I thought I might take this opportunity to tell you a little about what I did last week. I went to the Reformed Theological College in Geelong and participated in the annual preaching conference they hold there. I t was a great time and I would thoroughly recommend any of you to take the opportunity to go there next year. It is not just for preachers, but for anyone.

The focus of the conference this year was “Preaching the Holy Spirit” and it was a great opportunity to reflect on what was said.

It seems sometimes that the Holy Spirit amongst our churches can be a little like the “poor cousin” in the Godhead. You know, the one who doesn’t really often get invited to family dinners, who is rarely ever talked about and acknowledged and certainly never is involved in any important family business. Maybe that is a bit harsh, but as one speaker said, in our quest for scriptural accuracy and personal understanding, logic and control it seems a little sometimes as though we have created another Trinitarian God that consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Scriptures.

And maybe the key here is that essentially the Holy Spirit is about experience rather than information. The Holy Spirit is a person of God, not a force or substance or influence, but a person  that lives within us as believers and who is there to teach us, to counsel us, to intercess for us in a very real way. And as we experience the Holy Spirit within our lives, the gospel then becomes something to us that is living and active and turns faith from a cold religion where we strive to obey rules and laws and customs in an effort to somehow earn salvation into a real, empowering, personal experience.

Rather than just acknowledge the Holy Spirit as we pass by, we need to expect the Holy Spirit to work in powerful ways in our lives and the lives of those around us. as He does His work of regeneration, of quickening, of enlightening of assisting and of witnessing to and through us.

How do you walk with the Holy Spirit daily, what are the things that you do that grieves the Holy Spirit?

Worth a thought

Blessings.........Martyn