970 I left Lawndale, California, as a high school graduate and spent the insurance money, on a year at San Jose Bible College, from a car accident that changed my profile forever. The bump on my nose has not been an improvement. Coming from a conservative church that approached scripture in a way that limited Holy Spirit to the first century limited my understanding. I could not enjoy the Trinity if one-third was missing. The study began 10/24/22. I can’t write about this topic without my Bible open and Solfrid Quist was our expert.
Obedience is done one step at a time. Learning that God is over me, Jesus is with me, and Holy Spirit is inside of me explains nudges and some crazy whims. Not everything I have done, that I thought was inspired by Holy Spirit, was inspired. I am a conglomerate of flesh and spirit. I love granite and quartz but quartz is all mixed up. That is me. Moving one step at a time.
John the Baptist said in Matt 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. It is an understatement to compare a good man to the Creator of the universe. Had we been alive then we would have seen Jesus. Then and now, we don’t see Holy Spirit – John 14:19-21. Section titles, looking at John 14-16, do give a portrait of Jesus’ mission before He was arrested. He is the way, the truth, and the life, as revealed by Father God. Jesus promises another helper (you know who) then instructs us on the indwelling of the Father and the Son. Jesus gives us His peace and instructs us on the true vine and how love and joy are perfected. The world will hate us the way it hated and murdered Him so don’t be surprised about hard times, even with the promised Helper. At the end of chapter 16 Jesus warns of the coming rejection. Now we know why we need the Helper.
We should be aware of what we are carrying and John 20:19-22 names our mission. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends us. He did not always hang with respectable people and that introduced danger in the form of misunderstanding. We are in the world with no real rights and I should lower my view of myself. Jesus certainly did and so I need a Helper. God can redeem the time I’ve wasted in other pursuits even if they were for the good. With the baptism of Holy Spirit we are all equipped for service. Protect our time with Christ and let the Helper build our character. Acts 8:16 describes that we are baptized in the name of Jesus and receive Holy Spirit. There was a baptism in the Old Testament but the New Testament version is the Holy Spirit IN us by the grace of Jesus Christ. Paul at Ephesus informs the reader of an account of this new baptism that was for both Jew and Gentile in Acts 19:1-6.
God gives His approval at the baptism of Jesus as Holy Spirit descends on Him. Jesus received Holy Spirit as the first fruits for Heaven. He foretells this promise in John 7:37-39. In John 10:30 Jesus simply says, “I and my Father are one”. John 14:26 reminds us, again, of the third member of the Trinity. Results are evident in Acts 6:10, “And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke”. Is this not how we evangelize? This breath of life is mentioned as early as Genesis 2:7.
The Bible is our inspired ‘how-to’ manual. There I can find recipes for success but not a chicken piccata. It is all Spirit, the stuff we need when life kicks the stuffing out of us. From beginning to end (Rev 19:10) we have examples on how to live with the indwelling Holy Spirit. That week we also looked, in detail, at the releasing of Holy Spirit and laying on of hands. We studied the gifts of the Spirit, spiritual discernment, healing miracles, and prophecies. This is not an academic treatment but a start. The closing of the week was when Sabine Derron joined on the topic of prophecy. She knew so much about me in the spiritual and we had never met. This gift is real.