- Read the intro by Spurgeon - list your favorite phrase of sentence(s) out of there and expound on it.
- In the first few pages Moody discusses that the early church has forgotten the miraculous things surrounding Jesus' birth. How long does it take you to forget? Me?..anywhere from 2 days to 1 year.
- Read the sections "Rappings in the Dark" and "Spirits That Peep And Mutter". Discuss what the "great sin" is. What are some ways we commit this sin in our culture?
- What are the main functions of the Holy Spirit that Moody highlights in this chapter?
Most awesome quote ever!!! "The world can get on well without you and me, but the world cannot get on without Christ" Something else that really stood out to me is the concept of being spiritually long and short-sighted at the same time. I think that applies to me sometimes...especially when I'm not hearing the Spirit.
5 comments:
I just discovered that my book has the chapters in a different order and these introduction pieces do not exist...I will have to compare with Summer tonight...sorry but I won't be able to answer the first question... :(
2) Forgetting the miraculous of Jesus birth can happen at any time. Especially when we take His love for granted!
3) The great sin is hiding in the darkness, turning God aside (including his word), and relying on others to comfort us (including other spirits or the dead). I think that we commit this sin almost daily but putting other things before God. We also turn to people instead of him or his word. We listen to their advice and participate in gossip as well. We trust in things more than we trust in our own father. (Wow this is so convicting!)
4) The overarching theme to me is that we need to let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. We should rely on the word of God, his guidance and love and nothing else.Above all we need to LISTEN and OBEY the guidance of the Spirit.
5)
And here is my answer for #1..
"If you have not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember that you stand in somebody else’s way; you are as a free bearing no fruit standing where another fruitful tree might grow."
I had never thought about tit quite like this. But Spurgeon rings so true when saying that without the spirit we are useless...dead weight just standing in Gods way.
1. I personally really liked the example he used from the bible with Peter. Just thinking about the intensity of the spirit upon Peter for there to be that many people saved at once, its just amazing and I wish we would see more of that today.
2. I don't know how often i necessarily "forget" about His birth. I don't think about it on a daily basis but I guess during Christmas time I might focus more on the actual event and how we celebrate it as oppose to the power and planning of God behind the birth and everything it represented for the world then and our world now.
3. It seems to me Moody describes the "greatest sin" as unbelief. I think I practice this without realizing it when I see unbelievers and how far they seem from God, and I sometimes feel like no matter how hard I try, I still can't bring them closer to God. But we should never say something can't happen, because through God all things are possible :]
4. The main functions that stood out to me were that the Spirit bears witness to Christ and makes Him all the more real than we could. He testifies through us that others might be saved. He guides us to the truth and only the truth. And He convicts us.
I really enjoyed this chapter just as much as the others. I often forget that the spirit is our ultimate guide. Sometimes I feel like I have no answers for my questions and I forget to go to the Holy Spirit for the perfect guide to the truth. Great chapter!
Well, I am a procrastinator obviously as I comment during second service. Its better late than never I guess.
Here we go, my favorite sentence from the intro is definitely the first one "If we do not have the Spirit of God, it were better to shut the churches, to nail up the doors, to put a black cross on them,
and say, “God have mercy on us!” There is no point in church if it is not done by the spirit. W might as well attend a self help seminar :)
How long does it take for me to forget about the birth of Jesus and its prophetic fulfillment, um what were we talking about? No seriously sometimes its a matter of minutes before I forget who this Jesus I serve really is. Pretty sad!
The great sin is to turn your back on the Spirit and think we can do this thing in our own strength. A huge portion of the church doesn't even teach on the Spirit anymore. Those of us who do teach the Spirit and it's impowerment and giftings all to often forget how much we need the Spirit to fill us on a daily basis.
The functions of the Spirit are to guide us, give us memory of the scripture, give us vision and guidance in our futures, to convict us, and to help our unbelief. I would add it is to give us gifts in times of service, I don't think he mentioned that.
Later!
There were many convicting issues discussed in this chapter. They all were connected to the "great sin" which to me is not accepting or ignoring the Holy Spirit. Like he says, the spirit is like a guide. You want one, you need one, and you loved the guidance and teaching along the way. So why would you ever disregard him? You would be a fool to ignore him but we all do at times. I also loved the part about not needing to learn all the opposing views to the word of God. Steer clear of evil, don't be near to out for any reason.
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