I truly enjoy teaching on the Holy Spirit.  Every time I do so, it seems that the Holy Spirit shows up to help in surprising ways.

Growing up, I really didn’t hear much about the Holy Spirit.  The church of my childhood emphasized teaching on God the Father and God the Son.  But God the Holy Spirit was mentioned mainly in the reading of the Apostles’ Creed and occasionally showed up in scripture readings.  We believed in the Holy Spirit – but beyond creedal statements, I’m not sure what we believed.  My experience, it turns out, wasn’t all that unusual.

I woke up to the working of the Spirit in the 90s, and between Alpha and bumping into some good teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit available from Presbyterian Renewal Ministries, International.  I began to learn.

And as you know, when a ministry is focused on discipleship, we encourage one another to pass on what we’re learning.    This month, it’s been fun to do just that.  And yes, the Spirit showed up.  The conversations went to better places than I could have led them.  When we examined the gifts of the Spirit, a couple showed up for the first time with many examples from their journey in a Charismatic Anglican Church.  God is simply wonderful at arranging things.

Here’s a few topics we’ve covered this month.

• How the Spirit leads us as we prayer the scriptures.
• Who the Spirit is.  (Many long time Christians are surprised to learn that the Holy Spirit is a person.)
• What the Spirit does.
• The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• And this week – ways the Spirit helps us.

Wish I could write more.  But this will have to be all for now.

Last thing – we’ll be talking about the leading of the Spirit at our worship gathering this Saturday night.  (Me meet in the St. Johns Room of Faith Community Church at 3450 CR210, 32259).  If you can make it, come join us.