Bible Study Notes 10/1/2024

Word Alive! Bible Study ©2024

Fall Series: Experiencing The Holy Spirit In & With Us © 2024

Concord Baptist Church of Boston in Milton

Conley Hughes, Jr., Senior Pastor

Tu., 24 Sept. & 1 Oct., 2024 Lesson 8, Parts 1 & 2, pp. 112-127

Quiet Time: H&M Blackaby, Experiencing the Holy Spirit

Talented Or Gifted? – We humans place a great deal of value on our natural talents and innate abilities. There’s nothing inherently wrong in doing so; except, when we attribute our successes to human effort alone. Our Christian faith points to God, our Creator as the source of our abilities and achievements. While many people achieve great things and never attribute their success to God, this does not mean God is absent and far removed from their engagements. Jesus said the evil and good benefit from what God provides. He said, “That you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to shine on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (See, Matthew 5:45, NIV). The fact that someone is neither knowledgeable nor convinced of God operating in our world, does not cancel nor dimmish God’s presence. It is what and whom we choose to believe and accept that determines our spiritual life and destiny. The Apostle Paul encountered much arrogance among many of the people in Corinth where he had resided for a year and a half. Paul established a church there, where many believers came to know and accept Jesus as Lord and Christ. However, after Paul left, even some of the believers began to accept and reject others based on their natural talents and abilities.  Paul warned Christians in Corinth, it was God’s power; the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that validated his work, among them, as well as the ministry of others. Here’s Paul describes evidence of the Holy Spirit as the display of Christian’s character and spiritual maturity. (Read, 1 Corinthians 4:19-21, NLT). In sending the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised believers would be endued; covered, with special abilities from the Holy Spirit. (Read, Luke 24:49, NIV). From a practical point, Henry and Melvin Blackaby, in Experiencing the Holy Spirit, comment: “Success in the world doesn’t equate with success in the Kingdom of God. In fact, it can often divert our praise away from God and onto the achievements of people. Every person who serves in the power of the Spirit will at the same time build up the body and bring glory to God.”  From the 1 Century, A.D., the message of redemption we’ve proclaimed has been criticized and rejected. But what the world calls foolish is wiser than all the world’s wisdom. What the Spirit reveals is truth, for which there is no equal in the world’s wisdom. (Read, 1 Corinthians 1:18-21; 24-25, NLT). God speaking in the prophecy of Isaiah, says He is creator heaven and earth, and will bless the humble and contrite who reverence His word. (Read, Isaiah 66:2, NLT). There is no doubt God uses people of great talents and abilities; however, these temporal gifts must first be placed before God is a spirit of humility and reverence. David as a younger shepherd, had some admirable qualities, but it was his humility that caused the Spirit to direct Samuel to him to be anointed as the future king of Israel. (Read, 1 Samuel 16:12-13, NLT).  In our study book, Experiencing the Holy Spirit, we find this good perspective: “God is using men and women of great talent and ability, but when He does, the first assignment of the Holy Spirit is to bring humility. They must cease to compare themselves to others…”  All of who we are and what we do in life, is about God’s plan for us. God is intimately concerned about shaping the interior of our lives, so that our outward expression will reveal His purpose for us in the world. (See, 1 Samuel 16:7b, NLT).

Talented Or Gifted? Part 2 – The real question is not whether we have gifts or talents, but how God uses us; and what He has given us in fulfilling His purpose in the world. Although many talents and abilities are innate; meaning they are peculiar to a person’s nature. However, those attributes have come, the result of a God who has a design for each of our births and existence. King David praised God for his human creation, when he said, “You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.” (Psalm 139:13-14, NLT) The uniqueness of each person gives one the ability to do great things. Such contributions, when used appropriately wisely, can be beneficial. However, the Scripture makes it clear that spiritual gifts we come to possess, can only be given by the Holy Spirit. These gifts are required to teach, nurture, strengthen, buildup, and sustain the body of Christ – and to effect change in the hearts of people. Transformation comes only through the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. When the Apostle Paul gave his life to Jesus Christ, and was empowered through the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel message, rather than punishing adherents of  faith in Jesus, he was rejected by leaders of the Christian movement for 14 years. As the Spirit indwelt Paul and gifted him for service in the cause of Christ, it was apparent by the leaders who rejected the new apostle, God was working through him to lead Gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ. (Read, Galatians 2:6-10. NLT).  It is not always of talents or gifts God is concerned with. God is seeking a person whose heart is “completely” committed to Him. This is what God told King Asa. (Read, 2 Chronicles 16:9a, NLT).  In the study book, Experiencing the Holy Spirit,” this helpful insight is given: “Be assured, when God … finds that pure heart, He’ll fill it with His Spirit and move through that person’s life with power.”  Over and again the Scriptures teach us that no great ability can usurp the importance of a person’s spiritual maturity. The condition of our Christian character matters much! A “right” relationship with God is possible only through genuine and godly behavior. (Read, Psalm 24:3a-5, NLT). Living a life of duplicity and dishonesty will cause us to forfeit essential blessings; and to disrupt and dissipate our fellowship with God. When we lose our fellowship with God, we will inevitably feel a great sense of lost and emptiness. There are moments when a person may not commit some egregious wrong, but they attribute too much of their own abilities to their success, rather than seeing the guidance and endorsement of the Holy Spirit.  Whether a persistent sin, or a retreat from fellowship with the Spirit of God through neglect, there will arise a need to repent, and find our way back to genuine fellowship with the Lord. In his great anguish and remorse for sins, David pleaded that the Spirit would not be taken from Him. In doing so, he acknowledged the need to remain in fellowship with the Spirit. David cried, “Do not banish me from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” (See, Psalm 51:11, NLT).  Though we may all be blessed with certain natural abilities; or we’ve developed some effective skills, all that we have belongs to God. When Gideon was addressed as a “Mighty man of Valor,” he did not believe he had abilities to be called such. Gideon spent a good deal of his time in a secluded barn, on the threshing floor, preparing wheat – far from any combat action or duty. When God gave Gideon his assignment as a military commander, rather than a rank-and-file soldier, Gideon admitted he didn’t have the ability to do the job. Perhaps this was wise on Gideon’s part, because God told Gideon, “I will be with you.” (Read, Judges 6:14-16; 34, NLT). Where we meet God is where He meets us and directs us to where we need God is glorified through what we do for  Him, always!

Key Idea:

What We Believe!

1. “The Holy Spirit is in you and accompanies you!”

Key Verses:

1 Corinthians 4:19-21, NLT

“But I will come - and soon – if the Lord lets me, then I will find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk, it is living by God’s power. Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?”

Luke 24:49, NIV

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.””

1 Cor. 1:18-21;24-25, NLT

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction. But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars. And the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. … But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.”

Isaiah 66:2, NLT

“My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken! I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts. Who tremble at my word.”

Galatians 2:6-10, NLT

“And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way their reputation as being leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites,) Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.”

2 Chronicles 16:9a, NLT

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”

Psalm 24:3a-5, NLT

“Who may stand in His holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and [consistently] lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessings and have a right relationship with God their savior.”

Judges 6:14-16; 34, NLT

“Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you.” “But Lord, Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting one man… Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew the ram’s horn as a call to arms and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him.”