{{2010_10_27_t1.jpg}} {{2010_10_27_t2.jpg}} {{2010_10_27_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2010_10_27|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_ii|| Topics Collection ii ]] ======The Holy Spirit ...====== Wednesday, Oct 27, 2010. The New Testament speaks many times about the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself talks about the topic in the Gospels. In our weekly topic we read the letter of Ephesians. Here, the apostle Paul also mentions the Holy Spirit. We want to focus on these particular remarks today. What is the role of the spirit? {{2010_10_27.jpg }} **What is the role of the Holy Spirit? ...** 13 You also put your trust in him when you heard the true message about him, the good news that we can be saved from evil. {{ 2010_10_27_2.jpg}} **Once you trusted in Jesus, you were given God’s Spirit as a sign that you belong to Christ.** You were given God's spirit when you trusted in Jesus. This is the statement here which we find in the first Chapter of Ephesians. When we look a little closer, we find several important things here. First, it seems that the act of trusting Jesus is done once for ever. The spirit is given once. The whole framework and way, this sentence is phrased, does not point to the spirit coming many times, or coming again and again when ever you trust Jesus. No, it is a particular time when you put your trust in Jesus, and then the spirit comes and testifies that you belong to Christ. The spirit is a sign that you belong to Christ. Thus, there must be a state where people belong to Christ, and there must be a state where this is not the case. Some put their trust in Jesus. Others do not do this. This makes a big difference! The spirit is given to those who trust in Jesus. The reality of the Holy Spirit ... The Holy Spirit is treated as a strong power in the New Testament. It is God himself, Jesus himself, who comes in and with the spirit to the believers. The Holy Spirit is not just an idea. It is not just the way we do things. It is more: God himself. God's presence. God with us. The Holy Spirit can play an important role in the life of a Christian. According to Ephesians the spirit will in fact play this role, since for everyone who comes to faith in Jesus, the spirit will come to him or her and clarify that he or she belongs to Jesus. The spirit is God's first gift, if you put your trust in Jesus. We can doubt the existence of the Holy Spirit. The bible, however, treats it as a reality. Christians in all ages have experienced this spirit. People of faith have talked and written about it. The church partly lost focus, and renewal movements in the 19th and 20th century tried to bring the biblical texts and experiences with the spirit back into the daily life of the church - with partial success. Anyway, the spirit has been active and is active ever since. [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_ii|... more texts]]