We went to a not-so-small group Bible study last Friday, along with about 40 other people to have dinner together and then start through Francis Chan’s video teaching on the Holy Spirit.
Chan is an amazingly gifted communicator. I’ve heard him speak and I’ve read his book, Crazy Love (an excellent read). He is perhaps the most popular speaker at Azusa Pacific University and has pastored a large church in the LA Valley.
He also recently resigned from his position and has sold most of his worldly goods (so I’ve heard) while waiting for God to lead him into new ministry which, rumor has it, will possibly be in Bangkok saving children from the sex trade.
My friend, Terry Rush, wrote an excellent book many years ago: The Holy Spirit Makes No Earthly Sense. He highly recommended Chan’s study on this subject, so we decided to make Friday nights (for a while) a time to meet with Christians and take a fresh look at God’s Spirit.
After the discussion and video, we were asked what are some of the teachings we learned over the years regarding the Holy Spirit.
I was the first to comment and mentioned that we had been taught the Spirit and work of the Spirit were limited to the completed, written Word. I quickly mentioned that I had never bought into that theology of the Spirit as it seems the Holy Spirit could be mass-produced on a printing press, were that the case.
Though that mindset made “no earthly sense” at all, and I asked everyone who preached or taught that the Spirit was limited to the written word just how that could be when the written Word so plainly taught the living, active, indwelling Spirit only to basically be dismissed as a potential trouble maker!
When I made that comment in class, you can not imagine the gasps from the others in the room! They were genuinely surprised that anyone would (1) teach that and (2) believe it!
So am I.
I have actually started keeping my mouth shut, as I am embarrassed by some of the things that I used to think….and defend!!
Sounds like a great study!
My brother, I need to send you my copy of Guy Woods, Open Forum Questions and Answers, so you can get your mind right and get your dirt out of Boss Keene’s ditch!
Peace.
Ditto, Donna. Ditto!
I’m going to dig Ira Rice, Jr. up and tell him what you are up to…
I think that the moving and working of the Holy Spirit is kind of like quantum physics… if you think you understand them, you don’t. I believe that we have had so many problems in the past (and now) dealing with Him because we have tried to put Him into a system or framework that we can deal with. Once we did that then we fought with other Christians who had a different understanding of Him. This was based on our, and possibly their assumptions that we and they knew all there was to know about the Holy Spirit. But our God is so much bigger and powerful than we can even imagine. I think it is better to just let Him work how and with whom He chooses and to just join Him in that.
Sounds like we had some of the same teachers. I’m so thankful I no longer try to confine God to a book.
I grew up under those same teachings, Greg. I can remember (do not recollect where, now, whether at home, among friends or Bible classes) big debates over whether the Holy Spirit was ONLY in the Book or not. Indwelling of the Spirit was a really far out belief, but I never could swallow just in The Word, you know? That seems really weird to me . . . like with you. Made no sense and was so confining and depressing, actually.
Jay Guin is writing an excellent series about the Holy Spirit over at his blog, http://www.oneinjesus.info/. I wish I could be half so articulate and had a quarter as much time to study and write as Jay.