GPBC Blog

Hello Greater Portland family!

Early this summer I had the privilege of taking two theology classes for work and I learned so much from them! So when I was asked if I could encourage our church family, I decided to share a bit from a paper I wrote about the role of the Holy Spirit specifically from the book of Galatians as well as some practical lessons for myself and the church today. Here is a little excerpt:

I often wonder why many believers do not know/understand the person and work of the Spirit and it makes me think about my why. It wasn’t that I actively chose not to learn about the Holy Spirit but rather that I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. Being connected to the body of Christ and being challenged to grow is a major reason for my understanding of the Spirit now. This reminds me of what the Scriptures say in Romans 10;

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

I know this verse speaks of the good news of Jesus but I think it is also true for the believer who doesn’t know about the Spirit. How can they know if no one is teaching them? How can they know if we leave some of this knowledge only for those who go to seminary to learn? How can they know if our churches aren’t being intentional in teaching? How can they know if those who know aren’t sharing it and living it out? We need more Pauls challenging more Timothys to, “...now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others." In speaking of trustworthy people, the Galatians were being misled by untrustworthy people in the church who appeared to be trustworthy. This brings out the point that finding and recognizing trustworthy people is important. Good leadership/teaching in the church is necessary for the growth of the body but the authority of church leadership does not supersede that of the Spirit. I imagine how confused the Galatian believers might have been having been saved through the preaching of Paul, a Jewish Christian and then having these other Jewish Christians telling them something different and not knowing what to do. They did not have access to the written word and as young believers, they would not have developed a good understanding of the Spirit’s power to combat the false teaching they were receiving.

We, however, do not have that excuse. We have the written Word, we have books and we have the examples of many believers. Although it is the church’s responsibility to make sure that teachers in the church adhere to sound doctrine, it is also the believers responsibility to study the scriptures and discern between sound and false teaching. We also have the Holy Spirit whose job is to do that if we will only learn to listen and trust his voice.

Someone asked me what I want to see God do in my life this summer: I want to practically rely on the Holy Spirit and give him his rightful place in my life. I want to listen and obey. I want that to flow into ministry, to walk in the Spirit so that the students who see my life, will seek to imitate me as I seek to imitate Christ. I will share what I have learned about the Spirit and encourage them also to do the work of understanding the Holy Spirit. My prayer is that more believers will truly keep in step with the Spirit, imitating Christ in theology (our study of God) and ethics (how we live our lives) so that the world will be won for Christ.

Rebecca