More on the Holy Spirit!

We had a great class this past week, lots of interaction and discussion on the Holy Spirit, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues.

We just barely scratched the surface of the Holy Spirit, but I like to think that we gave you a good introduction to who the Holy Spirit is, and what His purpose is.  I really enjoyed our conversation on how awesome God is in his design of what must be the most complex language ever, which is the heavenly language we sometimes hear during a message in tongues and interpretation in the church, and also in our private prayer language. One of the things we talked about is how complex our own English language is. Words like to, too, and two & for, four, and fore all sound the same but have so many different meanings. Imagine how many different meanings God could have for 1 word in His language? It is beyond our comprehension, God is so AWESOME!

This Wednesday, Brother Black will be teaching us on the Gifts of the Spirit which is going to be a GREAT class!

One of the things we talked about last week that I wanted to reiterate on the Blog was that in all things we should remember to "Test the spirits..." as 1 John 4:1-3 teaches us,
"¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." Click HERE to visit the verse.

The reason for testing every spirit (a person moved or inspired by a spirit) is that "many false prophets" will enter the church. This will be especially true as tolerance for error and unbiblical teaching increases toward the end of the age. Christians are commanded to test all professed Christian teachers, writers, preachers, and prophets, and in fact any individual who claims his or her work or message comes from the Holy Spirit. Believers may never assume that a ministry or spiritual experience is from God merely because one claims it is. Furthermore, no teaching or doctrine may be accepted as true solely on the basis of success, miracles or apparent anointing. All teaching must be tested against the revelation of God's truth in scripture. The spirit of the teaching must be tested as well as its content. Does the teaching bear the same kind of spirit and emphasis as Jesus and the NT apostolic teaching? Beware of any teaching that person claims to have received from the Holy Spirit or an angel that cannot be supported by scripture. Teachers' lives must be tested as to their relation to the spirit of this age or ungodly works and to the lordship of Christ.

This testing of the Spirits is close to my heart, if we can learn to test and discern the spirits, we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from erroneous and misguided, and in some cases demonic teachings!

You can click HERE for the notes on the 9 Part Test for the Genuine Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I wanted to reaffirm the importance of these parts of our class from Wednesday for you guys and gals. Also be thinking and feel free to post some questions you would like for us to discuss and teach on during one of the next couple of weeks. I'm really excited for our final class in week #7 which will be on witnessing and sharing your faith! Make sure you comment, post your yard sign in our Facebook group, and of course BRING A FRIEND! Hope to see you at church Wednesday!

Please post some comments on what you thought about last week's class and what you are looking forward to this week!

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Share with your friends and coworkers, bring some visitors!

Click HERE to comment!

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What is the "Baptism in the Holy Spirit?"

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is our topic for this week. For those of you who missed this past week, our topic was "Communion." Click HERE to view the notes from the class! I'm really hoping that we have a good turnout this week, all three teachers are going to be teaching on this topic, but we are also looking forward to lots of interaction. The Holy Spirit is a great topic for discussion.

Here are a few of the things we are going to be talking about:

1. Is Speaking in tongues a "phenomenon" that belonged only in the apostolic (time of the Apostles) period?

2. Is there a danger that people will seek for tongues rather than the actual baptism in the Holy Spirit?

3. If people speak in tongues, will there not be temptation to have spiritual pride?

4.What about truly born-again people who have accomplished great things for the Lord but do not speak in tongues?


5. Do you have to speak in tongues in order to be "Baptized" in the Holy Spirit?

6. If I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, then I backslid, and have now rededicated my life, do I need to get baptized in the Holy Spirit again?


7. How do I know if I'm really speaking in tongues or just babbling things from my mind?


8. What's the difference in speaking in tongues, praying in tongues, message in tongues, and interpretation of a message in tongues?


9. What are gifts of the Spirit? 


10. What is the difference in being filled with the Spirit and Baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Like I said, there is going to be lots of discussion and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Please if you guys have any comments on the topics up above, or questions of your own, please post them in the comments section.

Also remember if you haven't yet, take a picture of your WednesdaysOnPurpose yard sign and either post it in our Facebook group HERE or bring the picture with you to class on Wednesday.

Also make sure that you are active in inviting new people to WednesdaysOnPurpose, send them to our website: www.WednesdaysOnPurpose.com.

We look forward to seeing you all Wednesday night! Click HERE to make a comment!

Blessings,
Ryan

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Week #2 Living4Christ WednesdaysOnPurpose

Hey to everybody attending Living4Christ @ Butterfield Church for WednesdaysOnPurpose!

We had a great class this Wednesday, we had 45 in class, there were 17 new faces, and 17 people who were out sick or unavailable. So that means if all of you guys came next week we will have over 60...which means I better add some more chairs! For those of you who weren't in class this week, we have moved up onto the stage for our class, so don't worry we are still in the Sanctuary we just moved our location!


Click HERE to download the PDF notes from this Wednesday's class on Water Baptism!

Next week Brother Cody is going to be teaching the class on Communion! Chime in with some questions you guys have on Communion so that we can answer them in class! Also here are a few for you to be thinking about:

How often should we have communion?

What happens if I take communion with sin in my heart?

Should we take communion with grape juice or wine?

What did Christ mean when he said that the bread was his flesh and that the juice was his blood?

Are we eating Jesus flesh and drinking his blood today in communion?

What does communion call for on our part?

Guys and gals please feel free to chime in with your own answers to these questions, and ask questions of your own.

Also remember to take a picture of your yard sign in your yard and post it in the Facebook Living4Christ group, which you can get to by clicking HERE!

Also feel free when you comment below to leave comments and questions about the class in general, what you'd like to see more of etc. Thanks and God Bless, see you Wednesday if not sooner!

Click HERE to comment and make sure to leave your name in your comment so we can mark you down for points!

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Water Baptism and much more!

Hey guys and gals! If you haven't been to the WednesdaysOnPurpose site yet, click HERE to go now!
We had such a great class. Cody, Brother Black, and myself are so glad that you joined us. Make sure you take an active part in our church's outreach to this community and invite a friend, co-worker, or family member to come with you to our class this coming Wednesday. Also please make sure you bring your Bibles with you to class next week. Thanks again for taking those signs home with you and for putting them up in your yard, we are really excited to see the results from our community blitz!

I wanted to take this time to get a discussion going in advance of our topic for next week, Water Baptism. Comment on one of the questions below and earn an extra ***1,000 points on your score for Wednesday. When you comment just list the question number that you are commenting on. Looking forward to the discussion.

1. Is it a sin to not get Baptized in water after getting saved, and why?


2. Also, when you get baptized, should you have water sprinkled on you or should you be fully immersed in water?


3. If you were baptized in water when you were younger, and you've strayed from your faith and have now rededicated your life to Christ, should you get baptized in water again?


4. Do I have to be baptized to get into Heaven?


5. How long after getting saved should someone wait before getting baptized in water?

Lets keep the discussion civil, so nobody get upset over another person's comments. Also remember if you comment on this post, you'll get a bonus 1,000 points on your score next week. Also feel free to add any questions of your own that you would like for us to discuss next week. When you comment remember to post which question number you are talking about, and post your name too!

Click HERE to comment....or HERE.....and you could even click HERE too.

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