Published: September 15, 2024 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit 1 - Part 1 | Scripture: Galatians 5; Ephesians 5; John 14
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is okay that verse verse 18 back in the charismatic the charismatic days they did make the connection
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between the beginning and the end of that verse and maintain that being filled with the Holy Spirit was like being drunk they so they used it to defend the
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Ecstasy the Ecstasy the it of of a true Spirit experience that Paul was making an analogy that it would look like and then they would go back to
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acts two when they were speaking in tongues and people said these people are drunk you know and I'm just saying that that's the extreme The Other Extreme of
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what you just said ignoring the second part of the verse yeah taking that second part as a description of what it's like to be filled with the Holy Spirit people think you're drunk okay um
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what I was thinking of is and it's it's changed over time but uh when I was doing driver's ed you know they used the
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DUI driving Under the Influence well that I think that's part of what Paul is Paul is saying being under the influence of
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strong drink of wine okay um I've been reading couple of uh their their non-fiction um about the uh the spies uh in Great
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Britain uh Soviet spies and things like that just interesting things to read history that um was happening when I was growing up but uh they they describe
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someone who is um I don't guess this is British um when they're given too much drink they're they describe you know the man as being in his
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cups and is uh it that's the first part of that phrase being under the influence being unable to control yourself but it
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is controlling you and they've changed it right and I I I don't like it because now it's driving
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while in intoxicated it's okay to be intoxicated just don't drive right this this is more descriptive I think of what Paul is getting us to think about is
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being under that influence again because that's what that's what stoo means um keeping in stride with keeping in step with the the spirit but
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if we're not in step with the spirit then walking then walking around is not going to be walking around in the manner of children of light it's
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not going to be walking around as wise people but as unwise being worldly um un unwise means either
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unthinking worldliness which worldliness which um that to me kind of describes a good part of our world today is unthinking
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uh we do not want to be unthinking worldly people um but Paul also in what is it first Corinthians when he talks about
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not many of you are wise but the foolishness of the Gospel the wisdom that is in the gospel is treated by the world as foolishness so
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that worldly uh wisdom is foolishness to God um and our Christianity is foolishness to the world and yet Paul
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says do not walk like them be being filled um again I I think this is that continuous ongoing
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thing the connection that I hope to make this term um and I'm still trying to figure
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figure out exactly how that direction is going to going to be but obviously Ephesians 5 is the body of Christ it's the church
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if you look at the the four things um in 19 and 20 and 21 speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual
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songs that's yeah I'm I'm old grandpa Grumpy in my shop when things don't go right or I was trying to mount a mirror on in my bathroom and my wife was downstairs I'm
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sure she heard the old man up there stripping out the heads of the screws and throwing them away and you know the Outburst of the fact that I had
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a drill one of those battery drills and halfway into the first screw the battery gave out trudge out to the shop bring it in halfway through the second screw the
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battery gave out to get a different drill okay that's not speaking to one another you can't speak to one another
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unless you're with one another it's the body okay I guess is what I'm trying to say here okay singing and making melody in your heart to the lord always giving
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thanks these are these are plural things these are things that people do together uh and then giving thanks for all things in the name of of our Lord Jesus Christ
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to God even the father and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ it it does uh I have an old um copy you know
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secondhand or third hand copy of um my uh Greek Bible and the somebody before me had penell in the thesis of
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wives be subject to your husbands is verse 21 going into 22 that may be it's a continuation of
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relationships how we speak to one another how we interact with one another that may be but I I think 21 goes with the other three things in 19 and 20 this
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is the body of Christ and why am I saying why am I saying that there there are many who look at
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walk with the spirit keeping in step with the spirit as a very individual thing as a very you know I've experience the Holy the Holy Spirit but but Paul doesn't seem to me
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to ever let us forget that this walking as children of the light there that's plural it's the body it's not meant to
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be a just just for you kind of thing again we've talked about that idea the the modern even Christianity is is I me
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my again thinking back to the days that we were part of the charismatic movement and that's the good way to phrase it the charismatic movement because when I
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think back it was completely devoid of any ecclesiology there was there was no polity there was no concept of the church in the various um
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groups that we were in it was all about me and getting the spirit and being baptized and conquering sin but no concept at all in the church
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yeah yeah and I as I you know was kind of reviewing this is where I want to go it just seemed like the passages that
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that Paul writes there they are ecclesiology ecclesiology it is the the body the church because because what what are these things these these four
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things in 19 and 20 but but they are they are
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Graces that the spirit gives that we operate in um and then of course we we go back to you know if you double back to Galatians
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5 um what do you see there it's the fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness
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gentleness and gentleness and emphasis connected to Ephesians 5 is the self-control not in your
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cups but the things that the spirit gives as we operate in the body um and so what I see here in Galatians 5 and
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Ephesians 5 um and we didn't read all of those verses but Paul talks about about the the unfruitful Deeds of
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unrighteousness he he talks to us about the dangers the fighting the good fight um Ephesians 6 um battling for
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christlikeness battling for Holiness not Al just individually but being Overcomers be overcoming the world the the flesh the devil um and
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so what we talked about over the last uh or two years ago um perhaps summarized by um why do we want to talk about the
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person and work of the holy spirit is is to correct some of those wrongs emphasizing that the gifts of the holy spirit which
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um if they emphasized as emphasized as individual or as the experience only or as some you know boil it down to um and
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again I kind of cringe because we see it in in acts with uh someone who wanted the power um and the The Authority that the disciples had the apostles had um
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they're wanting that power um and wanting that kind of influence um and what it does is
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it devalues true Christianity um I I think it pushes aside the importance of the body of
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Christ and to the individual but also just the um wrong emphasis on what the holy
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job is um we talked about that you know there is the the the Holiness um experience that uh you know
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if you have the spirit then you're somehow holier than others or um what is it the kezic movement which is a higher state of
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state of consciousness um and and some again to just a power a power to perform in service uh for even if they call it
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Ministry the the seduction of having something that other Christians don't have I can't quite put my finger on it but you know U
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ji Packer has his his sweet peas right all the uh per performance and power and those things um that that people seek
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after when they uh try to emphasize the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit but what is the Father's purpose what is
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God's purpose for us in this regard and um I looked at John chapter 5 I'm going
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to read 22 and 23 for not even The Father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son so that all will honor the son even as they honor the
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father he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent
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him when Jesus told his disciples that he was sending the Holy Spirit and we'll uh we'll look at this this verse in a in a little bit or at least the the word
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used in this verse in John 14 he says I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever
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that is the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him but you know him because he abides with you and will be
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in you I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you
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Holy Spirit presents to us or shows us the presence of presence of Christ sorry
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over the spirit gives us true wisdom right right again you know I didn't say it back here but unless you're here then that
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then that phrase be not as unwise men um but be wise you you can't be truly wise without the spirit it just
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there are people who manufacture that people who act like that people who give you the impression that they are like that and yet again as the scripture calls it it's the
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foolishness um of men thinking pretending to be wise they are
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Truth and it shows us his job is to show us Christ to present to us Jesus Christ he's called another helper and again we we spent some time looking
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at it and I'll just um don't know that I have it in these notes for today but there are those who
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um kind of camp
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transliteration paraclet um as comforter and and uh the the root of the word actually is is more along the lines
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from um Sinclair Ferguson translation witness Advocate it's its foundation or its background is one who comes to present
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evidence in a court of law so yes there there is Comfort there is comfort in the sense
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strengthener is that a word or make a strengthener okay so there is there is is the comforter but but notice that it says another helper another one who comes
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alongside like Jesus came alongside them um in in flesh yet we have and he says he will abide with you and he will be in
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you but then he ends that section by saying I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you um the spirit is showing
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us the presence of and the work of and the activity of Christ um in 2 Corinthians Paul writes
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now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being tra transformed into
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the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the spirit um Jesus said and this was um it was
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some years ago but it was just kind of startling when I think with Chuck preaching through John and um we read the verses but the impact of it at that time
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when when Jesus tells his disciples uh in John 16 but I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go
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away and that phrase it's like wh wait a minute wait a minute what did he just say it is to your advantage it's to the
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disciples advantage that Jesus go away and he says for if I did not go away the helper the pericle the witness
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Advocate will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you that's a one of those I have that vision of of Mary in
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the garden when she saw the resurrected Christ clinging to him clinging to his his feet and yet he knowing that because
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he had died was buried and risen that the helper the witness Advocate that one who would come when he
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left unless left unless he returned to the father that was not going to happen or when he returned that would
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happen and he says he will glorify me for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you it's um again it's
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it's our it's our finite mind trying to describe or explain the explain the infinite and yet the the power the The
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Wonder of Jesus statement if if I go away then the helper will come and he he will glorify me he will he will shine the light on me he will take of mine and
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will disclose it to you and so what what we see in in this and there's a lot yes wrapped up in
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this um again you know we haven't gone back to review some of the the work of the holy spirit it's described in in various places in in the scripture just as a
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kind of a preview of coming attracted s um the the agent of God's activities um activities um again the connection between these two
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terms yes I would I would get it if someone says he's not a spirit then he's not working the problem or he's not a person he's not working but in the scripture the holy
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spirit's activities are described in very personal terms and so so it's like can you not make that
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connection um he says he's chosen you for example in 2 Thessalonians he's chosen you from the beginning for salvation through S sanctification by the spirit that's
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that's not just a ay fairy um I'm trying to think of some of the words that that people use um they
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they think of him almost as an ether um or it's a something that's kind of come upon you
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um the holy spirit is is working to bring us to Salvation a sanctify and a sanctifying work of the spirit he reveals things um he um by the spirit
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you you put to death the Deeds of the body these These are active things these are this is work this is um things that the spirit does
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um he's active in our worship um and that's a very um you know a worshiping person that that's a very personal activity um so you know he
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searches our hearts he teaches us truth he he he he um he literally Cries Out to God on our
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behalf um in our prayers um these this is work this is activity this is and and yet his I think his primary thing is to
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to show us Christ to shine that light on on Christ to to do everything necessary to create in us um an
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awareness of um
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you we we know what that means from Isaiah and from from Matthew you shall call his name Emanuel that is God With Us he's here to illuminate Emmanuel for us to create in
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us that awareness but but not just not just create as a you know one time you know I've had my
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inoculation but Paul says no be being filled that constancy within the body being filled yes you put me in mind of
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what comes before um the verses in John you mentioned John 148 and Philip was saying to him Lord show us the father I mean isn't that kind of prise of the
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holy spirit is the answer by by by steps to to that very request is it not yeah that that idea of
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um being able to it's the ears to hear the eyes to see idea um we we do not um
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with without coming in line coming in to step these thing these followon things these spiritual Graces do I don't think follow yes Jesus's answer then
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immediately is if you've seen me you've seen me yes seen the father MH and I think that he's also saying in John 16 you
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don't really me till you have the spirit he will take of mine and give to you yeah you don't know the father if you don't know Jesus you don't know Jesus if
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you don't have the spirit Romans 8 if you have not the spirit of Christ you are none of his yeah it's the it's the complete revelation of the godhead not with but
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with but within and I just I think it's fascinating that in God's Eternal wisdom the one God has chosen to reveal himself the revealing is the perfect image of
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the Father the spirit has the perfect conveyance of the son yeah yeah um yeah I don't I don't know what it was that that sparked it yesterday when I was
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just thinking um something I read um something I heard on the radio or whatever talking about the The ecumenical movement and I
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thought how how can anyone uh really think that ecumenical movement is Christian because the idea is that you
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you bring religious thought together to have I don't know fellowship or something uh the World Council of churches is is such I don't
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know can I use the word anadama um
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it's if if God has revealed himself in Christ and the spirit's work is to point us to Christ if you've seen him you've seen the father how can you get involved in in really have you can't have
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fellowship with those who think differently of that um I would I I I looked up ecuminical because I was kind of that word came to my mind when Chuck
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was mentioning was mentioning how in that m there was sort of I guess it was just know feeling based
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yeah and I I thought ofical just was saying that saying that yeah no I just we had a similar sparking of thought driving to your house went
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past the Church of Christ that had the Marque says weekly communion you're invited so just anybody come in and
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commun yeah I saw that sign too of an understanding ofun you have to have to have open
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Dar yeah yeah yeah and that's a phrase that you'll you'll see um at least implied impersonal Force um that you know May the force be
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with you kind of thing and and yet um I think scripture is is shows us those kinds of things
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that a a an entity or Force can't do yes um so
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um so in summary in summary today I see the spirit's task is is that re by revealing the person and and work of
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Christ that God's people might know him Love Him worship Him Praise Him that as the scripture says Christ
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will have preeminence in everything not just in the individual but in the
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church that we would realize the spirit's activity spirit's activity is the extension of of God's presence into his into his creation that
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creation that he's in a sense revealing creation his created order to us that we might have order that we might have the
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EST EST lishment um and the completing of of God's plan for us as a body and I believe that that the spirit yes there there is power the Holy Spirit of
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power but there is a power that he executes the presence of Christ in governing his creation but also
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governing his church and that's what we we hope to continue to study to uh um again to try to understand and um I
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guess most of all that we would as those uh missionaries of some time ago uh stand in awe of the awful
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solemnity of the phrase I believe in the holy spirit let us pray Our Father we do thank you for this Spirit we thank you for the
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economy of the Trinity and the the beauty the Majesty the Majesty the um yes the awful solemnity of it all and
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yet father you have designed that by the spirit you would reveal the truth to us you would reveal some of your majesty and glory to us
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that we might come to worship that we might come into your presence to celebrate you to honor you to glorify you and so we ask that you would
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continue to to build your church in in our activity continue to give us ears to hear and those eyes to truly see that
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the veil would be removed and that the things in front of our eyes of understand understanding would be removed that we might see and yet father
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please that it would not be us as individuals but we would be as John was that I I would decrease but he would
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increase in my life we ask in Christ's name amen