Through the study of scripture we see that the Spirit of God has been continuing the work of Christ ever since Christ fulfilled the gospel and has gone to be with the Father. And the work that Christ came to do is establish God's Kingdom here on earth. Therefore, God the Holy Spirit is currently at work in fulfilling the plan of building a Kingdom with people from every tribe, tongue, nation, culture, and race.
God the Holy Spirit is doing this by empowering and gifting people to be Kingdom advancers. In essence, The Spirit of God, gifts and empowers the Church of God, to continue the ministry of the Son of God, all for the Glory of God. Therefore Christians are empowered, equipped and expected to serve God through the power God provides in the Spirit.
However, our flesh fights viciously against hiddenness and sameness. We hate doing the same thing over and over again; and we hate doing things without recognition. However, the Spirit loves to serve and Glorify Jesus. Our Spirit finds great joy in serving the Kingdom, but that joy is never found until serving becomes a discipline used by our Spirit to fight our flesh. Therefore if we don't discipline ourselves to serve, we'll never know how God has gifted us, and we'll only serve when it's convenient and self-serving. When we do that, we can only experience results in which the flesh can produce; and will miss out on finding the joy and power in the Holy Spirit through our service.
Questions:
1. How have you benefited from others serving within the Kingdom of God? (Personal Question)
2. How do you serve out of the grace given to you in the gospel, and not because of guilt? (Gospel Question)
3. How can our group be more intentional to serve together and hold each other accountable to serving? (Community Question)
4. How have you experienced a joy in the Holy Spirit through serving within the Kingdom? (Application)
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