The Holy Spirit's vital role in the believer's life - Part 3

The Holy Spirit is vital to the Christian walk. The last few weeks we have discussed the important roles the Holy Spirit plays in our lives including in our salvation and invariable assistance He provides every day.

In this blog we examine the role of the Spirit in our lives that are dependent upon our obedience. Therefore, these actions by the Spirit are available to us if we're seeking God through His word. Remember, we need to use the Bible to explain the Spirit’s actions in our lives and not by our feelings or experiences. We should live by facts and not emotion.

Believer dependent roles

Two passages are critical to understand the variable actions of the Spirit, Romans 8:13-16, 26 and Ephesians 6:10-17.

Romans 8:13-16

·       Stops sin (v.13) – As we are obedient, the Spirit helps put to death the deeds of the flesh.

·       Leads us (v.14) – Many Christians believe this biblical concept but may not understand how the Spirit leads. In short, the Spirit uses a believer’s knowledge of God’s word to them (please see below passage in Ephesians 6). Indeed, the Bible often tells us to be people of knowledge and understanding, for example in Paul’s prayers for others (Ephesians 1:17, Colossians 1:9). Please see the chapter over God's leading.

·       Comforts believers that they are God’s children (V.16) – The Spirit encourages us that they belong to God and should not be anxious about eternity.

Ephesians 6:10-17

The magnificent “armor of God” passage is critical to understanding the Christian’s lifestyle. It describes our access to God’s power by arming ourselves as a Greek hoplite soldier. Often Christians wonder how they can know the power of God. These great verses describe it!

However, it is also important in showing the role of the Spirit because His mighty actions are linked to each piece of armor, also described in other scriptures.

·       Truth (the belt to prepare us, v.14) – Developing a mindset of truth is a “fruit” or result of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9) and provides mental preparation for making proper decisions and actions.

·       Righteousness (the breastplate, v.14) – A fruit of the Spirit is a holy heart that is set apart to serve God and can perceive and reject sin (Ephesians 5:9).

·       Share the gospel (the shoes to carry us to battle, v.15) – By telling others the message of salvation we see the power of God to change others and positively affect society, which is assisted by the Spirit (Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:7; John 16:8-11).

·       Faith (the shield, v.16) – Another result of the Spirit is faith in which we should make all decisions and God desires (Galatians 5:22,23; Romans 14:23).

·       Eternal security (the helmet, v.17) – The sound knowledge of security of salvation protects our mind in the face of trouble in this world; its function is from the Spirit (Romans 15:13).

·       The Bible (the sword, v.17) – The power of God in the Christian walk is through the action of the Spirit in accordance to the Bible.

Wow what great truths! These passages tell us how the Spirit acts in believers’ lives to cause them to please God and experience His power.

Therefore, in our Christian walk the Spirit has several key roles that He graciously provides to produce results, lead and help us live by His power.  However, as His children we need to be obedient to His word to allow the Spirit to work and to attain full access to the Spirit in our lives. God wants us to know Him and be holy like Him. He graciously provides us every avenue to help us accomplish His great goal. 

Join us next time as we discuss our own responsibilities to the Spirit dependent on our obedience. 

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email                info@teleiosresearch.com

Website            http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook          https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram         https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

Twitter             https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

Youtube           https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

LinkedIn           https://www.linkedin.com/company/teleios-research/

Disclaimer - This blog is provided for your use and enjoyment on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.   

Holy Spirit - Power Source for the Christian Life! Part 2

The Holy Spirit is vital to the Christian life. Last time we began discussing the role of the Spirit in believers’ lives by examining His important role in our salvation.

In this blog, and the one to follow, let’s focus on the role of the Spirit in our Christian life after salvation. Remember, as always, we need to base our understanding on the Bible, not our feelings and experiences. The truth is in scripture.

The Holy Spirit’s pivotal and active role in believers’ lives is roughly divided into two basic types, constant and variable actions. Let’s explore here the constant roles of the Spirit. These describe how He helps to us, regardless of our own activity or attitude, good or bad.

o   Points to Christ – The Spirit glorifies Christ, and gives and teaches information our Savior has given to Him (John 16:13-14; 1 John 2:20,27). Remember, it is by Christ, that God speaks to Christians in the time of the church (Hebrews 1:1-2). This message was given through the Spirit and recorded in the scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16).

o   Indwells – As mentioned in the prior blog, the Spirit lives in believers always until the day of redemption (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14). Therefore, believers have full access to His power and help.

o   Prays for believers (Romans 8:26) – This great truth indicates the Holy Spirit prays on behalf of believers to God. What better source of prayer could one have?

Therefore, like in salvation when the Holy Spirit convicted us to come to faith , regenerated us, placed us in the church and sealed us to the day of our redemption (please review our prior blog), now in our Christian life the He has several key unwavering roles that He graciously provides us no matter what – they do not depend on our conduct or merit.

These constant provisions by the Spirit are important to remember.  Some people might tell us that we receive the God’s Spirit, or have a heightened power of the Spirit, after our salvation by receiving a “second filling.”  Further some may teach that as Christians we could lose the Holy Spirit.

There is no solid scriptural basis for this belief for Christians. The Bible is clear we have the Spirit at salvation until we are with God forever. Nothing can diminish or remove His presence from our life (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14).

We have a great God with wonderful promises and abundant provisions to help us live our lives in a fruitful manner, not only in service to Him but providing joy and peace in our own lives.

Join us next time as we discuss variable roles of the Spirit that do depend on our obedience. 

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email                info@teleiosresearch.com

Website            http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook          https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram         https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

Twitter             https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

Youtube           https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

LinkedIn           https://www.linkedin.com/company/teleios-research/

Disclaimer - This blog is provided for your use and enjoyment on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.   

Our Secure Salvation: Part 3

The Great Promise of Eternal Security

Welcome back to my blog. We are in the middle of a wonderful discussion of eternal security. This is a vital theme in the Christian life that gives us confidence in our relationship with God and allows us peace of mind, spiritual growth as well as to better serve both our Lord and other men.

To date, we have discussed direct statements in scripture that state our salvation is secure God Himself causes us to persevere, the Holy Spirit has sealed us to our salvation, and we are regenerated into a new holy person acceptable to God. Please review the last few blogs for our initial compelling discussion on eternal security.

Let us continue today by discussing the two more primary positions in Christ that result from salvation and are unchangeable.

• Justification (we are innocent) – This is a vital result of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Let us examine in some detail the meaning of this great promise.
• Meaning of the New Testament word – This word is key because the complete meaning in Greek of the word, “justification” (δικαιος, dikaios) is not fully conveyed by the English. The word dikaios carried a legal sense that still exists today in modern Greek. In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, the term signified that someone who was found innocent in a court of law of all charges against them, just like now, there was no double jeopardy (1). This important legal concept means once you have been found innocent you cannot be charged again for the same crime.
• Christ’s work in justification – The Bible indicates that each of us has sinned and “fallen short” of what God requires of us (Romans 3:23). Because God is just, He demands punishment for our misdeeds. However, because He is loving, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment in our place (Romans 3:24-26).
• It’s as though Christ acted as a courtroom judge, found us guilty of our sins, sentenced us to death, but afterwards, stood up, removed His judicial robe, came around in front of the judge’s bench and took the punishment for us, our past present and future sins!
• Christ’s death satisfied God’s demand for righteousness but also showed His great and gracious love for us.
• No other work or sacrifice is required – Importantly, Christ is a sufficient sacrifice for our sins as He is perfect, holy and without sin (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 7:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, Christ satisfied God’s righteous demand for judgment. Accordingly, He died once for all sin, for all time, and He does not need to repeat this as did the Old Testament priests (Hebrews 6:1-14; 10:10-18).
• Our legal position before God was pronounced “innocent” when we trusted Christ for forgiveness of our sins. We do this only once and our sins are forgiven for all time. Since Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for all our sins for all time, nobody can charge us again (Romans 8:31-34). There is no double jeopardy!
• Adoption – This concept is important in our society because when a family legally adopts a child the new family member gains all the rights and privileges of a naturally-born child (2). In other words, their new status in the family is permanent and cannot be overturned. What a great promise of security to the child!

Likewise, in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, as in our own society (with some differences), adoption provided permanent legal status for a child that could not be overturned (3). The Apostle Paul states our status as adopted children into God’s family in four separate places in his epistles, indicating the importance of our new position following accepting Christ as Savior through faith (Romans 8:15; 23; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:5). Consequently, we are children of God, adopted into His family with legal protection and a permanent status.

What great promised positions we hold before God, permanently accepted and guaranteed to please Him.

Next time we will cover a special passage talking about those who do not believe that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient and God's attitude towards them. This passage will also help confirm that we are secure in our salvation. Join us again.

A full life is reserved for those who know and do scripture!

William C. Stewart, MD

1. http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/adoption.html
2. http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/seal.html
3. https://www.westernseminary.edu/transformedblog/2014/02/25/baptisim-meaning-and-mode/

For questions or to view more of our research…
Email                info@teleiosresearch.com
Website            http://teleiosresearch.com/
Facebook          https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch
Instagram         https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch
Twitter             https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch
Youtube           https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q
LinkedIn           https://www.linkedin.com/company/teleios-research/

Disclaimer - This blog is provided for your use and enjoyment on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.   

Our Secure Salvation: Part 2

Welcome back to my blog. We are in the middle of a wonderful discussion of eternal security. This is a vital theme in the Christian life that gives us confidence in our relationship with God and allows us peace of mind, spiritual growth as well as to better serve our Lord and man. Please review the last blog for more details on its importance.

Last time we discussed direct statements in scripture that our salvation is secure, and it is God Himself causes us to persevere. This week we move into deeper and exciting biblical points of reasons we are secure and not a superficial hope or fallacy.

We begin by discussing our four primary positions in Christ that result from salvation and are unchangeable. We will discuss the first two positions in this blog and the next two in the next time.

The four positions

·       The Spirit’s sealing – We are marked as God’s possession at salvation and the Holy Spirit is given to us (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9). This is a great promise and is a part of the results of our belief to salvation by faith alone in Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9).

o   Seals were used in the ancient world as a legal means to close a document. If a king had given a new order, molten wax might be poured on the document to seal it and the king’s signet ring pressed into the wax. The king’s symbol in the wax would tell the carrier or the recipient that the contents of the document were the king’s will and breaking the seal inappropriately or ignoring the order was done at a person’s own peril (1).

o   We are sealed by our King and it reflects the same legal and unbreakable character as ancient law. Further, the Spirit seals us throughout our whole life on earth as God’s own possession, until we go to heaven. Importantly, all those who believe by grace in Christ’s forgiveness on the cross are Christians and possess the Spirit and the seal (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9).

·       Spiritual baptism – This important biblical truth is vital in understanding who we are as Christians.

o   Meaning of ‘baptism’ - Let’s consider the word itself. Although controversial, in the Epistles when baptism is mentioned it speaks of spiritual baptism. Water baptism might be considered as an external ritual to signify the internal event. The word is βαπτιζω (baptizoo) in the Greek (the original language of the New Testament), and was an old term borrowed from the dye trade. It meant that a piece of cloth immersed in the dye became ‘identified’ with the new color (2).

o   Significance of spiritual baptism to eternal security - How is being ‘identified’ with Christ associated with eternal security? Fortunately, a lot! 

§  We are a new person - When we believe at salvation we are identified with Christ’s gracious death and His resurrection. At this time, our old self dies and is buried with Christ. We are raised now to new holy person acceptable to God and able to enter heaven (Romans 6:2-12; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13; Hebrews 10:19-22).

Ø  Similar concepts in scripture that also appear to speak probably to spiritual baptism are: regeneration (Titus 3:5), born again (John 3:5) and new man (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). Why is this concept so important?

§  Unchangeable salvation – Baptism helps us know we cannot lose our salvation because scripture does not indicate that if we commit a sin our new self can be killed and the old dead self-resurrected!

In other words, we are transformed permanently to a new life, resurrected with Christ and are free to serve Him. We cannot be defeated by the misdeeds of our old self. These changes cannot be reversed. What a great comfort we have in the truth of scripture.

Wow, what great promises and what a great Salvation. God is so good and gracious. Please join us again next time as we continue with the last two points of our positions in Christ which help guarantee our security in our salvation.  

1.     http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/seal.html

2.     https://www.westernseminary.edu/transformedblog/2014/02/25/baptisim-meaning-and-mode/

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email                info@teleiosresearch.com

Website            http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook          https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram         https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

Twitter             https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

Youtube           https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

LinkedIn           https://www.linkedin.com/company/teleios-research/

Disclaimer - This blog is provided for your use and enjoyment on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.   

Do you tithe?

Welcome back to my blog. I am glad you are here. 

The topic of tithing to the church can be a difficult question. To investigate young believers’ beliefs’ over this fascinating issue we recently surveyed visitors to the Instagram account, DailyBibleVerses. In total, 548 persons completed the survey of whom 80% were female, 82% evangelical, and 85% were <40 years of age and 40% <18. How the participants tithed is described in Table 1.

Further, 82% said that missions or parachurch organizations could receive part of their tithe while 60% indicated material possessions or time could be part of their tithe. Table 2 addresses the participant’s biblical basis of their tithing.

Tithing is a concept introduced in the Old Testament law and refers to 10% of gains in crops and herds be given to the use of God (Numbers 18:24-28; Deuteronomy 12:6-12; Deuteronomy 14:22-28). One prior mention of tithing stretches back to Genesis 14 in Abraham's tithe to King Melchizedek after his great victory over the Mesopotamians.

Tithing is not mentioned in the New Testament epistles for the church. Importantly, Christ said He is the end of the Old Testament law (Romans 10:4). Therefore, the law has been discontinued and does not govern the church; Christians do not have to follow it (Hebrews 7:12-22). 

The New Testament does state (2 Corinthians 9:7), however, everyone should choose to give to God’s work, without sorrow, because God loves those who give joyfully!  The Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:8) provides us an example when he states that he counts all things loss for Christ. Importantly, everything we do as Christians is done by faith, including the extent and manner of giving (Romans 14:23).

Many who adhere to Reformed Theology believe the church was mysteriously present in the Old Testament and so we must obey the law, including tithing. However, no one obeys all the law, so its practical application is selective and inconsistent. If the church was present in the Old Testament it is not mentioned specifically, it existed spiritually and here was certainly not a church structure that required a tithe. 

In summary, tithing is based in the Old Testament law which New Testament believers are not required to obey because they follow Christ. In contrast, we have the opportunity to serve Christ with all our mental and physical possessions, in faith, as guided by the New Testament and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Thanks for visiting and see you again next week.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Twitter  https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

Ways the Holy Spirit helps our Christian walk!

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for visiting today. 

Teleios recently surveyed the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives in 475 young participants in visitors to the Instagram account, InstaPray. Wow, we received some amazing answers! All the findings, as well as other research, are on our website.

The Holy Spirit is a very important, yet controversial and often emotional, topic. However, often people generally lack knowledge of what scripture teaches about the Spirit. We are covering some pertinent topics over the Spirit, examining what scripture alone says.

I generally breakdown scriptures handling of the Spirit for the New Testament Church into three basic realms: 

• The Spirit’s work in Salvation 
• The Spirit's role in our Christian walk 
• The Christian’s duties to the Spirit. 

Today let's examine the most common responses from our InstaPray participants regarding how the Spirit helps in our Christian walk (please see table).

What the Bible says

The scripture states that the Spirit plays a vital and active role in believers’ lives, and can divided into two basic types:

• Constant roles - The Spirit has several constant roles not dependent on us:
• Points to Christ – The Spirit glorifies Christ, and gives and teaches us the information our Savior has given to him (John 16:13-14; 1 John 2:20,27)
• Indwells us – Remember, we learned last week that the Spirit indwells us completely until the day of our redemption so we have full access to His power and help. 
• Prays for us (Romans 8:26) - This great truth indicates the Spirit prays on our behalf to God. What better source of prayer could we have?
• Believer dependent roles - However, importantly there are roles for which the Spirit assists us that are variable and depend upon our obedience. Two passages are critical to understand the Spirit’s help for us:
• Romans 8:13-16,26
• Stops sin (V.13) - As we are obedient the Spirit helps us put to death the deeds of the flesh.
• Leads us (V.14) - Christians commonly believe this biblical concept but we should understand how He leads. In short, the Spirit use God’s word (please see below passage in Ephesians 6). Indeed, the Bible often tells us to be people of knowledge and understanding, for example in Paul’s prayers for us (Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:9). 
• We are God's children (V.16) - The Spirit comforts us that we belong to God and not to be anxious over our eternal security 
• Ephesians 6:10-17 - The magnificent armor of God passage is critical to understanding our Christian walk because it instructs us how to access God’s power by describing a Greek hoplite soldier and his armament. Often Christians wonder how they can know the power of God. These great verses describe it! However, it is also important in showing the role of the Spirit because His mighty actions are linked to each of the pieces of armor in other scripture.
• Truth (our belt to prepare us V.14) - Living in truth is a fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9) and prepares our mind to making proper decisions and actions.
• Righteousness (our breastplate V.14) - A fruit of the Spirit is a holy heart that is set apart to serve God and perceives and rejects sin (Ephesians 5:9)
• Share the gospel (the shoes to carry us to battle V.15) - By telling others the message of salvation we see the power of God to change others and positively affect our society, which is assisted by the Spirit (Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:7; John 16:8-11).
• Faith (our shield V.16) - A fruit of the Spirit also is faith in which we make all decisions and God desires from us (Galatians 5:22,23; Romans 14:23).
• Eternal security (our helmet V.17) - The sound knowledge of our security of salvation protects our heads as we face troubles in this world and its function is from the Spirit (Romans 15:13).
• The Bible (our sword V.17) - The power of God we experience in our Christian walk is through the action of the Spirit in accordance to the Bible.

Wow what great truths! These passages tell us how the Spirit acts in our lives to cause us to please God and to experience His power.

Join us again next week as we describe what are our responsibilities are to the Spirit so He's free to act in our lives as described above. Join us again then. Thank you for visiting this week.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Twitter  https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

What young Christians believe about the Holy Spirit

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for visiting today. We are exploring relevant research findings from Teleios! More compelling findings are on our website.

Teleios examined the important role of the Holy Spirit in Christians’ lives in visitors to the Instagram account, InstaPray. We had 475 participants, 68% were adolescents (<18) as well as millennials (18-34), 78% evangelicals and 71% female. Wow, we received some amazing answers!

The Holy Spirit is a very important yet controversial and often emotional topic. Opinions vary widely about the role of the Spirit, from traditional orthodox to charismatic beliefs. However, in all groups there is often a general lack of knowledge of what scripture teaches. Let's cover some pertinent topics over the Spirit examining what scripture says and perhaps we can all better shape our own thinking based on the truth of God. 

I generally breakdown scriptures handling of the Spirit for the New Testament Church into three basic realms: 

• The Spirit’s work in salvation 
• The Spirit's role in our Christian walk 
• The Christian’s duties to the Spirit

Let's examine what our participants said regarding the Spirit and salvation (please see table).

What the Bible says

Indeed, the Spirit in salvation in scripture is key. He performs the following vital functions.

• Convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8) - This role is vital because left to our own resources, as fallen man both physically and mentally, we would not come to faith and salvation by our own reckoning (Romans 3:10-12). Therefore, the Spirit is central to help unbelievers recognize their faults, coming judgment and God’s demand for righteousness.
• Baptizes (Romans 6:2-3,9; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13) - In the epistles the word ‘baptism’ signifies spiritual baptism which occurs at our salvation by the Spirit. The actual meaning of the word baptism (βαπτιζω, baptizoo) is ‘to identify with’. Therefore, the Spirit baptizes us by identifying us with Christ’s death and resurrection.

The Spirit accomplishes this by putting to death our old person and resurrecting us to a new living person. ‘Regeneration’ and ‘born again’ are other concepts in Scripture signifying this important event (Titus 3:5; John 3:3). These wonderful verses demonstrate to us the profound importance of the resurrection because there is no eternal life without the resurrection and regeneration (1 Corinthians 15:13-19). The incredible fact of spiritual baptism (which water baptism may symbolize) gives us surety for our great salvation as a new creature that cannot be slain and re-created our old dead self. 

• Seals to Redemption (2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14) - This great promise indicates that each of us has the Holy Spirit from our time of belief in salvation until the day we die and go to be with God. Indeed, one of the definitions of a Christian is that we have the Holy Spirit for we if do not have it we are not yet a Believer (Romans 8:9).
• Places us into the church (1 Corinthians 12:13) - The spirit graciously has placed us at salvation into the universal church of Christ for which he is the head.

As you can see, the Spirit is integral in bringing us to salvation, completing salvation and bringing us to our eternal life. What a fantastic blessing that we have such a gift from God as the Holy Spirit!

Please join us next week as we continue the scriptural discussion of what the Spirit does for us. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it is an assistance to you.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Twitter  https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch

How to share the gospel - 5 simple tips

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for visiting today. We are exploring research findings from Teleios! See all of our compelling findings on our website.

Last week we spoke about people's fear in sharing the gospel, so this week let's discuss some basic principles about how to communicate the gospel in an easy, acceptable manner that you can adapt to your lifestyle.

Fortunately, scripture does not tell us that we need to beat people with the gospel in a socially awkward and isolating way. So how do we relate the ‘good news’ to others in today's world? Well there are many ways to share the plan of salvation, but here is a process that my wife, Jeanette, and I often use:

1. Prayerfully consider others - Most of us are so busy that unless we stop and specifically consider those around us we may easily miss wonderful opportunities to spread the gospel. Therefore, try thinking through the people you know and who might respond to the gospel. 

Many Christians say, ‘well nobody!’ So then, consider how you can meet more people and know your acquaintances better (please see next point). Start by praying for them!

1. Create a solid base for a relationship - This is vital as people need to know that you genuinely like and respect them. There are many books on the subject and perhaps the best starter is the classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. You can buy a cheap used copy (or download a copy) at Amazon. It is frightfully easy to read and apply. Do it! 

In short, good relationships are built on, at least in part: listening, asking inquisitive questions about people's passions, work, interests and family. This should be done in a genuine, affable manner with a smile, gratitude, appropriate specific compliments, and saying ‘I’m sorry’ as needed. A solid relationship may take some time to build, months to years. Be patient.

1. Build a spiritual rapport - This can be done by simply asking them about benign religious topics, progressing through such questions as: 

• Were you raised in the church and what denomination? Did you like the church? Was it a good social environment?
• What do you think about religious-based political issues such as Christian persecution? Does religion or the church help our culture, etc.?
• Work towards issues pertaining to Christ, who is the major goal of the conversation, such as: what did their Church teach about Christ? What do they themselves believe about Christ? What is Christ’s role in salvation? 

Important note: You don't have to respond to the above questions, it is better that you mostly just listen initially and gather information, again showing you respect for their opinions.

1. Identify a need – As you listen you should be able to perceive spiritual needs such as: are they are saved? Are they concerned about not going to heaven? Do they express reasons for guilt or unhappiness? Based on these issues you can develop a plan to assist them.
2. Make an offer - Based on your assessment of their spiritual needs, plan how to explain the gospel as a specific solution to their need. Make sure the offer is clear and unambiguous, that they must say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and they know what they are accepting. 

Although you may be able to discuss the gospel directly, I generally find it is helpful to offer a Bible study for 4 weeks to study the claims of Christ in Ephesians 1:1-14. During this study they can discover the truth themselves, ask questions and you can share the gospel as issues of salvation are raised in the text. Salvation is neatly packaged also in Romans 3:10-26 or Ephesians 2:1-10. 

Even if this individual says ‘no’ to your efforts, the strong relationship you've built in the initial steps outlined above should overcome any social awkwardness. Through prayer and patience perhaps the opportunity to share again will occur. 

If they say yes and believe, then praise be to God. What a privilege to see God save and change a life!

Thank you for reading my blog. Join me again next week as we continue to discuss Teleios’ findings and the wisdom of God's word.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Twitter  https://twitter.com/TeleiosResearch