Tonight in the Spirit Filled Life Service at First A/G I will be speaking about the Language of the Holy Spirit. You have already read a bit of this message on Monday and Tuesday's posts. There are three other points, or ways the Holy Spirit speaks. I will post those in the next two days.
There is a special portion of the end of the sermon that I will post on the blog, but will not have time to share in the message tonight. Why do I struggle with the question, "Is that God speaking or just me thinking?"
Today's language of the Holy Spirit, or way he speaks charismatically through spiritual gifts, dreams and visions. The English word charismatic is from the Greek word, "charis," or, "charismata" which is the Greek word used in Romans and Corinthians and is translated spiritual "gifts," by most English Bibles.
The Bible gives many examples of God speaking through dreams. When I say dreams I mean it in the most simple way. You go to sleep and have a dream. What is amazing in the Bible is all the times that God gives a dream to an unbeliever like Pharaoh in Exodus, Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel, and Pilate's wife in the crucifixion story. Some examples of God giving a dream include, Genesis 20:3-6, Daniel 2; 4; & 7:1, and Matthew 1:20. Again, dreams can be our thoughts, stresses, or joys. Not every dream is a sign from God. Not all dreams are good. We judge our dreams and thoughts, even thoughts while sleeping by the Word of God.
Visions can be a term that is hard to define. Daniel had a dream from God, but called the dream a vision. The Apostle Paul talks about a vision where he did not know if he was in his body or out of his body. We don't know all the specifics about visions. However, God will occasionally give a divine vision. Some examples include, Genesis 15:1, Acts 9:10, 10:3, and 16:9. In Acts 2:17 the Bible says that Christians will have visions when God pours out his spirit on his people. Again, a vision like a dream can be difficult to interpret and the ruler for measuring a vision is the Word of God.
Finally the Holy Spirit speaks through spiritual gifts. 1 Cor. 12:1-11, and all of chapter 14 explain the role of spiritual gifts in the church worship meeting and the church in general. Romans 12:6-8 also lists other spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts deserve an entire sermon series of their own. At First Assembly of God we experience direction from the Lord for our services many times through the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our services. We may deviate from a program to follow the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit. This usually results in amazing ministry results as God makes himself know to people very personally in a corporate service.
Take some time to study these. There is a lot more to say, this is just a quick overview.
God Bless,
Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment