Person & Work of the Holy Spirit

About question eight, but I want to go through a couple of things. I was going through this as I was listening to tape and different things. You know sometimes I think we go through this very slowly, very meticulously, and then you know, what's it, getting lost, can't see the forest through the trees or you know those type of things. So I just want to step back on a couple different things and just a quick review.

So we kind of focused in on the Holy Spirit and a couple different things in this section. So I just want to go over and make sure we have some of the terminology and then what that means with Actually in the anointing, we're on the anointing section of what Rideout is going through.

And again, for those on tape, this is the Holy Spirit class. I'm going over Sam Rideout's book on the Holy Spirit. We're on Lesson 11. So, what does sanctification mean? Do you remember how Rideout distinguished between positional and conditional sanctification? That was kind of a new one. I hadn't really thought about that. Positional and conditional sanctification. What is positional sanctification?

In Christ. Set apart in Christ. I basically equated that to our identification truths. Our positioning in Christ. We've been set apart into Christ. And that is a positional truth. That is something that can never change. Once you believe, you go through the co-crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and seeding with Christ. We are positioned in Christ. We are set apart in Christ.

That is positional sanctification. Conditional is like your walk, your everyday walk. Is conditional sanctification the same for everybody? No, no. Positional is the same for everybody. We are positioned into Christ. But the conditional sanctification is different for every believer.

And it is different because of the conditions, where you are at, what you are doing, all different things, how you are being used. I think if it's the body concept too, their fingers, toes, knees, elbows, we're all different, set apart for different purposes, different parts of the body. We're not all Charlie Browns, we're not all the same, we're all used differently, we're different parts of the body.

So that's where we look at the conditional sanctification. So when we looked at the indwelling and communion with the Holy Spirit, we then looked at the indwelling and communion. We first looked at sanctification. And now we're looking at the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So, what does anointing mean? Specifically chosen. Others? Didn't we say it was Messiah or Christ? That was the word that was used. I actually looked at that and we'll get into that a little bit.

Actually the Greek word that I had was chrisma was the word that when I looked at it for the anointing and from 2 Corinthians 1.21 the Greek word was chrisma. What definition of anointing is? Isn't that set apart too? Very similar. Very similar. That's why I kind of want to go through this as we went through the lesson, the sanctification, that's why I went back to the sanctification, because I think it's very similar to sanctification.

So other thoughts on anointing before I give my, which Mike's already blessed, my Zodiales, the end-all of end-all for definition? One of the themes, at least from an Old Testament standpoint, was that it was a an identification of someone taking on a position, taking on a role. And so it didn't, it wasn't just like you anoint everybody, you know, hey, it's Monday, anointing day, you know, there was a specific purpose that went with the anointing. Correct. So anointing to a position, you're anointed as the high priest, you're anointed as whatever, a positional one.

The Greek word for anoint is chrysma, and Zodiaty defines it as of Christians as anointed or consecrated, set apart, very similar, to the service or ministry of Christ and his gospel by the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, from Webster's, I went to Webster's to look at what the definitions of anointing are, and one was to apply oil, especially as a sacred rite. Whiteout gets into a little bit about that, and how the differentiating between anointing, anointing with oil, versus our anointing, and what the differences are. So Webster actually had that, the first one was to apply oil, especially as a sacred rite. The second one was consecrate. So what does consecrate mean? Devote yourself to something. Wow.

Good, you and Webster are almost right on the money. Well they anointed things in the tabernacle and the altars and all that didn't they? And that was because they were for a special purpose. For a special purpose and that again from Webster's and this is just from Webster's.

To declare or make sacred or to devote solemnly to a purpose. And I like that definition of it. So, I put, therefore to be sanctified and anointed by the Holy Spirit is to be set apart solemnly for a purpose and declared or made sacred. I think that was from an anointing.

Any problems with that? You have a concerned look. No, that's okay. I think that's fine. You know, I just wanted to try to get between sanctified, because when I went back, the very thing, what was the difference between anointing and sanctification? And they're very, very similar. It's a set apart of being positioned or set apart for a purpose. And sanctification is set apart. So, yeah.

I also was wondering if that anointing with oil is like representation of the Holy Spirit, we being anointed with the Holy Spirit. Yeah, there were a lot of different things with that. I think in James, there's one where the elders come and for a sick person they anoint with oil. There were a bunch of different things on the anointing of oil and service. And it was anointing for service. The oil was to anoint them, basically representing and anointing and setting them apart for service. So the anointing with oil is a little bit different. And Wright brings a little bit of that out in his documentation.

I was just curious, on the anointing, was that more for those observing or was it more for the person receiving? I'd say it's both. Because it was a public proclamation. which was saying that you were going to be the high priest, the anointing, or you were going to be. So that let the people know, but it was also for that person too. The anointing of oil too, I think it was kind of a gesture of you are the person. And so that gave somewhat not credence or power to that person, not power, I don't want to say that, it just gave an indication that that was what he was supposed to do, he or she was supposed to do.

So I would say it's for both. It's kind of like baptism, I think. I almost equate that to, look, baptism. Baptism, there is nothing, I mean, all that is is a public proclamation of what's transpired inside of you. So I think that's for the person to proclaim to people, this is what's happened inside me, but that's also for everybody else to see what's transpired in you. So I think that anointing is somewhat similar.

Right out makes a point that the oil is the issue for power. He says, I don't read what he says. Here we have, he talks about Acts 10, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. And we went around doing good, etc. He says, it may not the horn of oil and the anointing of David have suggested the power. And I do know that in the Acts of the elders going out and anointing people with oil, When you study that out, what's interesting is it turns out to be a method of healing. They would go give people massages with oil because they were a healing method that they used in those days and there was a power involved in that.

And that's why I didn't want to get as much into the anointing of the oil because there are so many different facets of that. I mean from the Old Testament to the New Testament with James. I know that aspect I briefly touched about the James that we'd be calling the elders for massages with oil. That would not be what we want to do here. So, I basically want to just, as an end before we get back into question 8, I said, therefore to be sanctified and anointed by the Holy Spirit is to be set apart solemnly for a purpose and declared or made sacred.

My question is, do you understand that of you? Do you realize that of you? Do you think that for yourself? I mean, these things, if we get into the 34 things and the 200 and whatever, If you just start meditating a little bit about these things, just one or two of these things, it changes your walk, your life. Because if you realize you are set apart for a solemn purpose, you are set apart positionally in Christ, you're sanctified, you're anointed. Do you understand that of yourselves? Do you really think when you woke up this morning it was a rotten day and Whatever went on, the dog bark woke you up at four in the morning and this and that. Do you think you were set apart and sanctified at that point? You were.

You know, I just want to say I can really tell the difference when I'm with people, you know. I know. I can sense my thinking is entirely different than that. I feel different. I'm not part of what they think and do. Say that again? I'm trying, with people. Well, you know, when they're having fun and drinking and everything, and I happen to be, you know, like a celebration. Oh yeah. I know, I'm just not part of it. Yeah, well, that's kind of when you travel and you find believers. Yeah. Boy, is that just like a breath of fresh air. That's like just a cup of cold water in a hot place.

When you find believers, and a lot of times you just know immediately almost. You don't have to get a, you know, are you a born of good belief? No, you know almost immediately. And the cool part is, like I said, we translate that into the Millennial Kingdom and things like that. They will know us immediately. You're not going to have to, are you a Christian? Are you of belief? No, they will know.

And right now, a lot of times we can see a believer just very quickly, you can identify. And it's like I say, when you travel especially. I mean, coming home to the believers here, this is the good part of the week, really. Out in the world is a lot of, you deal with a lot of different things, but coming here is where it's a breath and a rest. Absolutely.

All right, so I think we are on question eight of Question sheet 11. As near as I could tell on the tape, this is where we were. I went back and for the last 20 minutes we were kind of wandering and I think the last question that I could figure out where we were at was question 8. So, question 8.

Based upon these facts, does a believer need a special gift of discernment? The question before that was, in 1 John 2.20 and 2.21 we are told that we have an anointing and that we don't need what and what do we have and we looked at all those different things. So basically do we need a special gift of discernment to understand these things? No. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. So we don't need special, one of the gifts you have to have is discernment. You don't need to have that, right?

Well we do but we all have it. Okay. It's been taken care of. I think that's a better answer. We have it because it's been taken care of because of who? The Holy Spirit. Yeah, I mean we all have it because of what? We all have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It seems so that in the body there does seem to be It seems to me that the Bible teaches that. That we all have it, yes.

But also it's a special, sometimes people seem to have a special gift. Actually Vern will tell you that the gift of discernment is a gift that has disappeared. But this is I think talking about do we need a special gift of discernment look at scripture or identify these things that we see in the word. And the answer is no, because what? I think Nita had it right. It's been taken care of. We have the Holy Spirit. This is like, what is it, the verse about the carnal man, it's foolishness to him? Why is that? Why is that? He can't know them. Why can't he know them? They're spiritually discerned. Therefore, he can't understand them.

But by contrast, flip, we can. So, that's why when you first read the Bible and you're not a believer, it's like, what is this? But after, I'm amazed how many times, just reading through the scripture, a scripture that I've read a hundred times, a hundred and first times, whoa, this thing's alive. And it changes. And I think that's through spiritual growth, maturity, I needed it that day, those different things. But the Holy Spirit allows me to discern something in His truth. And that's why it's the living word. I love that. It's the living word. It's not like any other book. You can read War and Peace a hundred times, and I doubt you're going to get much out of it the next time. But the Bible is a different thing.

And that's where I think the Holy Spirit takes you through whatever you need at that time or whatever you're going through or that part of your spiritual growth, he reveals things. And that's the discernment. So, let me go back to Jeff. Along what Francis was asking, my thought about that is, and Rideout talks about it, that as a believer, even a very young believer, because you are anointed and established, you can detect error.

That's not the same thing as being a teacher. A teacher is one who is gifted of God to teach the truth and that's beyond just knowing what error is. Knowing what error is as a young believer, you just know I'm not going that way, that doesn't fit. with what I know. I may not even be able to explain it clearly, but it's not of the Lord.

And that's what the anointing of the Spirit is about. Yeah, I think that is, you know, there's a lot of times, well, sometimes you just know, you know, that's the Holy Spirit convicting and convincing. You may not know why, but I just don't know. And that's, I think, the Holy Spirit doing His job. So, let's go on.

For this one, we look at the first John 2, 27 passage. As for you, the anointing which you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and is true, it is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in him. Quite clearly, In that verse, you have no need for anyone to teach you. Now, we're going to get into that in the next question. Some aspects of that that people will run wild with, but we'll address that in the next question. Also, if you look at John 14, 26, I like this one too.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, what will He do? He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. You know, I think again, He will teach you all things. The Helper, the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that's where a lot of times, you know, I've told you a lot of times I'm just horrible at memorizing verses. But there are times where just all of a sudden at the right moment, right time, talk to a person and the verse comes up. I always think about this one, He'll bring to remembrance all that I said to you.

You know, I think, these were to the apostles, I think, the remembrance, I think, but this is, he will teach you all things. So do we need a special discernment? No. It's been taken care of. We can look also at John 16, 13 through 15. This is another one.

But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you." So, again, he will guide you in the truth. He will take from the Father and give to us. All these things.

With these verses, does a believer need a special gift of discernment? The answer is, no. The other is, and this is what Mike can bring out a little bit, is there an age limit or number of years being a believer required for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you? No. Now, whether you're 85 years in the Lord or five minutes in the Lord, the Holy Spirit's job is to teach you. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking, when a person comes to Christ, salvation is by grace through faith that's not of yourself.

That's the first time that any human being experiences or understands what grace really is. And therein lies the anointing. Because any other system that you're confronted with, Rideout uses spiritism and some other things, but you could use memorization, you could use legalism, you could use methodology. All of that is to be rejected primarily because it's not of grace. And the first time you experience grace, you may not be able to explain it, but you know what isn't grace. You know the other thing, and that's why if you've been in our Identification or Grace class, this one fits so perfectly with it, is when you understand grace, that there's nothing you can do, nothing you can do, it's all provided, unlimited blessings from Him, and it's all unmerited. How does that happen? Well, if you have the Holy Spirit doing all these things, it's perfectly gracious. I go back to what Anita said. It's taken care of. It's taken care of.

We don't have to be spiritual giants. You don't have to be one who memorizes every scripture. The Holy Spirit is the one who is doing the work. And when we get into prayer, the next one is really cool. I really like that. what our position is in prayer and what the position of the Holy Spirit is in prayer. It frees you so much to understand that it's the Holy Spirit's job, not yours. I mean, you have to be receptive and willing and the more you fight it, the more you lose in the fellowship with the Lord. But it's the Holy Spirit.

And that fits so perfectly with grace. It's Him providing everything again. I think whatever your thing is about, was it Chafer or whoever said, you know, he gave us things that's impossible. He gave us a life to live that's totally impossible to live, but he expects us to do it.

Yeah, I mean, what? Huh? Huh? Well, yeah, we have the Holy Spirit to do it all. It's not our responsibility. I mean, it's not our work. It's his work. So, again, the peace, the rest, living in the grace, it's wonderful. All right, we'll zoom on. Question nine. Does this mean we don't need biblical teaching anymore? After that question, he will guide you in all truth. You will have no need for anyone to teach you in 1 John 2, 27. So, do we need any more biblical teachings?

Yes? No? No? Yes? Yes. But as I said, we don't need any more teaching. I mean, we can always learn more teaching. When you're 85, you can learn more teaching. So, yeses? We still need teaching? Yes. Okay. We can look at a couple of verses that will give that as we do need teachers. Look at Ephesians 4, 11. through 13 and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we attain the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." So, if he's given us teachers, we obviously need teaching. You know, I think about it as constant nourishment, like your body needs food, your soul needs nourishment too.

I like this one in particular, for the equipping the saints for the work of service, to the building of the body of Christ. It's for equipping, that's what the body is for, the church, the local church body is for, is edifying and equipping the saints.

I like this one too, and this one I think, this is for a lot of people who, we just recently had this with some friends, They don't need to meet at a church. You don't need to go to church. You don't need to go to church. We can just stay at home and go Sundays. We're busy on Sundays, but we don't need that.

I thought, well, it doesn't specifically say, but this is what I always used as the early church when it was started. This is right at the day of Pentecost, right after Pentecost. So this is right when the church started, and it's Acts 2.42. And I always use this one, when you say what the body is supposed to be doing, should we have Sunday school and a main teaching service? And should it go from 9 o'clock? Could we do it on Saturday night?

And everybody gets bent out of shape on all these formalities of what we do. But look in the scripture and there's not a lot that says how we're to meet. This is based on the elders and what they've chosen for us. authorities that God has granted to us, the elders and how we meet. But there isn't a whole lot called out.

But in Acts 2.42, this is at Pentecost, after thousands were brought in as believers, Acts 2.42, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Those were the four things that the early church was doing. Right at Pentecost, right at the initial start of the church body, it was those four things. I think that's a pretty good model. Those aren't bad. Name one of those that isn't really something good that we shouldn't be doing. Teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.

Hebrews 10.25, for not forsaking the assembling ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching. These are all ones that we should, in the fellowship, come together for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the body. The teaching is for that. That's why we come. I had to throw this one in.

Let not many of you, and this is James 3.1, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. Why am I up here? Why is Mike up here? Why is Bert up here? I take that and I use that as a very humbling thing. Let not many of you become teachers, my friend, knowing that such will incur a stricter judgment.

Teachers have a responsibility to accurately give the word out. And if you're not, basically says you'll incur a stricter judgment. Anyway, that one we try to push off as fast as we can. So look at these verses, how can you answer the question, does this mean we don't need any biblical teaching anymore? You have to say that we have to have, we're supposed to still have teaching. We have teachers, we have the body, we have all these different things.

So you can't say that because we have the Holy Spirit I can just sit home in my closet and meditate. I mean, you can, I guess, but the Word calls out these different things where we have teachers to equip the saints and to build up the body. Question 10. Christ was anointed for what purpose? Did you guys will? To set the captives free. To set the captives free.

He was both priest and king. Priest and king. You know, when you really get into that, if you look into Hebrews, it's kind of a fascinating one. If you look into Melchizedek, we get this weird guy Melchizedek and what that means. And he was a king and a priest.

He's after the Order and Hebrews goes into quite a bit of Melchizedek and how Christ is better than the Order of Melchizedek. He's better than Levi. He's according to the order of Melchizedek. He's better because he didn't have to be a Levitical and all those limitations. Melchizedek was not a Levite. You can get into all that and look in Hebrews and there's a whole huge amount on that.

So I looked at Acts 10.38.

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. So, we know from this verse that he was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. Okay, so Christ was anointed with power. For Christ, and this was I think at a write-up, for Christ it was his official designation for the place to which God had appointed him, priest and king, and his qualification and power for the place.

And then you can also look at 1 Timothy 1, 16 and 17. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, and the only God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

So, these are different things where He is the King Eternal. If you look at Revelation 17, 14, these will wage war against the Lamb. And the Lamb will overcome them because He is what? Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful.

Again, so he's king, and then if you look at Hebrews 9.11-12 about the high priest. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of discreation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having attained eternal redemption. So again, verses King and Priest. And that fits with, again if you look in the Hebrews section about how the representation and identification with the Melchizedek priesthood.

Could you tell me, you go so fast actually, I didn't have a chance to write it down. 1 Timothy 1 and then what's the verses? 1 Timothy 1, 16 and 17. And then there's Revelation 17, 14. Yeah, I got that. And then Hebrews 9, 11, and 12. Okay, thank you. Alright, question 11.

The believer is anointed for what purpose? We're just anointed. For what purpose? He was definitely set apart from the world as he belongs to God for his God's service in this world. Okay. Others? Thoughts? To receive the gift that Christ gave us. Good. Others? The service to which he's called us. set apart for the service? I just said to separate us from evil and those things which do not glorify Christ. Good.

I looked at 2 Corinthians 1, 21-22, passage Paul speaking, Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who has sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. Again, he's the one, he establishes us in Christ and anointing, that is by God. He has anointed us with the Holy Spirit and he sealed us with the Holy Spirit. So, from right out, he had a pretty good portion on this, on the anointed, or what the believer is anointed for. says turning out of the saint, we have first a general statement that he is anointed, and the verse I just read now, he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God.

This is not an apostolic anointing, but as the term with you shows, common to all saints. As in the next verse, we have nothing definite here save the significant expression, establish us with you in Christ. The connection is suggestive, all in Christ are anointed, officially designated as His. So basically, we are anointed, placed into Him, again back to the identification, we are placed into Him, set apart in Him, the position of sanctification or anointing. And then the conditional part, we're to be his ambassadors, we're to be his representatives, we're to be conformed to his image, all those different things, I think are why we're anointed.

You know, going through this thought process, there's so many believers you run into in your life who, in essence, go back into the world. It goes so against what they already are. You have to fight to go back in the world once you're a believer, because that's not what you've been called or anointed to. Now you may be ignorant of what the anointing really is, but if you've been set apart for God's purposes and to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit, to live inconsistent with that takes some effort.

I think so. You know, people who do it. And I give this peace and solace to others. One of Henry's uncles did this. He basically was on fire for the Lord when he was younger. He was out, fired up for the Lord, sharing his faith and everything. Well, something happened and God ran with the wrong people for years. 40 years went south. He's a believer, we know he's a believer, but it just went south. Well, 40 years later, he returns and is used mightily by the Lord in an area that only he can do because of what the Lord took him through for 40 years.

And I go, you know, Lord, I don't understand this, but obviously you do. Because he never had this ministry that he has right now, had he not been through the 40 years of what he did. And I go, you know, I work on different time frames than you, Lord. I want it now, not 40 years.

And so, you know, people who have kids that have gone south or different things, you know, I just pray that the Lord's doing it for a purpose. Well, he is. I mean, he's allowed it. And at some point, he's prepping them for a purpose and a reason for his uses. It doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes they just stay south for the whole time. But, you know, I think we work on timeframes that are not consistent with the Lord's a lot of times.

I want it now. Well, it took 40 years. Or people who have done it and struggled and then 40 years later, it makes sense now. Or they're 85 years old on their deathbed, fought it their whole life, and yet realize when the finish line is close, maybe I need to figure this out. And the Lord used that. I don't understand it. Anyway, question 12, the Holy Oil is upon us. What does that mean? I guess if you look through, he quotes a bunch of different things.

There are Old and New Testament translations and anoints. He goes through Psalms. Thou anointest my head with oil, Psalm 23, 5. 2 Chronicles 28, 15, where the captives of Judah are re-clothed, fed, and anointed. and then return to Jericho to the brethren.

Ezekiel 16.3, where God's adorning of Israel is spoken of.

Isaiah 9.3, where the oil of joy is given instead of mourning, reminding us that the oil which maketh man's face to shine. He goes through a whole bunch of these things.

I really don't want to get into a whole lot of, I mean there's so many different permutations of this oil as we talked about. that if you want look at that and if you want we can look at different things on the anointing of oil. I just go back to remember the definition of anointing in the Greek. Christians as anointed or consecrated set apart for the service of the ministry of Christ his gospel by the gift of the Holy Spirit. I think the major point is that any anointing by the Holy Spirit or by oil is a way in which we are identified with Christ that we are in him not of the world set apart for his purposes. We're not our own. We're Christ. We're in Christ. Why don't we, so we can do this, we can get started on question set 12.

Can I make one comment on the anointing with oil? The reason I put that question in there. was so that we would understand that oil is the symbol of power and that the work of the Holy Spirit, just as the story you just described with 40 years, because somebody turned wet for 40 years didn't diminish the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. that he's always working no matter what you do. And it never stops. He never stops.

If you're truly a believer and you go away, the only thing you're losing is fellowship and bring all the consequences of your actions. You're still identified in Christ. All those positional truths are still true about you. Even if you're living in a pig swallow, running away from the Lord and drinking and browsing and doing whatever, you're losing out. And you don't have that peace. You don't have any of the things that you have as a relationship or as a fellowship with Christ. The world cannot satisfy you. There's one song I think, you have a God-shaped hole in you when you're born. And I think that's true. You can try and fill it with all the garbage you want, but only God can fill that hole. Yeah, I like that.

I was reading something too, like back in that time, oil was kind of rare too, I mean now it's like oil is everywhere you know, so it maybe loses a little bit of its... Yeah, the costly nature of rice. Plus, like the anointing with oil, with Mary and the anointing of the oil, and Judas, we could have money, No. Yeah. We don't we don't understand the significance of it as much as we possibly get started on on questions.

Twelve questions. Twelve. I'd like to start with what I think is a model from the church as established by the early church. This is that verse, Acts 2.41. So when those who had received the word were baptized, that day were added about 3,000 souls. This is on Pentecost. They will continue to devote themselves to the apostle teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking bread, and prayer. This lesson we're talking about with the Holy Spirit on 12 is on prayer.

I think this is really cool. When you really think about this, this will give you a lot of rest, peace and understanding. So let me start with that. What is prayer or your definition of prayer? What is that? What is prayer? Talk to God. Fellowship. Listening to God. Others? Communication. Communication, good. This kind of hit me the other day, this sequence that said we pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yep, and that's a great one of the verses.

You know when you think about that, we pray to the Father in the name of the Son. So we'll get into that question, should we be praying to the Holy Spirit? We don't. But I think that's really important. We're talking to the Father, what, in the name of the Son. So we're praying to the Father in the name of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. I think that's a very important verse when we think about prayer.

Well, is that because Christ intercedes? We'll get into a little bit of that. It's really making our requests known to God. We're placed where? Into Christ. So we're asking in the name of Christ to the Father. I think is the way positionally it is. So we're in Christ. We're making a request to God, the Father. Okay. Other question. Is it audible or silent? Either. Is it by yourself or with a group? Neither. Just laying out the groundwork. Don't shoot the messenger.

These are just things that we talked about prayer. We've heard a lot of different things. What is the purpose of prayer? Why do we pray? We give prayer for praise, but maybe also we need to discuss things with God. that we need help, or we give thanks, or we give them glory.

It just keeps coming. Think about that for next week. We'll start with that question real quick. Answering a question with a question. I think I think where this is going, I think it's pretty amazing that as a culture, we we tend to prayer as a means opportunity. Oh, I have a need. I better pray rather than what the scripture really outlines. And I'm excited to see where this goes. Well, I just want you to cogitate on that for next week because I'll ask the same question at the beginning of next week.

Why do we pray? What is the purpose of prayer? Why do you pray? So think about that for next week and we'll start that out so you have a whole week to think about it. Alright, why don't we close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time of studying the Word. We thank you for just looking at what the Holy Spirit's purpose is for us, His power, His work, all the attributes of the Holy Spirit. We thank you again just for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As we've looked into the anointing that set apart the purposes that we have designated for us through the Holy Spirit, now as we look into prayer, that's an exciting aspect because that's our communication with you and what that means and Father, just what the Holy Spirit means as we pray.

So Father, we just thank you again for all that you provided to us. You're an awesome God. You're one who provides all things to us. And Father, we just rest in the fact that we can't be separated from your love. Above all, if we just realize that no matter what happens, the highs, the lows, no matter what happens, we realize that whatever our circumstances are, you love us and your purposes are to draw us into just a deeper fellowship with you and that relationship with you. Father, we just pray for Mike as he gives a message upstairs. Just prepare our hearts to receive it. Father, we just thank you for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.