The human race and each of us as individuals are hung out to dry, caught between the flesh and the Spirit, the proverbial rock and a hard place.  We live in the flesh and no matter what we try, we just don’t seem to do what we want to do, but rather what we hate, what we don’t want to do.  Paul lays out this dilemma in chapter 7 and ends with the question that haunts us all; ‘What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?’  His answer is a resounding ‘Thanks be to God - through Christ Jesus our Lord!’

I still remember the first time I read through these verses as a newly reborn believer.  My excitement mounted as Paul spoke exactly what I was struggling with.  I knew that I should no longer sin, but no matter how hard I tried, I still ended up doing what I didn’t want to do.  I knew I was a prisoner of sin and there wasn’t anything that I could do to free myself.  When I read Paul’s answer, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment and anger.  I didn’t want a Lord; I wanted a formula that I could follow to fix the problem.

What chapter 8 reveals is a God who gives Himself to us.  He gave His Son to condemn sin in the flesh and to set us free from the Law of sin and death.  He gives us His Holy Spirit to live within us in the here and now, to enable us to put to death the deeds of the body so that we might live and cry ‘Daddy!’ rather than cower in fear.  And the point of Father giving Himself to us in this way?  So that He will never have to be separated from us again.  As little as that makes sense at times, I do know that being given the Holy Spirit is by far better than any formula to follow.

Questions:

1. What do you see as you read this chapter?  What are the important concepts and ideas that stand out to you as you read?  What are your questions?  Where does Paul appear to make no sense to you?
2. What does it mean that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (v.1)?  What is the law of the Spirit of life and how has it set you free from the law of sin and death?  How did God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering accomplish what the law was powerless to do?
3. What do you think that it means to live according to the sinful nature?  How does this compare with living according to the Spirit?  What is the outcome of each?
4. What is the importance of where we set our minds?  What do you see as the difference between having your mind set on what the sinful nature desires and what the Spirit desires?  How does this mind set impact our faith and behavior?  How might you begin to identify just where your mind is currently set?
5. Does the Spirit of Christ live in you?  What does Paul state are the effects of the Holy Spirit living within you (vv.9-11)?
6. What is the obligation that we are under as a result of this Life within us?  What are the results of living according to and being lead by the Spirit?
7. Do you run to Father crying ‘Daddy!’ in the Spirit of being a son or do you turn away from Him in a spirit of fear?
8. What is your reaction to trials and/or suffering?  What is the long-term view of suffering that Paul expresses in vv.18-27?
9. What is the glory that is to be revealed within us?  Do you look forward in hope to the redemption of your body?
10. How does the Spirit help us in our weakness?  Can you identify with what Paul says here about the Spirit interceding for us with ‘groans that words cannot express’ (v.26)?
11. Is Paul’s understanding of who we are in Christ reflected in vv.28-30 your understanding of who you are?
12. When push comes to shove, is the bottom line for you that nothing can separate you from the love of God?
13. What can you identify as the strongholds in your life?  What are the ideas and concepts that keep you from running to your Heaven Father when trials and suffering come?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

The armor of God, as described here in Ephesians 6, has been a favorite of commentators for many years and judging by the Google search on ‘Ephesians 6’ that returned 3.6 million hits, it still is.  There is a lot of truth to be uncovered by studying the armor of God in detail and just what it is.  The subject has been covered well by many others and I am going to limit my comments to a few general observations.

The first is that God, and therefore the Church, is at war.  Maybe that is no longer as unpopular an idea as it has been in the past, but it remains a fact.  If you are a follower of Christ, you have taken sides in spiritual conflict that is, in yourself, completely beyond you.  Your only hope is to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (v.10).  If you go running out to take on the powers and authorities that Paul describes here on your own, in your own strength and understanding, a bug on a windshield is going to make a bigger splat that you are.

The next observation is that this is God’s Armor.  It is founded on His Truth, powered by His Spirit and built out of what He has done.  The Truth that we put on is His Truth, not our version of that Truth.  The breastplate is build out of His Righteousness, the Gospel we stand on in His Gospel, the faith we raise as a shield is His Faith, the salvation we place on our heads is His Salvation and finally the sword we wield is one of His Spirit, His Word.  The point of which is that if we are not doing all we can to understand and incorporate just what each of these weapons in into our thinking and fundamental outlook on the world, we are not going to be ready for the combat when it comes.

The third observation I would make is that our purpose in this battle is to stand firm.  Paul says it twice, once in v.11 and again in v.13, making the idea an important one in Paul’s mind.  The attack that we should expect is one to knock us off the position we have taken in the Gospel back into our old thinking and behaviors, essentially back into our old allegiance to the powers and authorities that we are now at war with.  If we expect to stand, we must come to grips with the strongholds, those things that keep us from the knowledge and intimacy with God that we need in order to stand, and pull them down.  Pastor Bart’s challenge last Sunday to identify those strongholds was not an idle one, but critical for our growth and survival as followers of Christ.

My last observation is on prayer.  Paul puts it in the last position, not only in these verses, but in his entire letter to the Ephesians, once again, emphasizing the importance that it held in his mind.  Pray at all times in the Spirit (v.18).  Again, this isn’t just me praying a moment or two when I happen to remember, this is prayer in the Spirit, at all times for all the saints.  Prayer is what powers everything that we do as believers.  Prayer in the Spirit is what puts power into the armor we don, to the Word we wield and ultimately what makes us able to stand in the combat that we face.

Questions:

1. What is it that you see in this chapter?  What are the concepts and idea that you think are important?  How would you go about further study of what it is that you see here?
2. What is your reaction to the idea that by choosing to follow Christ you have taken sides in and now are an active participant in a war in the spiritual realm?
3. Why do you think that Almighty God would choose to use you in a conflict in which you are wholly unsuited for?
4. Does this idea of being warrior in an army at war change how you view the spiritual disciplines?  Why or why not?  Does it change where those disciplines are in your current priorities?  If so, how?
5. What are the strongholds in your life?  When you think of seeking God and becoming intimate with Him, what is it that gets in the way?  What are the fundamental ideas and concepts that you hold about who God is and what He is about that make you hesitate to trust yourself entirely to Him?
6. Where do you struggle in your walk with God?  Can this struggle be related to a stronghold?  How does this struggle relate to who you see God the be?
7. How do you see the Holy Spirit?  Is He a nice religious concept but not really interested in you or is He the Living God desiring to share those struggles and help you through them in real and concrete ways?
8. Where do you stand today?  Where does the enemy of your soul seek to knock you back into your old ways of thinking and behaving?  Where is the Holy Spirit calling you to take those steps of faith that would put you on new, higher ground?
9. What are you going to do today to train for the combat that will inevitably come?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

The founding episode of Jesus’ ministry is His being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22), which is followed almost immediately by temptation.  Everything that follows, not only in this chapter, but in the whole of the New Testament, is based on the outcome of these twin events.  Jesus first submits to His Heavenly Father and receives the Holy Spirit through John the Baptist and then is put to the test by the devil to find out if He actually will serve in Spirit and Truth, walking out that submission in concrete obedience.  Then and only then does He move out into the actual purpose and ministry He has been called to among the people of this world, culminating on Calvary and the Cross.

Jesus is lead by the Spirit into the desert where He fasts.  He faces the temptation He finds there with the Word of God.  He returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.  There is little here of Jesus the man and everything of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  It is obvious that everything that Jesus does is founded on and revolves around the Spirit and the Word.  His intimacy with and knowledge of both drives everything He does.  These are the strongholds of His life.

And it is to be no less with us.  Each one of us as members of the Body of Christ has a calling, a purpose and a ministry, divinely ordained to be carried out within the Church and in the world at large.  The reality is that we can only hope to carry out our purpose and calling with any kind of success when we make the Spirit and the Word the stronghold out of which everything we do is founded.  It is only as we grow intimate with the Holy Spirit and His Word, following in obedience and choosing to use the weapons He have been given to demolish the strongholds of sin and deception that exist within each of us that the abundant life Jesus promised will become a reality through us.

Questions:

1. What do you see in this chapter that seems important to you?  What are the strongholds being contested?  What are the concepts and ideas about who God is and what He is about that are being put to the test in the concrete arena of ministry?
2. Can you identify the lie that the devil is trying to implant in Jesus behavior in each of these temptations?  What is the Truth that Jesus answers each of these temptations with?
3. How do you think that Jesus came to the place where He could answer the devil so readily with the Word of God?
4. Look up each of these quotations and read the context (that which goes before and follows after) of each.  What is the point of each of these Scriptures?
5. What can you do today to become more intimate with the Word of God?  What will you do today to become more intimate with the Holy Spirit?
6. Is this knowledge and intimacy of the Word and the Spirit something that you truly desire?  What is that gets in the way of your doing what needs to be done in order to become more intimate with God and His Word?  Can you identify the strongholds, those concepts and ideas, which would keep you from God and His Word?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

The story of the witch of Endor and Saul presents us with several points of interest and challenge.  The Biblical truth is that witches and other mediums or spiritualist do exist and they have powers, powers which are not of God.  God as we see in the passage has specifically prohibited this kind of behavior among His people.  Satan would build up one of two types of strongholds regarding witches and other type of spiritualist.

The first stronghold is where we get involved in spiritualism one way or another thinking they can somehow help us.  There is a lot of interest in this kind of behavior as exhibited by the number of television shows that feature people that talk to the dead or foresee something in the spirit world.  This is a dangerous stronghold to be caught in.  When we start allowing the enemy to sneak into our lives this way we replace the Holy Spirit with these spiritualist and their powers.

The second stronghold is just as insidious.  We can classify all this as pure Halloween fiction.   The mystical spiritual worlds we consider to be something found only in books and not in the real world.  Satan is just as happy for us to disbelieve any of it because then we are not going to seek out God’s Spirit any more than we will the other.  He can get us reading and watching stories about his world and consider it fiction.  In the end, we neither fear it nor consider God’s salvation from it as important.  We end up considering what God has to offer us as fiction as well.

Questions:

1. What do you see as important in this chapter?  Why do you think that Saul consulted the Witch of Endor?  What do you think that he hoped to achieve?
2. What do you believe about witches and spiritists?  Are the powers they consult real?  Why or why not?
3. Have you ever consulted with those who profess to have contact with supernatural powers?  What was your experience?  Why did you make the decision to try and contact the supernatural?  What were you hoping to achieve?
4. Why is Saul terrified (v.5)?  What is the immediate cause of his fear?  Has he ever faced this situation before (1Samuel 13:5-7; 17:8-11)?  What was his reaction then?  What were the lies that he believed?  How would an understanding of the truth changed his decisions and behavior?
5. What is Saul’s justification for his turning to the Witch of Endor to call up Samuel (v.15)?  What is it that he wants from Samuel?
6. What is Samuel’s reply (vv. 16-19)?  In what way was Saul disobedient (1Samuel 13)?  How did Saul fail to carry out the Lord’s fierce wrath on the Amalakites (1Samuel 15)?
7. What do you see as the strongholds, the belief’s and patterns of thought, which drove Saul’s behavior?  What caused Saul to fail to carry out the Lord’s commands in dealing with the Philistines?  What drove Saul to not completely destroy the Amalakites as he was commanded?  How has Saul’s fear driven him to the Witch?
8. How important is our obedience to what we hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us on a day-to-day basis?  How does our short-term obedience impact our long-term relationship with God?  What does obedience today teach us that may be of use tomorrow?
9. To whom or what do you turn in order to learn what it is that you should do?  Where do you turn in your fear when the ‘Philistines are encamped’ around you?
10. Can fear be a stronghold that keeps you from becoming intimate with the Holy Spirit?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

“Through temptation, the enemy builds, block by block, a stronghold–a belief or pattern of thinking–that leads to sin and further separation from God.  We must learn the truth about Christ and His kingdom, and the truth will set us free.”  Pastor Bart Wilkins

In our passage today, we see Paul instructing Timothy how to “demolish the strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) of Satan.  He points out a few strongholds that the enemy would setup to turn us away from the true faith.

The first stronghold is legalism: the idea that we must follow certain rules and regulations so that we might be saved.  In this passage we see two examples, forbidding marriage and forbidding certain foods.  Paul says that this kind of thinking comes from deceptive spirits and demons.  If religious leaders can enslave us with rules, regulations and rituals we will get so caught up in to trying be perfect we completely loose sight of God.

A second stronghold is arguing over godless ideas.  When we get bound up in arguing over what the truth is with the world we get sidetracked from preaching the Good News, from preaching the truth.  Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians says that the Gospel is foolishness to the world (1Corinthians 1:18-19).  We need to focus on the truth and love of God and not direct our attention on things that are totally irrelevant for eternity.

A final stronghold that needs torn down is neglecting the gifts that God has given us.  We can get side tracked by doing something that we find exciting or easy.  But the gifts of the Holy Spirit are empowerment to do things that we may not be able to do on our own or which seem mundane and unimportant.  If we allow the enemy to convince us to do something else, even things which may seem artificially to be of benefit to the Church we have failed.

Questions:

1. What do you see as the important ideas and concepts that Paul is trying to communicate to Timothy?  Given the idea that strongholds are beliefs and patterns of thinking, what are the strongholds that you see Paul communicating to Timothy about, whether they are in need of being pulled down or guarded against being built within Timothy himself or the church that he serves?
2. Do you think that it is possible for a believer to fall away from the faith?  Is it possible for you to fall way?  Look at what the Spirit has explicitly said through Jesus, Luke and Paul about this issue in Matthew 24:10-11, Mark 13:21-23, Acts 20:29-30 and 2Thessalonians 2:1-3.
3. What is the conflict between these legalisms and the faith that God would have us to hold (vv. 4-5)?  How can trying to be perfect, following a set of rules keep us from following God?
4. Is a list of rules or set of guidelines in and of itself wrong?  Why or why not?
5. What is the difference between speaking the truth of the Gospel and arguing over it?  How can we avoid getting caught up in worldly arguments?
6. What is Timothy’s job as a good minister of Christ Jesus?  On what foundations is this ministry built?
7. What are some of the myths and ‘old wives tales’ that we believe as a culture?  How do they conflict with the Truth of the Kingdom of God?  If you are unsure as to whether something is true, how would you go about finding out where that idea stands in reference to the Truth of the Kingdom of God?
8. What does Paul say is the value of godliness (v.8)?  Do you think it is possible to be so heavenly-minded that one is of no earthly good?
9. Paul states that the hope of believers is to be in the Living God (v.9-10).  What are some of the concepts and ideas that the world says that we are to put our hope in?  Where is it that your hope resides?  Who or what is it that you believe will be your Savior when all else fails?
10. Are you willing to be diligent in the kind of matters that Paul outlines for Timothy in vv.11-14?  Do you have an understanding of what the gift is that you have been given through the Holy Spirit?  Do you understand what the consequences of both diligence and neglect might be?
11. The critical steps in this battle against strongholds is to first recognize that belief that has set itself up within you (not within your neighbor…) to stand against the knowledge of God and then to choose to engage in pulling it down.  What are the strongholds that currently exist within your thinking and faith?  What is that gets in the way of you becoming intimate with God?  Are you willing to do what it takes to pull this stronghold down?  Are you willing to examine what you think and why you believe what you believe?  Are you willing to pay the price associated with pulling down that stronghold in order to change how you think, believe and behave?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

These are the books mentioned in Bart’s message:
Living the Spirit-Formed Life by Jack Hayford
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg

There are many gifts of the Spirit.  No list will be comprehensive.  Romans makes it clear that God provides us with many different types of gifts.  Romans 12 introduces a couple that we don’t see elsewhere.  We find at least 21 named gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament, some of which are obviously supernatural like prophecy but others would seem to be more mundane like hospitality but we see here even they are given supernatural empowerment by the Holy Spirit!

The important teaching that Paul constantly wants us to hear is that no matter what gifts we may be given or what gifts others have been given, we all need each other.  No one person is given all the gifts.  We are dependent upon each other.  This diversity creates a strong church.

Not only must we work together but we are encouraged to use the gifts God has given us to the full extent of the capabilities given.  As we do, we will grow in Christ together.  If we neglect the gifts God has given us, then we are neglecting the Body of Christ and weaken it.  As such, we need to make sure we get involved in the Body using the gifts God has given to us with all our hearts.

Questions:

1. What do you see as the important concepts and ideas that Paul is trying to communicate here?
2. What is God’s mercy and why would it impact how we behave?  Why would anyone offer their body as a living sacrifice based on God’s mercy?  How does this become a spiritual act of worship?
3. What do you think that Paul’s audience understood his urging them to offer their bodies as ‘living sacrifices’ (‘living and holy sacrifice’ NASB) to mean?  What was a ‘sacrifice’ to your typical person living in first century AD?  What function do you think this sacrifice served in that person’s life?  How do you see this idea of sacrifice today?
4. What do you think that Paul means by the ‘renewing of your mind’?  How would this renewing be connected to transformation?  In what ways do you currently conform to the pattern of this world?  In what ways would this renewal and transformation lead to our being able to ‘test and approve’ (v.2) what God’s Will is?
5. In what ways might this idea of living sacrifice be connected with renewal and transformation?
6. Write down the concepts and ideas that Paul points out in this chapter that are in conflict with the pattern of this world.  How does the world see what Paul is talking about?  How does that outlook compare and contrast to what Paul is saying?  How does the world say you should use your gifts?
7. How do you see your relationship to the Body of Christ?  Do you see yourself as belonging to all the other members of that Body?  What are the gifts that you have been given?  Do you see those gifts as belonging to the Body of Christ?
8. How do these concepts of sacrifice, renewal, transformation and belonging to the Body of Christ impact the gifts that we are given?  How do they impact how we see the world around us?
9. How does your understanding and practice of love measure up to Paul’s definition of sincere love (love without hypocrisy; NASB) in vv.9-21?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

The passage emphasis is on the four main gifts of the Spirit given to the Church for leadership; apostles, prophets, evangelist, and pastor-teachers.

Apostle is used in two ways in the New Testament.  It refers to those who Jesus chose as his eye witnesses, the Twelve.  These Apostles, “big A”, had a special place in the church and could not be replaced.  In Acts 1 we see the very special requirements that were considered when choosing a replacement for Judas, the traitor.  This was the one exception and was needed in order to fulfill Jesus’ words as seen in Matthew 19:28.

Apostle is also used in a “little a” way by Paul to refer to other believers not in the big twelve.  Barnabas, Andronicas, and Junias are called apostles (Acts 14:14, Romans 16:7).  It should be noted that Junias is a female name!  Paul called himself the last of the apostles so some believe this means that only those who had actually seen Jesus could be called apostles.  The “little a” apostles however filled a special ministry that was not equal to the office of Apostle.

We believe this “little a” role of the apostle is now filled by missionaries.  Although we no longer call them apostles to prevent confusion, they fill the apostolic ministry as we see here in Ephesians.  They travel across the world planting new churches.  After the new church has been built up and leaders trained they go on to plant more churches all the while supporting the local pastors of the churches they planted.

The prophet’s role is for the edification of the church through divine utterances.  An example of this is seen in Acts 15:32 where Judas and Silas are called prophets.  They encouraged and strengthened the church.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:31 that we learn and are encouraged by prophetic messages.  However, prophetic messages are not to be considered infallible.  They are to be evaluated and tested by others in the church (1 Corinthians 14:29-33, 1 John 4:1).

The evangelist is one who travels about preaching the Good News, normally for the first time to others.  Evangelist in fact means one proclaiming the Gospel.  Some may be called into full time ministry as an evangelist.  However, this gift is one that is given to other leaders in the church as well.  For example, Timothy acting as a missionary pastor was exhorted to be an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).  Philip, one of the original seven deacons of the church (Acts 6) is called Philip the Evangelist (Acts 21:8).  Just because there is a special gift of evangelism, it doesn’t release us all from our call to be evangelist among our family and friends.

Pastor-teachers are the ones who lead the local church.  We specify this gift as a hyphenated title pastor-teacher because of the way Paul wrote it.  This leadership gift is a combination of one who leads the flock and teaches them.  Shepherd is another way of saying pastor. It is the job of the shepherd to feed and protect the flock.  As such, Paul makes it clear that this role of leadership given to the church is a complex one of both leading and feeding.

Pastors are also referred to as elders (presbyters) and overseers (bishops) in the epistles of Timothy and Titus.  We see that a single local church can and even are assumed to have multiple pastor-teachers (Titus 1:5).  From both 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, it is clear that pastor-teachers are to live the message that they proclaim in order that they may be effective leaders and teachers.

Questions:

1. What do you see as the important concepts and ideas that Paul is trying to communicate in these verses?
2. What is the calling that you have received (4:1)?  What is it that you have been called to do within the Body of Christ?
3. Is your walk with Christ, your faith being voted with your feet, reflecting what Paul states in vv. 2-6?  Do you understand the importance of the unity that exists in the Body of Christ?  Are you a contributing factor to that unity or are you contributing to disunion and disharmony with the Body?
4. 4:7-8 states that Jesus ascended into heaven in order to give grace and gifts to each one of us, with the implication that the grace and gifts we are given are tailored for us corporately and individually, hence our calling.  Does your current understanding of your relationship with Christ include a specific calling, specific areas you are to work within and specific tasks that you are to accomplish?  If so, what are those areas of your calling and what are those tasks?  If not, why not?
5. What are the goals of the gifts delineated in v.11?
6. Do you see your calling as fitting within these gifts?  If not, why not?
7. No one would necessarily want to be seen as an ‘infant’, but how would you honestly access yourself in light of Paul’s definition of what an ‘infant’ is (v.14)?  Does your view of Christ change depending on the last preacher or teacher you heard?  Does your view of what you should be about change depending on the latest proposal or idea?
8. How does this idea of being an infant compare to Paul’s definition of maturity (vv.15-16)?
9. What kind of light does the balance of chapter 4 (vv.17-32) throw on your current faith and behavior?  Do you see the remnants of the futility of your old way of thinking?  Do you see transformation occurring as you mature?  Do you have some idea of what it means to put off the old self and put on the new self (vv. 22-24)?
10. Do you want to be transformed?  If so, what are you doing on a daily basis to make this process of transformation a reality?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

This is a long but very important passage with regards to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are several points that we should watch for as we read this passage.

The Spirit is the one who gives the gifts to us and it is He who decides which gift or gifts should be given to each of us. We do not choose which gift we get, we cannot do something to somehow attain a particular gift, we are not the source of these gifts, and we certainly are not given the gifts to “rule over” others.

The gifts are given that the whole church may be built up. They are given that we may serve each other in love. They are not for us to have selfishly. We should not think that we are somehow better than others because of the gift given to us by the Spirit. Love rules. Everything we do must be done in love. This includes the gifts of the Spirit.

There are some gifts that seem to be more desirable but in all cases, every gift is important for the Body of Christ. We neglect or reject the Holy Spirit who gives us these gifts when we neglect or reject one or more of the gifts as a church. We do the Holy Spirit a disservice when we do not use the gifts given us.

The gifts are to be utilized whenever we gather together as the Body of Christ that all in the Body may be built up. They are to be done in an orderly manner. Just as God is a God of order. Our worship should not be discordant and disorderly with people doing their own thing whenever they like. There is a time and a reason for everything done when we come together to worship God.

Questions:

1. What do you see as important in these verses?  What stands out to you as the critical ideas and concepts that Paul is trying to communicate about the gifts of the Spirit?  What do you think might have been some of the issues within the Corinthian church that Paul is seeking to address?
2. What was the foundation for our understanding of the Spirit before we became believers?  What is the foundation for that same understanding now to be?
3. Make a list of the gifts of the Spirit that Paul enumerates in 12:7-11.  What is your current understanding of what these gifts are?  Do you see them as gifts of the Spirit or as something else?  What are the implications of the fact that Paul identifies each of these specifically as ‘gifts’, something given to us, for your understanding of just what each of these manifestations of the Holy Spirit truly is?
4. How does the fact that the Body of Christ is unified, that we rejoice as well as suffer as one, impact how you see the gifts that you have been given and any motivation you might have to seek other, greater, gifts?
5. What is the relationship between love and the gifts of the Spirit (13:1-3)?  What do these verses say about God’s and our motives in giving and seeking these gifts of the Spirit?
6. Stop and think about how you define and think about love?  How does our culture define and think about love?  How do your own and our cultures thoughts and definitions line up with how Paul defines love and the implications for how we should see the world based on that definition in 13:4-13?
7. The gifts of the Spirit have always been controversial, especially within the church itself.  Individual believers, churches and denominations have gone as far as to categorically state that these Gifts are evil and even more view them with great suspicion and fear.  Why do think this might be true?  What would lead people who believe in the same God to come to such radically different conclusions about these manifestations of the Gifts of the Spirit?
8. What does Paul say in chapter fourteen about what these manifestations of the Spirit should look like?
9. What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit and to the Gifts that He clearly wants to give you?  What are the Gifts that you have received?  What are the Gifts of the Spirit that you are seeking?  Are you seeking to have the Spirit give you any or all of these Gifts?  Why or why not?  Does that desire or lack of it line up with what Paul says to the Corinthians in these chapters?
10. What can you do to put yourself in position to receive the Gifts the Holy Spirit would desire to give you?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.

This passage, like Acts 2, points out that the gift of the Holy Spirit is apart from salvation, that it is a gift for believers. But the passage also points out the dark side of human nature; that we often seek out power for our own desires.

Simon enjoyed being the big man in the spiritual world. When he became a believer, he had to have given up that demonic power. It left a void in his life. He missed being the center of attention. When Simon saw that when the apostles laid their hands on the believers, those believers were filled with the Holy Spirit he must have thought, ‘Ah ha! I can be the big man again if I have that same power.’

We have to be very careful about our motives when it comes to the gift of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural powers He bestows on us. We must always remember that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit so that God is glorified and that others may believe and be built up. We must not seek for the gift of the Spirit that we may somehow become “super men.” Rather we seek the gift that we may serve God and serve others.

Questions:

1. What do you see in these verses that stand out as important to you?  What do you see of practical effects of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit as it relates to the early church?
2. When Philip preached, his preaching was accompanied by miraculous signs (8:6).  What was the result of this combination for the people of Samaria?  What does this say about the purpose of the Holy Spirit in displaying these miraculous signs through Philip?
3. What was the condition of the people when Peter and John arrived?  What was their intent in laying on their hands for the Samaritans (8:14-17)?
4. What do you see when you compare and contrast Philip, Peter and John with Simon?
5. What do you see as the implications for Simon’s motivation in his offer of cash to Peter and John?  How do you think that he saw what Peter and John were doing?  Do you think that he believed in the supernatural and the power associated with it?  What are the implications of the fact that Simon was a believer, had been baptized as such, and was following Philip (8:13)?
6. What role does the Holy Spirit play in Philip’s interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch?  Would this episode have been possible without the Holy Spirit and Philip’s obedience?  What do you think the eunuch’s impact in the court of Candace might have been?
7. What are the practical implications of these verses for you and your life today?  Do you think that the Holy Spirit still desires to accomplish in your life and our world the things that He accomplished through Philip, Peter and John?
8. What do these verses tell you about your role in whatever it is that the Holy Spirit might seek to accomplish in and through your life today?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about the supernatural.