Your trauma, pain and suffering have a role to play in your story - and in your relationship with the Holy Spirit - but they are not the hero of it and they shouldn’t get to define it!
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“Most of us carry a bad taste in our mouths – some old hurt (or trauma) that has misinformed our image of God. It’s high time we cleansed our palates of that bitterness. I believe God’s healing grace and Jesus’ gospel truth can wash out the sour and prepare us for the sweet, to where His Word (Jesus) becomes like ‘honey on our lips’ (Ps. 119:103). We’ll taste and see that God (and His Spirit) really is good.”
- Brad Jersak, A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel.
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Our broken images of the Holy Spirit are often inferred from real life experiences.
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REFLECT…
What experiences have informed or misinformed your image of the Holy Spirit?
Is the Holy Spirit someone you run from in fear or run to for refuge? Does the Holy Spirit inspire joy or resistance?
What is your most dominant image of the Holy Spirit? Is it congruent (aligned) with what you have read or encountered in scripture?
Can you share and experience that does align with scripture and what you know of the Jesus-story (The Gospel)?
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RE-ALIGN…
[2 Corinthians 3: 17 AMP]
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].”
[Romans 15: 13 NLT]
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
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The Steeple Church Podcast is recorded on Wurundjeri land in the east suburbs of Naarm - that you will find on a map as Balwyn in Melbourne, Australia.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of these lands, the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation and we pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Sovereignty was never ceded.
You can view the full Steeple Church Acknowledgement of Country here.
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If you would like to know more about Steeple Church or connect with us you can do so by checking out our website on-the-line at steeplechurch.com.au or by following us on all the socials...
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