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Weekly Scripture Studies

Life by the Spirit

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Life by the Spirit

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."      Galatians 5:25

A genuine believer stands before God approved and acceptable. He is embraced and loved by God, looked after and cared for by God. For the believer has been given God’s nature; he walks through life bearing God’s nature. Therefore, the believer is not to cave in to the desires of sinful nature; he is to walk bearing the fruit of God’s nature, that is, the fruit of God’s Spirit.

The believer is to walk consistently with his position in Christ. To be in Christ is to be in God’s Spirit. When the believer trusts Jesus Christ as his Savior, God places His Spirit in the heart of the believer. The Spirit is placed there to guide and direct the believer day by day. Therefore, the believer is to live by the Spirit; he is to live just as the Spirit of God directs. This is the point of this verse. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. The Spirit gives us life, the life of God; therefore, let us walk and live out the life He gives us.

Study Questions:

  • Is it a burdening thought to know that you bear God’s nature? Is it a freeing thought?
  • How do you allow God’s Spirit to direct you day by day?
  • What does it look like for you to let go of your sinful nature and to walk and live out the life God has given you?
  • God’s grace abounds whenever you fall prey to your sinful nature, but pray daily that the Spirit of God would free you from feelings of burden and sanctify your thoughts and actions. Pray that you would bear the fruit of God’s Spirit even in the most difficult of times!

Download a free PDF of this section of Galatians from The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible® and continue your study.

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The Offensive Truth

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The Offensive Truth

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."        John 6:63

People are often offended by Christ. And one of the particular offenses is the teaching that the Spirit quickens or gives life and that the flesh counts for nothing. But the truth is that flesh cannot quicken and make a person alive. The flesh can neither profit nor count for a person. People do not like to accept or think about the zero value of the flesh. They do everything they can to keep its youth, attractiveness, and stamina. But before too long, the flesh proves unprofitable; it ages, deteriorates, and surrenders to the process of decay. When a person dies, his flesh is gone forever.

Such a thought—despite its truthfulness—offends people. They love the world and the flesh, its pleasures and feelings. But the truth of the matter is this—only the Spirit can quicken a man and make him alive, giving him abundant and eternal life. How? By receiving the Word of Christ. The words that Christ spoke were Spirit and life. When a person receives the words of Christ into their heart and life, they begin to live. What sounds better to you? Living according to the flesh, that ultimately deteriorates and dies—or living according to the Spirit that Christ has given the believer that ultimately leads to eternal life in Christ.

Study Questions:

  • Are you offended by this particular truth in Scripture? If yes, why?
  • When is it the easiest to live into your flesh and not the Spirit?
  • Do you feel more alive now that you have the Spirit dwelling inside of you? If your answer is no, what are some ways you can change that?
  • Today you are being quickened and made alive by the Spirit. Meditate on that truth, and come up with ways in which you can be reminded of this truth daily.

Download the free PDF of this section from John in The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible and continue your study.

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The Coming of the Holy Spirit

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The Coming of the Holy Spirit

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine."  Acts 2:1-13

The Day of Pentecost was one of the most phenomenal and important events in all of history, and one of the major reasons for that is because it was “the coming of the Holy Spirit.” The disciples had been deliberately prepared for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Bible the revelation of the Spirit had been progressive (Joel 2:28-29, Luke 3:16, Acts 4:8, etc.).

Ultimately one asks the question, what does all of this mean? First, when a man grasps the gospel and believes, really believes, the Holy Spirit enters his life. He comes upon, falls upon, pours, fills, baptizes (immerses) Himself into the life of the believer. This is a personal experience. This act of the Spirit takes place in the life of the believer. The believer experiences the Spirit coming into his life. The believer receives the Spirit experientially. Second, when a man grasps the gospel and believes, really believes the Holy Spirit takes him and baptizes or immerses, and places him into the body of Christ, which is God’s Church. The believer does not feel or experience this act. It is an act of God that takes place in heaven. The believer is counted as a child of God. He is counted as a member of the body, of the church. The believer is adopted as a child of God. It is an eternal position, an eternal sonship. Thirdly, after a man is saved, he is to be filled and to keep on being “filled with the Spirit”—day by day (Eph. 5:18).

Study Questions:

  1. How does the story of the Pentecost make you feel? Do you have a hard time with it? Why or why not?
  2. Does the Holy Spirit bring you comfort? Or is it something you have a difficult time grasping?
  3. Reflect on a time in your life when you felt like you were being “filled with the Spirit.”
  4. Do you think it is important to be a part of the body of Christ? What does that look like for you?
  5. Do you believe that you have been adopted as a child of God? What does that mean for you personally?

Download a free PDF of this section in Acts from The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible® and continue your study.

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Worship In Spirit

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Worship In Spirit

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."           John 4:24

Man is to worship God in Spirit. This verse is key to human distinction. There is a sense in which man is a paradox. He was created with all dignity and honor possible. Yet, he was also created out of the most base and lowly stuff of all—dirt (Gen. 2:7). But note: man is not only body and soul; he is also spirit. This is man’s distinctive difference from all other creatures. God breathes His own breath or spirit into the nostrils of man. God made no other creature like this. Man is a spirit, an immortal being made both for this earth and for eternity. God’s image in man is the spirit or the drive and ability to worship. Man has not only the soulish ability to reason and to relate, but an unquenchable spiritual drive and ability to reason after God and to relate to God due to the His Spirit dwelling inside of us.

Spirit is the innermost part of being, the very core and heart of life. Spirit is the very breath of God’s life, the very breath of God’s existence, the very being of God’s life. That is, spirit is eternal existence and being. God is Spirit, meaning he is the very embodiment of life eternal and He has created man as spirit; therefore, man is to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Study Questions:

  1. Is the truth that God is Spirit hard for you to grasp?
  2. How do you feel like your life is different having the Spirit of God dwelling inside of you?
  3. Without the Spirit inside of us, we would not be driven to worship God. We would not know God. Take some time this week to worship your Maker and reflect on the truth that he has breathed life into your body and soul.

More Scripture: Genesis 2:7, John 17:3, Psalm 95:6, Genesis 1:26-27

Download a free PDF of  this section of John from The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible® and continue your study.

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The Power of the Holy Spirit

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The Power of the Holy Spirit

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."                                                         

Romans 8:1-17

This is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture. Its subject cannot be overemphasized: the power of God’s Spirit in the life of the believer. If the believer needs anything, he needs the power of God’s Spirit.

The Spirit gives life by doing what the law could not do. The law could not make man righteous because man’s flesh is too weak to keep the law. All flesh has miserably failed and comes far short of God’s glory and law. But what the law could not do, the Spirit is able to do. The Spirit provides righteousness and life. The Spirit of life frees the believer from both sin and death.

The Holy Spirit frees the believer to live as Christ lived. The active energy of life, the dynamic force and being of life—all that is in Christ Jesus—is given to the believer. The believer actually lives in Christ. And the spirit of life which is in Christ frees the believer from the fate (law) of sin and death. This simply means that the believer lives in a consciousness of being free. He breathes and senses a depth of life, richness, a fullness of life that is indescribable. He lives with power—power over the pressure and strain, impediments and bondages of life—even the bondages of sin and death. He lives now and shall live forever.

The man who lives according to the “Spirit of life” which is in Christ Jesus is given the Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit fulfills and credits him with the righteousness of the law, with the right to live eternally.

Study Questions:

  • Do you recognize the power of the Holy Spirit?
  • Do you recognize your need for the Spirit?
  • You are free from sin and death! Do you feel that sense of freedom that that only living in Christ brings?
  • Pray right now that you would have a deeper awareness of the Spirit that dwells inside of you. Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower you to live into your freedom and acknowledge that you have been saved from the wrath of sin!

Other verses: 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:22-23, Psalms 16:11

Download a free PDF of this section of Romans from The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible® and continue your study.

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Remaining In Christ’s Perfect Love

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Remaining In Christ's Perfect Love

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."              John 15:9-11

Christ has one great charge for believers—to continue or to remain in His love. Jesus said that it is up to the believer to continue in His love. How? By doing what any person does when he wants someone to love him. The person draws near to the person he loves: he does good and tries to please the person. So it is with the believer. The believer continues in the love of Christ by drawing near and doing good and seeking to please Him—very simply by obeying His commandments.

Christ always loves; His love is always there. But it is up to man to walk in that love. A man can never know and experience the Lord’s love unless he walks in it.

Abiding or remaining in the love of Christ has a standard, a supreme example: it is Christ Himself. He was perfectly obedient to God; therefore, He continued in the Father’s love. We are to look at His obedience as our prime example.

Study Questions:

  1. Is drawing near to God something you do regularly? Is that difficult for you? If yes, why do you think that is?
  2. Is it hard for you to believe that Christ’s love is always there?
  3. There may be times when you feel like you fail at walking in His love, know that you are not alone. And know that God is full of grace. Meditate on this scripture. Let Christ’s never failing love for you stir up affections in your heart. And then ask yourself how you can better walk in God’s love.

Other verses: John 14:21, Colossians 2:6, 1 John 2:6

Download a free PDF of this section of The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible® and continue your study.

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