God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

/ 1 0 9

G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

Now is the time for you to discuss with your fellow students your questions about the ministry of the Holy Spirit which have been raised by today’s lesson. Your questions are of the utmost importance. The ideas, questions, and concerns that you have now must be discussed and debated. The truth regarding the work of the Holy Spirit in this lesson is full of important implications, and undoubtedly you now have questions regarding the significance of these truths for your work in the Church, and for your life and ministry. The following questions may help you form your own, more specific and critical questions. * What are the implications of the Spirit’s regenerating work (which the Scriptures refer to as new birth, making new, making alive, new creation) for people in the city? * How should the Spirit’s work of adopting new believers into God’s family affect the way that we think about the Church? What are the strengths that your church has as acting as a family for new believers? Are there any things that should be improved? * In your church, when and how is the Spirit’s work of regeneration and adoption explained to a new believer? What has worked well for you in this process? Are there ways that you can improve this? * What does your church believe about baptism in the Holy Spirit? Do you hold a single-stage or a multiple-stage view? Why? * How do we keep our differing views over baptism in the Holy Spirit from becoming something that gives the devil a chance to cause division in the body of Christ or causing one group of Christians to feel more spiritual than another?

Student Application and Implications

3

How New Is He?

A middle-aged man with a troubled history as a pedophile recently accepted Christ through the outreach ministry of your church. He is attending every service and is eagerly soaking up the Scriptures through group Bible studies and hours of personal reading at home. It is obvious that he has had an encounter with Christ and that rapid change is happening in his life. He has publicly renounced his old way of life and has agreed to meet regularly with an accountability partner (assigned by the senior pastor) who can support him in his struggles with temptation and to whom he can confess any failures. While the people of the church were thrilled when he