What are the effects which the Spirit always produces on those who really have him? Bishop JC Ryle examines the Scriptures
1 All who have the Spirit are made spiritually alive
He is called in scripture, “the spirit of life,” (Rom 8:3). “It is the Spirit,” says our lord Jesus christ, “who quickens,” (John 6:63). We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins. We have neither feeling nor interest about true religion. We have neither faith, nor hope, nor fear, nor love. Our hearts are in a state of torpor; they are compared in scripture to a stone. We may be alive about money, learning, politics, or pleasure – but we are dead towards god.
All this is changed when the spirit comes into the heart. He raises us from this state of death, and makes us new creatures. He awakens the conscience, and inclines the will towards god. He causes old things to pass away, and all things to become new. He gives us a new heart; he makes us put off the old man and put on the new. He blows the trumpet in the ear of our slumbering faculties, and sends us forth to walk the world as if we were new beings.
How unlike was lazarus shut up in the silent tomb, to lazarus coming forth at our lord’s command! How unlike was Jairus’ daughter lying cold on her bed amidst weeping friends, to Jairus’ daughter rising and speaking to her mother as she was accustomed to do! Just as unlike is the man in whom the spirit dwells to what he was before the spirit came into him.
I appeal to every thinking reader: can he whose heart is manifestly full of everything but god – hard, cold, and insensible – can he be said to have the spirit? Judge for yourself.
2 All who have the Spirit are taught by him
He is called in scripture, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation,” (Eph 1:17). It was the promise of the lord Jesus, “He shall teach you all things.” “He shall guide you into all truth,” (John 14:26; 16:13).
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Denne historien er fra October – December 2017-utgaven av Heroes of the Faith.
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Telling Tales About Canterbury
How those tall stories of pig's bones and gospel heroes contain more than a hint of reality.
Sophie Scholl
The Young Woman Who Defied Hitler
Jonathan Goforth Revivalist Apostle To China
Jonathan Goforth was born, the seventh of eleven children, in February 1859 near London, Ontario, in Canada. His parents were hard-working farmers and, if the young Jonathan learned about the things of God through his devout mother, he also learned hard work from his father, who once went to Hamilton for food and walked all the way back through the bush – a distance of 70 miles – with a sack of flour on his back!
John Wycliffe
Morning Star of the English Reformation.
Billy Nicholson The Irish Whitefield
William Patteson Nicholson (1876-1959) was a Presbyterian preacher and evangelist born in Bangor, Co Down. Nicknamed ‘The Tornado of the Pulpit’, Nicholson spent his early years on his father’s cargo ship, but began to preach in 1899 at the age of 23. He was known for his ‘men-only’ meetings and straightforward language. In the Belfast shipyard of Harland & Wolff, a ‘Nicholson shed’ was erected to house stolen tools that newly converted workers returned as a result of Nicholson’s preaching!
Wth Richards - Pentecostal Statesman
During the ’60s and early ’70s, a dynamic Welsh preacher achieved what many of his peers at that time thought impossible: he was able to be fully Pentecostal in outlook, pastor a thriving and growing church, and yet also command the deepest respect of christians from many different denominations.
The Parachute Padre
An unlikely war hero who volunteered to serve miles behind enemy lines alongside one of the most ferocious fighting units of the British Army
Time To Reform Our View Of The Reformation?
Five hundred years ago a cataclysmic change was begun in the Western church when a renegade monk nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg.
The Big Picture
The much-acclaimed film ‘Hidden Figures’ is the heart-warming real life story of three African-American women who worked on the space programme in Virginia in the 1950s.
The Cambridge Seven
How a move of God among Britain’s students answered the desperate prayer of a missionary on the other side of the world.
