This past weekend, we had a retreat with our church. Alan and Nancy Smith from Catch the Fire DFW (http://catchthefiredfw.com/) came to teach.
On Friday evening, Alan shared his story of growing up not knowing much about the Holy Spirit, but encountering Him in the 6th grade. He shared a story of how he has prayed for many blind people to be healed, but he has only seen one person miraculously healed. But he challenged us to see Jesus's 100% success rate as the Biblical standard of "normal" that we are striving for. Rather than being discouraged when God doesn't answer our prayer immediately, we keep striving to grow in faith to follow the model that Christ set for us. This concept was very encouraging to me.
Alan also talked about two doctrinal/theological terms that describe God. First, God is transcendent; He is other than us and over us. God is also imminent; He is near and involved. Believing in imminence without transcendence leads to pantheism or New Age stuff. But believing in transcendence without imminence leads to deism. Alan told us that the influence of deism in our culture is pervasive. I tested this by asking Jude and Beau where Heaven is. Jude answered, "Up there?", pointing to the sky. Beau answered, "Somewhere far away?" I told them, "That is what I used to think, too. But Jesus said, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.' That means that Heaven is near." God is imminent. Jesus is Emmanuel. And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us in a way that is better than Jesus walking around with us in the flesh.
Alan highlighted many stories in the Bible of God speaking to His people, of people hearing his voice and responding. Hearing his voice and knowing his voice is normal for his children. Cessationism is trying to explain away why our experience of not interacting with God doesn't match the "normal" described throughout the Bible. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Scripture is a menu, an invitation to experience, to taste and see that the Lord is good.
On Saturday, Alan talked about some of the typical ways that the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit are revealed (manifested) in our lives. The principal manifestation of the Holy Spirit is growing in the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5). Another manifestation is through gifts of the Spirit. And still others are experiences with God that influence our soul and body. Alan gave a great analogy with five people. One end of the spectrum was earth, and the other was Heaven. Three people in between represented the body, soul, and spirit. God designed us with a body to interact with our five senses with the earth, and God designed us with a spirit to interact with three functions (fellowship, intuition/revelation, and conscience) with Heaven. Our soul (mind, will, and emotions) are the connection between the body and the Spirit, and as we set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:5-6, Rom. 12:1-2), we bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth (Matt. 6:10).
On Sunday, Alan preached about the conviction of the Holy Spirit from John 16:7-11. First, the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of sin. Second, the Holy Spirit convicts (convinces) believers of their righteousness in the finished work of Christ (grace alone). God poured out 100% of his wrath on Jesus, so there is 0% remaining for us. The Holy Spirit doesn't scold us; He reminds us of our righteous identity in Christ. Third, the extent to which we receive the conviction in righteousness allows us to be convinced of the judgment of the enemy and our participation in overcoming him.
Heavenly Father, thank you for being present and active. Holy Spirit, thank you for teaching me about you, but now I want to actually know you. I want to have conversations with you, and I want to obey you. I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.
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