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PAGE - SIX
8. God the Holy Spirit
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B. Head of the Church - continued
He
reproves the world of the sin.
"John
16:8 And when he (Comforter) is come, he will
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"
He
joins the repented souls to the Church.
"Acts
2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the
people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
God the Holy Spirit is preparing the Church to
become perfect, pure and holy.
"Eph
4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"
He teaches the Church to love and obey God. He guides her, teaches
her, reveals the deep truth of Jesus Christ.
"John 16:12 I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it
unto you." He
abides with the obedient. As Jesus Christ was the master (Guru) to His disciple, the Holy
Spirit is the master (Guru) to the body of Christ.
"John
14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you."
The
Holy Spirit gives her gifts and power as needed. These gifts are for the
spiritual growth of the Church. He distributes the gifts as He desires,
among the believers.
"1 Cor
12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there
are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all.
7
But the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to every man to profit withal. 11
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as he will."
The Holy Spirit makes
the true believers part of the Body of Christ, without any division as Jews,
Gentiles, Greek, Circumcision, non circumcision, religious or non
religious. "1 Cor 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit."
As God the Word has many names, the Holy Spirit also has many
names. The names are Eternal Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Father, Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, Spirit of council and might, Spirit of the
knowledge, Spirit of holiness, Spirit of life, Spirit of Christ, Spirit of
grace, Spirit of adoption, Spirit of judgment and Spirit of glory. He is The
Comforter to the disciples in their persecutions and tribulations. These are
functional and character names.
The
tangible part of us is our body, because we see and feel the body. God
created the body from the dust of the earth and it will return to the dust.
"Gen
2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,
Eccl
3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing
befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one
breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is
vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again." The body is flesh and it has life. When the life ends that
is the end of the body and we are dead. But our soul continues to live and
will never die. At the resurrection, the image of the body will be raised
and joined with the soul.
The
true person of the human being is soul. In other words, soul is living
inside the house, which is the body. "Matt
10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell." The soul is created at our
conception but it never dies. At the death of the body, the soul who is the
person, will either be sent to heaven or hell.
"Matt 25:34 --- Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: 41
--- Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels:"
Even though
the soul is
as a spirit
in nature, one soul and one body is permanently joined at the conception.
When the soul leaves, the body dies. Or when the body dies, the soul
leaves.
The soul,
being the person, bears the character. The soul is responsible for our
behavior. Instinct is the behavior of all other living beings since they do not have
a soul.
The
first man was created from the dust of the earth. He has a soul at
creation. When God gave him the spirit by breathing into him, his soul
(man) became a living soul.
"Gen 2:7 And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." At
the genuine repentance of a person, God forgives him and gives the spirit of man to
him for his spiritual life. Then he becomes born again (living soul).
"1 Cor 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God.
12
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."
At this point this person begins to understand the
things pertained to the kingdom of heaven.
"Job 32:8 But there is a spirit
in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."
The
spirit is the light of life. "John
8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life." If he reverence the spiritual life, the spirit
remains with him until his physical death. At his death his spirit goes to God.
"Eccl 12:7 Then shall the dust return
to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
The
first man became a living soul. He was told that he will die in the day he
eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. That is, his living soul
will become a dead soul. That is, the spirit of man which God gave will
leave him at that point. "Gen
2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
If a person backslides and rebel against God, at a certain point God will take
the spirit away from him. "Psalms
51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take
not thy holy spirit from me." Even though this person continues to live, he
lives as a spiritually dead person as Adam
and Eve were dead at the Garden of Eden when they ate the forbidden fruit and
continued to live in the body.
The true God, who created everything that is created, lives in the glorious place called heaven. He is seated
on the throne in
heaven. "2 Chr 30.27
--- their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place,
even unto heaven. 1 Kings 22:19
--- , Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his
throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his
left."
God created man from the dust of the earth. God remembers that he is dust.
"Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,--.
Psalms 103:14
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."
God has created everything for His pleasure.
"Rev 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." It is also His pleasure to give his kingdom to
people, who were created by him from the dust of the earth.
"
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom."
"Psalms 4:3 But know
that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself:"
God
wants to bring the deserving men and women to His kingdom to sit on His throne and
to rule with Him. God gives commandments to the people, chooses
the obedient, purify them without spot or wrinkle, makes them holy and perfect as
God is holy and perfect, resurrects that is to raise them with glorious bodies,
declare them sons of God ( bride of Christ) as he has declared the Man Jesus as the begotten Son of
God. God brings them to heaven so that they may live with
Him and to rule with Him forever. Heaven
is so glorious, even the description of it cannot
enter in the minds of the people. 'God the Word' has left such a glorious bliss,
left even his status of Power as God, became as a mere man, in order to
bring mere men to the status of glory that He had, by raising their status to be joint-heirs with
Him. That is, He became poor to make them rich. God offers this
status to all men as Salvation. We are asked to count the cost and to accept the
offer on our free will. Is it too much to believe? Maybe so. But God is beyond
our comprehension. Trust God, and have faith in him. Do you want to partake of
it? "Isa
64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what
he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways:
---. 2 Cor 8:9 For ye know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Rom
8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together."
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