Hosts of the Holy Ghost
Who is HE?
What does HE do?
Who is HE?
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [Rom. 8:9].
Who is the Holy Spirit and is HE in your life?
We learn that all who have truly called upon the name of Christ for salvation has HIS indwelling spirit. Are you included?
Also here: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit since the Spirit of God really dwells in you." That is the real test.
And why letting others know about Christ and Christ in your life is so important.
Because if anyone has "not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of HIS."
The true mark of a born-again believer is the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul said to the carnal Corinthians: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1Cor. 6:19). Paul missed their mark when he went to Ephesus the first time…
Are you displaying the mark? Are you a new creation.
Do you love Jesus?
Do you serve Jesus?
Are the things of Christ uppermost in your mind and heart?
The power of the Spirit is seen in the word “dwell” (oikeoô). Picture a home, the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer: HE makes HIS home, takes up residence, and lives within the believer just as we live in our homes.
Creates the glorious truth of the indwelling presence of God within the believer.
The believer is said to be “in the [Holy] Spirit” (Romans 8:9).
The Spirit of God is said to “dwell” in the believer (Romans 8:9).
The believer is said to have “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9).
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
The “Spirit of Christ” is said to indwell the believer the same as the “Spirit of God.” Both equally within the believer.
Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Philip. 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
The power of the Spirit removes the believer from being “in” the flesh and places him within HIMSELF, within the Spirit of God...
The believer is no longer positioned “in” the flesh: not in God’s eyes nor in God’s accounting. We no longer dwell “in” the flesh: are no longer comfortable with the things of the flesh.
The believer is positioned “in” the Spirit of God. God counts the believer as placed and positioned in HIS Spirit; we should dwell “in” the Holy Spirit.
Are you uncomfortable today?
If so it is because we Christians are only at home and comfortable with the things of the Spirit.
The power of the Spirit identifies us as being “in” Christ.
Whatever spirit dwells within a man, it is that spirit to whom man belongs. What spirit lives within you?
Will you fully and humbly submit yourself to Christ and HIS leadership in your life?
If you have the Spirit of Christ, you belong to Christ and will be known as a “follower of Christ”.
“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephes. 3:17).
What does HE do?
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness [Rom. 8:10].
First, HE helps us put to death this flesh…
If we are truly in Christ, when HE died, we died. We have this through yielding our lives and bodies to HIM.
Don’t say you can’t do it -- this is not the language of a believer. Paul could say, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
If your not conscious of the presence of the Spirit of God in your life or if you don’t desire to serve God, then do as Paul suggests,
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2Cor. 13:5).
God wants us to know that we are in Christ. "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).
If you aren’t sure that Christ is in you, HE extends this invitation: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20).
Is your door open? Has HE come into you?
We are asked to turn over our life to the Spirit of God, saying, "I can’t do it, Lord, but YOU can do it through me."
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you [Rom. 8:11].
Next, HE quickens our mortal bodies…You see, these bodies that you and I have will die and be put in the grave one of these days, if the Lord tarries. Yet, the indwelling Holy Spirit is our assurance that our bodies will be raised from the dead (2Cor. 5:1-4). Because Christ was raised from the dead, we shall be raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit will deliver us from this "body of his death" -- this old nature.
“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh [Rom. 8:12].
HE allows us to know that we are truly “debtors” to Christ.
We are not to live according to the flesh. God created man body, mind, and spirit. When man sinned, his spirit died to God. Remember that God warned, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). After Adam ate of the fruit, he lived several hundred years -- physically; but spiritually he died immediately.
With sin man was turned upside down. The body, the old nature, the flesh became dominant. Today man is dead spiritually.
Regeneration means that you are turned right side up, that you are born again spiritually, and that you have a nature which wants to serve God.
Remember God says that we as believers are not debtors to the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live [Rom. 8:13].
The Holy Spirit insures all who truly follow after Christ “will live”, those apart will die.
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die" -- die to God...and face eternity in Hell and Damnation.
If you live after the flesh, you have no fellowship with God.
We are not talking about a theory; a child of God, knows this from experience.
If you are a child of God and have unconfessed sin in your life, do you want to go to church?
Do you want to read your Bible?
Do you want to pray?
"But if ye through the Spirit" -- you can’t do it yourself -- "mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
So what problems are you and our society facing today?
Liquor? Drugs? Sex? Stealing?
Many might say, "I don’t have those problems!"
What about in your thought-life?
How about your tongue? Do you gossip? Do you tell the truth?
Whatever your problem is, why don’t you confess it to God, then turn it over to the Holy Spirit?
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God [Rom. 8:14].
The Holy Spirit leads in the manner we should go.
Are you led or are you driven?
God does not drive His sheep; HE leads them.
Satan drives us to sin, drives us to become alcoholics, liars, sex addicts…
Not Christ, when Jesus told of the safety and security of the sheep, HE made it clear that they were not forced into the will of HIS hand and that of the Father. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me" (John 10:27).
Want to feel safe and secure as a child of Christ? Let Jesus lead in your life today, tomorrow and each and every day.
Jesus seeks to lead you, are you willing to hear HIS voice. If you have truly trusted in Jesus Christ you have a new nature, and you can follow HIM.
You know, those who are HIS sheep hear His voice.
Of the others Jesus says-- they hated me and wanted to get rid of me. Why? They were not His sheep. The Lord Jesus said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18).
Where will you be found?
Jesus’ sheep will follow HIM.
If you are not one of Jesus’ sheep, you can become one today. If this is the desire of your heart we ask that you come forward today.
Jesus said and continues to say, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will rest you" so that you will know what it is to have sins forgiven ( Matt. 11:28).
Simply pray, Lord, I recognize I am a sinner, unclean, deserving of death but eternity in Hell. YOUR word says “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
God’s word says the penalty for sin is death and
death apart from God means “Hell’.
Dear Lord, I ask YOU to come into my heart today and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Create in me a clean heart. Bring me to YOUR life giving flow and sustain me in YOUR ways, Oh Lord.
Remember, God’s Holy Spirit lives in us. If you have prayed this prayer for the first time we ask that you let someone in our fellowship know so that we can lead you in your growth with Jesus Christ.
God is always there, HE never walks away, so HIS people should continually be in prayer seeking HIS “good and perfect” will in their lives. Let us help one another to grow in Christ and HIS great love.
