School of the Spirit

January 1st

Pastor Josh Blount

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Better Balance; Power and Practices

Charles Stanley
Our salvation doesn’t automatically keep us from being mean, jealous, hateful, or angry. It’s only as we ask the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us, only as we yield our nature to His nature, only as we seek to be His representatives on this earth in every relationship we have that we’re going to move beyond pride into the behaviors that establish peace.

John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,

Allos
means one of the very same kind; same character; same everything; nearly a duplicate.

Better Balance; Power and Practices

Acts 2:1
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Because of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, living for God is not something you have to live up to in your own strength; it’s something you live out from with someone you live out with.

When God initiates the new covenant, It does not happen in a temple in Jerusalem; It happens in the people.

Richard Owen Roberts
The sobering truth is that the greatest hindrance to the growth of Christianity in today’s world is the absence of the manifest presence of God from the Church.

Acts 2:4
The Spirit enabled them.

AW Tozer
The truth is that God never fathered His Church apart from the Holy Spirit. We should be anointed with the Spirit. We are led of the Spirit. We are taught by the Spirit. The Spirit, then, is the medium—the divine solution—in which God holds His Church.

2 Timothy 3:5
They will do things to make it look as if they are Christians. But they will not receive the power that is for a Christian. Keep away from such people.

AW Tozer
In most Christian churches the Spirit is quite entirely overlooked. Whether He is present or absent makes no real difference to anyone. Brief reference is made to Him in the doxology and the benediction. Further than that He might as well not exist. Our neglect of the doctrine of the blessed Third Person has had and is having serious consequences. For doctrine is dynamite. It must have emphasis sufficiently sharp to detonate it before its power is released. The doctrine of the Spirit is buried dynamite. Its power awaits discovery and use by the Church. The power of the Spirit will not be given to any mincing assent to pneumatological truth. The Holy Spirit cares not at all whether we write Him into our creeds in the back or our hymnals; He awaits our emphasis.

1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Neil Cole
“Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing – its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs, or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not radically obedient, your church is not good.”

Dallas Willard
“The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.”

We need teaching

We need fellowship

We need to break bread together

We need prayer to be a lifestyle

We have to reject the “presto” view of spiritual growth

Ephesians 5:18
Be filled with the Spirit

1 Timothy 4:8
Train yourself in godliness.

POWER

• Encounter
• Passion
• Anointing
• Breakthrough
• Manifestations
• Urgency
• Crowds
• Gifts

PRACTICES

• Formation
• Discipline
• Faithfulness
• Process
• Skills
• Sustainability
• Commitment
• Health
• Character

WORD DECLARATION

1 John 4:13
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us his Spirit