Holy Spirit Series 11

G: To Teach the word of God:

The division in Christendom today is because of the fallacies taught by people within the church. Honestly! If God was the source of the teaching we would not be having any denominations in terms of doctrine. According to the bible there is only one body (church), one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God the Father who is above all Eph 4:4-6. Why then we have so many versions of these? The answer is simple; the author of these teaching is not the Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly shows God’s intent for His flock in the following verses:

1.  In Eph 4:11-13, where Paul says that the five-fold ministries were inducted into the church hierarchy to train people to minister and edify the church until there is oneness of the faith and the knowledge of God to the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ.

2.    Jn 17: 20-21 is the verse where Jesus prays that the disciple and the future believers will be one with the Godhead just as He and the Father are One.

3.    Jn 15:1-5, again talks about the unity within the church by being attached to the True Vine, who is Christ. Thereby, being able to be fruitful unto God

Because God speaks of unity in Him, I know that something much more sinister is at work in the body of Christ, seeing the prevailing trends, to derail the purpose of God for His Church and through it. Jesus forewarned the rise of ‘wolves’ from within the Church Mt 7:15 and also in His parable of the wheat and tares Mt 13:24-25. This satanic ploy has become somewhat successful in that the world stands declaring that the church is forcing itself upon people with its own motives propagated behind a veil of hypocrisy. The Tares have done their job of choking the witness of the Church, while the wolves have devoured the young and the weak in faith. Whatever the strategy used the name of the Lord is being profaned.

                        Jesus said that the world will know that we are His disciples by our love Jn 13:35. From a worldly perspective it is clear that this commandment by the Lord to love has sadly not been followed. Dear brothers and sisters all is not lost. We can still redeem the time. We have been taken away by the flamboyance of today’s ministers and their ministries. We have let our guard down and not sought to be taught by the Holy Spirit. Our laziness has overtaken us Pro 24:34. Being a student of the Holy Spirit requires dedication, discipline, and diligence. Nothing can replace the time you spend reading and studying the word of God personally. However, no one can be taught by the Holy Spirit unless they be born again and receive the power (anointing) from above. Wrong doctrine arises from wrongful interpretations of the word, which happens when our dependency is on our intellect rather than wisdom from above. 1Jn 2:19-29 is key to understanding that the anointing will teach you and also expose the works of the evil one to you. It will equip you to stay away from heretical teachings that keep creeping into the church through various alleyways. Jesus clearly said that the Holy Spirit would teach us all things Jn 14:26. One advice that I will give regarding scriptural interpretation is that any interpretation must agree with all of scripture, both the Old and the New Testament. It must also agree with the nature of God. If the understanding is deviant in any of these, then it is in error and therefore must be discarded. The learning and teaching go hand in hand. Without learning one cannot teach as it is said a teacher is first of all a good student.                           

The Church today is like Jerusalem without its walls during the time of Nehemiah and it’s my prayer that people would stand up and build the wall. Sound doctrine must prevail and may those anointed by God take up their positions within the body and teach all without any adulteration, till we are united in the faith, and the knowledge of God to the full measure and stature of Christ. Amen

H. Bring to remembrance:

This is the most helpful function of the Holy Spirit to me personally whenever I have faced challenges and questions in life; the words would suddenly pop up. Its arrival can be likened to the flash news we see announced on the news channels. It’s not just that the verse comes to mind; the meaning and the application of it in relation to the situation is also made known. What a great blessing it is to receive His word in times of need, it is like cool water to a thirsty soul. The Holy Spirit brings the words of Jesus into remembrance when He teaches us the word Jn 14:26. The key to remembrance is to hear and read the word of God regularly. We can only remember something that we have learnt or are familiar with. The word of God does not generally pop up to those who have not read it. There is however exceptions where God reveals Himself to those who have never known Him with words they have never heard before. Such are purely the work of the Holy Spirit, without any effort from the recipient to either hear or learn it and they can happen to a believer/unbeliever in moments of urgency as decided by the Lord. Form my experience it is to avert serious disasters in a believers life or to prevent the lost from dying in their sin. A classic example is the conversion of Saul. The Lord appeared to Him and spoke to him. The words were specific: 

“…It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:5. 

This is the exact term written concerning the word of God in Ecc 12:11, where it says “The words of the wise are as goads…which are given from one Shepherd.” Saul being a Pharisee knew the Tanak (all of the Old Testament) inside out and this term hit right home. This would be how Saul knew who he was talking to. I personally call this the greatest head hunting in history. Jesus recruited the one man who would turn the world upside down and still continues to do so today. Truly nothing compares to the way the Holy Spirit teaches us. So, I encourage each and all to seek to be taught by the Holy Spirit primarily and we are the adjuncts that help Him build His Church.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17

This verse is like a reversible chemical reaction. The two halves of the statement are co-dependent upon each other. To simplify: Faith comes by hearing the word of God and the ability to hear also comes by the word of God (when God permits us to hear; which means to recognize it and understand it). We forget how privileged we are to be able to understand the word of God. We forget that there was a time when we could not understand the Bible but since the day we accepted the Lord as our personal Saviour we could somehow understand what we read. It felt like a veil had been lifted. This lifting of the veil is what the latter half of the verse in Rom 10:17 indicates. The word of God no longer speaks just to our mind but it goes into our very being just as the seed is sown into the ground. The remembrance comes when the Lord calls out the word that He had sown into us. The understanding that the remembrance triggers is like the growth stages of a plant from seed to full grown. There are stages and in this way the Lord accomplished the teaching process:

“Whom will he teach knowledge?  And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” Is 28-9-10

This verse reveals to us the process of how the Holy Spirit teaches. It is always one precept at a time, like building a foundation layer by layer. Now another point I would like to mention is also that the teaching is directly proportional to your growth and your ability to give it out. I will deal with this when we begin our discussion on the gifts and our ministry later on in the series. 

God is ready to teach each every one of His children. We need to have no pre-conceived notions and be as a child before Him ready to learn and not be hardened by our understanding. I know the varieties of doctrine and teachings within the church have brought a lot of confusion and rejection when one is faced with a teaching that seems contrary. Best thing to do is to sit with it before God and He will open your eyes to the truth. I have personally had this and this is what I have done. God will open our eyes. Praise God for His patience and love. 

In our next session we will continue to see the work of the Holy Spirit within the the individual believer. I know this study is exhaustive and believe me it is very important that we are clear on the points being dealt here. We will take our time in exploring and I hope you will continue to follow this study. Till next time God bless.