"Receive the Holy Spirit", the latest journal, can now be read here. An excerpt:
While faith in the atoning blood
of Jesus Christ makes salvation a fact settled in heaven, it hasn't dawned on
many believers that it is the inner working of the Holy Spirit that confirms it
as spiritual reality. In studying the book of Romans we understand that
believing the Gospel brings about a judicial change in the sinner, but our God
of salvation seeks to make us conscious of this by giving us His Spirit.
Jesus spent most of His time
with His disciples preparing them for their reception of the Holy Spirit. He
knew that if they failed in this they could never advance His Kingdom to the
ends of the earth. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and
"breathed on them," saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." He exhaled (He "breathed
on them"); He told them to inhale ("receive the Holy Spirit"). Really, as God
the Father and God the Son breathe on us, we are to inhale (breathe in, receive,
partake of) the Holy Spirit as the breath of God. The spiritual exercise the
Risen Christ taught the disciples in the Upper Room was prophetic and
preparatory to Pentecost. There the rushing mighty winds represented the breath
and life of God and "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4).
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Winter 2004
Trip to India
2002
Trip to India
India Recollections
2001