The truth of the Holy Spirit

You can preach all your life and still stumble upon a truth that you thought you should have known but, to tell the truth, have never hit upon. For me, it had to do with the Holy Spirit, fullness of the Holy Spirit, and love.

Start off, most Christians, particularly those of main line faiths, accept and believe the Trinity. The Trinity affirms that God is known in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The best way I can explain the Trinity is with water. Water’s molecular composition is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Ice is H2O. Running or standing water is H2O. Moisture is H2O. Same stuff but different expressions.

Well, that’s God. He is Father as revealed throughout the Bible. Even Jesus prayed, “Our Father.” Jesus also is God. He once said, “He who has seen me has seen the father. Then, the Holy Spirit is God. The Trinity suggests a mathematical impossibility: one plus one plus one equals one. The church fathers have said down through the centuries, “One in three; three in one.”

Second, we live in the age of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, made a pilgrimage to earth and through the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension returned to heaven. The Bible says Jesus is in heaven and he’s coming back one day, signaling the end of time as we know it. But the Holy Spirit is still here. In fact, the Holy Spirit has outdone Jesus in that he can be everywhere at the same time. Jesus was limited to being at one place at one time. Not so for his replacement: the Holy Spirit can be in Baghdad as well as Washington as well as in any believer’s heart — all at the same time. Weird but wonderful.

Third, the most characteristic aspect of God that any child can tell you is that God is love. One of the most brilliant minds of the centuries, by way of Godly inspiration, defined God’s love as patient, kind, keeping no score of wrongs. Read it for yourself in 1 Corinthians 13.

So, with a little logic, you can arrive at the point that the Father is love, Jesus is love, and the Holy Spirit is love. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit it is more about being filled with love than with speaking in tongues, having a holy fit, or behaving like you never have body odor.

Filled with the Holy Spirit means filled with love and that’s the love of God and that’s the love of 1 Corinthians 13.

Let me suggest that all of us pastors get the church deacons and officers to seek the filling of the Spirit and we would probably have larger churches, bigger offerings, and smaller offenses. All this hit me like of ton of bricks. Maybe because it’s love that makes a church — not bricks and mortar.

Higher math

Submitted by jenthebaptist on Tue, 04/11/2006 - 6:12pm.

"The Trinity suggests a mathematical impossibility: one plus one plus one equals one. The church fathers have said down through the centuries, “One in three; three in one.”

You are using the wrong math. Think higher. Multiplication: 1x1x1=1 Or, exponentially: 1 to the third power = 1

login to post comments

God is Love

Submitted by PTC Guy on Wed, 04/12/2006 - 7:41am.

Yes, many churches have abandoned love.

The proper exercise of Biblical love can only come through knowledge and submission to Christ.

That means teaching and learning ALL of what the Bible says. Not just the parts that make us comfortable.

To truly understand the fruits of love one must also understand the fruits of sin. And the how the commands of 'love your enemy' and 'do not throw your pearls before swine,' with all that comes inbetween, work together.

And we do need to listen to the Holy Spirit for these things. After all, if one is saved he is there in them.

login to post comments