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Sun. 11/5/2014

Quarter’s Theme:THE HOLY SPIRIT

Unit 3 Theme: Intimacy With The Holy Spirit (Lessons 9-12) 

PRESERVATION AND CONSOLIDATION MONTH 

11/5/2014  LESSON  11 

EXPLOITS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT 

Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 155, 164

Devotional Reading: DANIEL 11:30-35

Topic For Adults

THE PURPOSE OF ANOINTING

Topic For Youths

BE PEOPLE OF ANOINTING

Scripture Lessons

ACTS 10:38; JN. 14:10-14

 

Memory verse:    Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery, but the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. (Dan. 11:32)

 

DAILY BIBLE READING

Neglect Not The Gift In You

1 Tim. 4:12-16

Here, Paul admonished Timothy, being a young pastor, to be an example of believers in every aspect. He must use all the grace of God on him that he had received through the Holy Spirit (vs. 12,14). Others should not look down on Timothy and neither should he look down on himself, for he had the necessary prerequisites to do the work in Ephesus. Among them was a spiritual gift he had received from God. Know that for whatever assignment God has given to you, there is ability, gift, wisdom, people etc, that God has given to you and surrounded you with to succeed. Just look inward and don’t neglect or look down on those abilities He has given to you.

Point of Emphasis:     You have all it takes to succeed in your God-given task.

Prayer Point:              Help me not to take for granted all the abilities given to me for Your work oh Lord.

BACKGROUND

We live in the end-time and God is expecting His children to live for Him and
to be an extension of His power. He wants them to be His ambassadors and
reveal His nature to the world. But all these are possible only through the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. This lesson reveals that Christians cannot fulfil their God-given vision and mission without the Holy Spirit.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

I.     JESUS ANOINTED FOR THE WORK – ACTS 10:38

It must be understood that no one can do God’s will successfully without the help of the Holy Spirit. Any assignment given by God to any of His children cannot be done in God’s way and to His satisfaction without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, who was both human and God, had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit to fulfil His mission. Apostle Peter made us to know this when he declared that “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

This means without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would not have been able to do all the exploits of saving souls, healing the sick, raising the dead, performing various miracles and doing good generally to all people. It, therefore, follows that if Jesus needs the Holy Spirit to succeed in His ministry, all Christians need Him (the Holy Spirit) more in this end-time.

II.    YOU ARE TO DO GREATER WORKS – JN. 14:10-14

When Jesus was physically present here on earth, He told the disciples that He was not the one doing the various works and miracles which they saw Him do but the Father in heaven was doing them through Him. He then went ahead to declare that as many that believe on Him, the works that He had done, they would do also and greater works (exploits) than what He had done would they also do. The questions then are: what are the works that Jesus did that they would do? And how would they be able to do greater works than Jesus, are they more powerful than Him?

The works that Jesus did included the preaching of the gospel to sinners, the miracles of healing the sick, raising the dead etc. All these works were also done by the apostles (cf Acts 5:15; 19:112; 13:1; 5:1-10, etc). When Jesus said greater works they will also do, interpreters believed that it refers to the effects and dimension of such works by the apostles. For instance, the works of Jesus were confined to Judea. They were seen by few. Whereas, the works of the apostles were witnessed by many nations and the effect of their miracles and preaching was that thousands from the Jews and Gentiles were converted to the Christian faith. Also, some also account for the greater works in terms of the shadow of Peter that healed diseases (Acts 5:15); diseases cured and demons cast out by applying to the persons handkerchiefs and aprons that had before touched the body of Paul (Acts 19:12); the word of Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead (Acts 5:5, 9,10); Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind by the word of Paul (Acts 13:11) etc.

In essence, Christ has commanded all those who believe in Him to go ahead and do exploits for the kingdom. But He knew that we don’t have the power to do anything on our own and of our own, He therefore promised to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, through whom we can accomplish the greater works. It must be borne in mind that all the greater exploits we read about the apostles in the Acts of Apostles, are the works of the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit and that is why some scholars have suggested that the name of the book should be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”. What we read in the Acts of the Apostles is God’s pattern for the Church in every century. Every generation should produce similar acts within the body of Christ. The book of Acts is a continuing records. The book cannot be complete until your own exploits through the Holy Spirit, are recorded therein.

CONCLUSION    

God does not want His people to be ordinary, instead, He wants them to be extra-ordinary. It is His plan that the people called by His name should make a significant impact wherever they are located. He wants His people to be giants who can do exploits for Him. But He equally knows that this cannot be possible except they have a greater and higher power, hence, the release of the Holy Spirit to equip and energise believers to be able to accomplish greater things for the Lord. You are not yet doing anything for the Lord, if you are not among the impact-makers for the kingdom of God.

QUESTIONS

1.     From the lesson, what do you understand by exploits?

2.     How did the Holy Spirit help Jesus in His ministry?

3.     What do you understand by “greater works” which Jesus said believers in Him will do?

4.     Explain the connections between the Holy Spirit and the fulfilment of believers’ vision and mission.

For Audio Version, please click the link below.

http://hu.lk/rib65pafz7y8

French

DIMANCHE 11/05/2014

NE NEGLIGE PAS LE DON EN TOI

1Tim.4:12-16

Ici, Paul exhorta Timothée, étant jeune pasteur, d’être un bel exemple de croyant dans tous les domaines. Il doit faire usage de toute la grâce de Dieu sur lui, laquelle il  reçut par le Saint-Esprit. (Verset 12,14). Les autres ne doivent pas le dédaigner non plus qu’il ne doit pas se dédaigner lui-même car il détient de toutes les conditions nécessaires pour exercer l’œuvre à Ephèse. Parmi celles-ci, figurait un don spirituel qu’il avait reçu de Dieu. Sache que pour tout devoir qui t’a été donné par Dieu, il y a de la compétence, du don, de la sagesse, des gens, etc. que Dieu t’a donnés et qui t’entourent pour que tu réussisses. Regarde tout juste à l’intérieur et ne néglige ou ne fais pas fi des compétences qu’il t’a données.

Point essentiel : Tu as tout ce qu’il faut pour réussir dans ta tâche divine.

Axe de prière : Seigneur, aide-moi à ne pas traiter avec mépris, toutes les capacités qui m’ont été données pour ton œuvre.