March 18, 2018
Scripture:
Hymn 330 – A message came from Heaven
Prayer
We have been learning about the day of Pentecost, where— ten days after Jesus ascended back to Heaven—the disciples received the Holy Spirit. They heard a mighty wind, and cloven tongues of fire sat upon each one in the room. The room was filled with the wind, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke with tongues. This is one of the Bible’s super-important events; just like Jesus dying on the cross. We can have the Holy Spirit living inside us because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.
Our God is made up of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We, as humans, are made up of three parts: a body, a soul, and a spirit. Animals just have a body and a soul; they can’t get saved, only humans can. We are the only creature that can be “plugged in” to God. The Holy Spirit coming was a big deal because He made it possible for God to communicate with us like never before.
1 Corinthians 2:9-14. To know something, we usually must hear or see it. These verses talk about something special, though, something that God has prepared for those who love Him. The Holy Spirit knows all that God the Father and Jesus know, and we can get plugged into that by getting saved.
We don’t know what other people are thinking unless they tell us. It’s the same with God, but God has chosen to tell us some of His thoughts in Bible. The Holy Spirit knows them, and since we receive Him when we get saved, He can help us understand what God has told us in the Bible. It takes a special understanding to understand the Bible. Those who are unsaved are not plugged into God, and therefore can’t properly understand it. We need to be plugged into God’s circuit, which started at Pentecost.
A young lady had a book in her library that she had tried to read several times, but found it boring and had never finished it. One day, she met a delightful fellow who had the same name as the author of her book. She mentioned this to him, and found that he had actually written it! When she went home, she found the book very interesting, because she now knew the author, and found him delightful. It’s the same with reading the Bible. Many try to read it, but you can’t read it properly without being saved. You must meet the Author! That’s why we read and love the Bible. Because of Pentecost, we now receive the Holy Spirit as soon as we get saved. He works with our spirit to help us understand the Bible. If we let Him work, and don’t quench Him, this will continue.
Acts 2:4-5. Having the Holy Spirit living in us changes our behaviour, but something extra special happened at Pentecost: the disciples began to speak in other languages. At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, symbolizing Jesus’ holiness and purity. It was the same Spirit, but here in Acts He appeared as tongues of fire because the disciples were going to be a testimony for Jesus. It appeared as a forked tongue (split into two at the end, like a snake’s), we believe, because the gospel was open to both Jew and Gentile. Next time we’ll see what happened with the Jews in Jerusalem!
James 5:11 - 20
In this chapter, James speaks first to the rich, and then to the poor. In v. 11, he speaks of patience. He reminds us of the patience of Job. Job had to learn a lesson in self-righteousness, but he was remarkably patient: he went through so many hardships, and yet did not curse God. Patience is the result of trusting God to be over everything.
Verse 12: The way this verse begins shows the seriousness of this matter. James is speaking here not only about honesty, but also about being known for speaking the truth. It was a common practice in those days to swear to do something and swear by a particular object. However, if you swore by something insignificant, it wasn’t considered binding. James tells us to, plainly, do what we say we will.
Verse 13: James speaks several times in this book about the importance of prayer; here we see that once again.
Verses 14 - 15: We don’t see this done very often today. Mr. Darby wrote about seeing this done twice, both times with the result of “bodily blessing.” Other writers encourage discernment when using this; it requires much wisdom (compare I John 5:16).
Hymn 290 - Praise the Saviour, ye who know him
Prayer