Today I started team-teaching a Sunday School class at church that will go through Francis Chan’s latest book: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.
In addition to exploring our fundamental knowledge about the Holy Spirit, as a class we will look at what the Bible says about Him, at our understanding of the Holy Spirit, our misconceptions, and even abuses of our understanding.
Today we went through the introduction and first chapter, the later of which asked the interesting question: “I’ve got Jesus. Why do I need the Holy Spirit.” Without recounting my whole 3-hour lesson (just kidding!), the bottom line was that we DO need the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus Himself stresses the importance and necessity of the Holy Spirit when He tells His disciples about the other Counselor that would come (John 14:16-17a).
The key take-away from chapter one was that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives should result a NOTICEABLE difference. If it’s true that the Spirit of God dwells in us as believers and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t there be a noticeable difference between a believer and a person who doesn’t have the Spirit living in them? As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, the Holy Spirit’s presence should result in a life that is a “new creation” – a life that is noticeably different from our past and from those who don’t have the Holy Spirit living in them. Living Spirit-empowered lives should result in an Acts 4:13-like opinion of us:
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
While we’ve never physically been with Jesus (as Peter and John had), we have the promised Holy Spirit living in us!
Chan’s premise for the book is that sadly, this is not the case in the lives of many Christ-followers and churches – thus the book’s title. It’s a broad statement, but one that I’d agree is true – especially of mainstream Evangelical believers and churches in America.
At the end of each chapter, Chan provides examples in order to answer the question: What does living a Holy Spirit-empowered life look like? Today’s profile was of Joni Eareckson Tada. I lieu of the Forgotten God DVD (which is still in transit – probably a victim of the Christmas shipping rush), I showed an edited version of this Larry King interview with Tada:
As you can see from Joni’s life story and testimony, living a Spirit-empowered life is more than head knowledge about the Bible, it’s more than charitable works or good deeds, it’s more than empty religion. It’s about a transformed life. It’s about living a life that is dependent upon and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
May it be so in me, Lord!
x
…looking forward to the rest of this class!
DENNARR(dot)COM 
This sounds like a must-read book. Thanks for sharing this, and for posting the video on Ms. Tada. What an inspiration she is! And I appreciate that I can always come to your blog and be spiritually fed, my friend. You’re a blessing.
Wayne
Thanks Wayne – I’ve listened to the audiobook all the way through and it is pretty good. Chan’s comment on Tada is that you can’t spend 5 minutes with her without being encouraged and seeing a life lived by the power of the Holy Spirit…this interview testifies to that!
Blessings brother!