August 4, 2005

• Thank you for your prayers. We made it safely back home and Jim drove both ways. Still wish he would get his foot checked though, but at least he is resting it more.

  
  

  OK, back to Bible studies this one is from 7/5/05

  
  

  We want to look at the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the context of what Jesus left for us.

  
  

  Mark 16, Matthew 28, is a covenant agreement of the spirit-filled believer.

  
  

  God gives us gifts that we can use, but God owns the gifts. He gives it to us for a time to use, when He needs us to use the gift. Gifts such as healing operate when the anointing for the gift is present. God can use anybody, at anytime to anoint for a gift, but that does not mean that the gift is present all the time.

  
  

  Gifts come from the word Charisma, Charis, which is graces (plural), abilities, powers, blessings. The Church (body of Christ) has been given many gifts, but often they are not used.

  
  

  Many times God gives us graces, and we, in the nick of time, get ourselves out of a problem. We get a God idea.

  
  

  When Paul was talking about the thorn in his side, God answered him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Now often people translate Grace as Mercy (unmerited favor), but if you plug unmerited favor into this line, talking about the thorn it doesn’t make sense. But if you put in power, ability, that God provides in the space, you see how Paul was able to deal with the thorn in his side, with the help of God.

  
  

  If someone gives you a tool to use, and you put it on a shelf and never use it, you do not have the power being used that you were presented with. God gave us many tools to use.

  
  

  The thorn was not a physical ailment, for Paul did many things, and endured many things far beyond much of what we could endure today. Paul was asking for the Mercy of God, and for God to do something about satan who was interfering with his ministry. But God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

  
  

  And in answer to whether or not God’s grace is sufficient, Paul answers that in 2 Timothy.

  
  

  2 Timothy 3:10-11But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perservence, persecutions, afflictions which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, At lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.”

  
  

  God didn’t deliver Paul out of some of his afflictions, he delivered him out of ALL of them.

  
  

  If you read Acts 28:28-31 you see that Paul continued spreading God’s word until the end, he did not falter in this. God gave him the power to continue to proclaim the gospel.

  
  

  Mercy is God’s kindness. It is who God is. God’s mercy endures forever.

  
  

  Grace is what God does. He does mercy graciously. Grace carries  with it Charis, which is power. We call these powers, gifts. We take this to mean that these gifts come to us as rewards, that we can use at our discretion. But this is not true. They come to us as the Holy Spirit chooses. When the anointing comes, we can use them. The Holy Spirit can use any vessel. If the power of God comes, he can come through anyone, even a complete idiot, to get his work done.

  
  

  We are empowered with gifts to free prisoners, to live a better life, save souls and battle satan.

  
  

  You can choose to stop at salvation, and miss out on the gifts entirely. You can stop at salvation and tongues, and a little prophesy. Or you can be fully armed and dangerous to the flesh, by using the gifts that the Holy Spirit can arm us with.

  
  

  An office comes to reside. Offices are pastor, evangelist, etc. But the graces, giftings, may not be there all the time. You can be a pastor without any of the gifts of the Spirit operating in you.

  
  

  Some churches have a pastor, but the pastor is not the mainstay of the church. It is a sister or deacon who is the one that the members come to when they need help with a problem.

  
  

  One question to ask yourself is that if you are in the last ditch, with deep problems, who do you call, your deacon or your pastor.

  
  

  (Pastor Don added as a joke, if you call the Ghost Busters, then you are in the wrong place.)

  
  

  The anointing is the active presence of a grace.

  
  

  Everyone can sing. Some sing beautifully, others should sing alone. But if the Holy Spirit is operating in a person, even if their voice is terrible, their song can move people towards God.

  
  

  Faith plays an important part, for without faith it is impossible to please God. It takes more faith to use graces than it does to use mercy. God bestows mercy, unmerited favor.

  
  

  Grace costs you some faith. In order for a gift to work through you, you have to believe it will work. That you have it, that it will work even if there is no external evidence that it is working.

  
  

  Fear is an obstacle to faith. Faith and ear cannot reside in a person at the same time.

  
  

  Power is faith in the spiritual realm. Faith gets things done.

  
  

  Romans 9:32-33 (Israel did not attain to the law of righteousness) “Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

  
  

  In order to receive what God had for Jesus, Jesus had to receive it by faith. We were already under mercy, but they had to do something, follow Jesus. They needed to BELIEVE, make a transition so that Jesus could help them become disciples, and those disciples made more disciples, and this was done through mercy and the demonstration of Grace.

  
  

  Now the 12 were sent out to go and do the graces into villages, and show people mercy by casting out demons, healing, etc. Then 70 more went out to show God’s mercies through grace. But Jesus warned them not to get pumped up by what they were able to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. That all must give glory to God,

  
  

  If you mis-use grace, and if your use of grace takes away from God’s glory, the power connected with the grace will be removed. (It would be like leaving a flashlight burning with a battery, if you never recharge the battery or refresh the battery, the light will seem to burn for awhile, but after awhile the battery will run dry). So a person who strays from God’s path may seem to still be able to operate under grace, but after a time, the grace will begin to stop.

  
  

  God gives us the keys, the graces and mercy comes with the whole package of salvation. It is up to us to make ourselves vessels that are able to use the graces given to us.

  
  

  Today much of the church operates only in God’s mercy, not in God’s grace. They are happy that they are going to Heaven (and while that is a good and a given thing) it is not the full package that God wanted us to use.

  
  

  Romans 10:6-10 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” That is to bring Christ down from above, or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

  
  

  Salvation implies delivered, whole, healthy, down here on earth, as well as when you die. You are eternally saved.

  
  

  It is important to speak your salvation with your mouth. You can store up the words in your heart and mind, but until they are spoken, you have not acted on your salvation.

  
  

  The graces work the same way. You must confess the power, and go and use it.

  
  

  Many in the Church do not confess what Jesus said, they confess their doubt.

  
  

  James 5 counsels people that if they are sick they are to go to the elders of the church, an pray the prayer of faith. Often when people are prayed over, the last line is “if it is God’s will,” It is always God’s will for a healing, and doubt can cancel out the grace.

  
  

  You can’t use something you don’t believe in, except salvation. Salvation is the only gift that we are given freely, the rest of the gifts we are given the tools and we use them.

  
  

  Faith is a spiritual law. You must work faith. It is always present, and we are all given a measure of faith. Jesus said all we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed.

  
  

  Supernatural law supercedes the physical which must submit to God.

  
  

  Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

  
  

  We receive unmerited favor, Christ’s gift is given for all.

  
  

  Luke 2:40 – Jesus grew in knowledge, wisdom, strength, and grace. He did not need unmerited flavor, for he had nothing to repent from. He received grace, which is supernatural, miraculous power and ability.

  
  

  Once you have accepted salvation, you have salvation, and unmerited favor has already been completely bestowed on you, so why would Paul sign his epistles, Grace, peace…. Paul was reminding his disciples of the power that they had through the Holy Spirit.

  
  

  Have to stop now for Jim to work.

  
  

  I want to confess to you that I am still working on many of the concepts mentioned above. I still am beset with doubts and fears, I do not operate as fully as I should in the gifts of the spirit, and I am still a work in progress.

  
  

  This teaching is to help us to begin to grow into what God had in mind for us, and it is not something that we can do of ourselves. It is a gift from God, and God will work in us at a pace that is right for us. He helps us to grow in faith and trust, as we grow in our relationship with Him. I dare say that I have grown and changed much in the few years that I have been saved. I am not the person I was back then, and my faith has grown, but it has a long way to go.

  
  

  Hope you have a blessed day!

  
  

  Heather

  • 3:54 pm
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