Holy Spirit, Part Three.

Notes from Roger Aubrey

(I'm using the NIV version in here for the scripture references.  This is just what I jotted down in class so sorry if it's really disjointed...)

How the Spirit works in our minds:

Matthew 22 v37
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’"

Ephesians 4 v22-24
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Romans 12 v2
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.

Romans 8 v1-11
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."

Proverbs 23 v7 (NAS)
"For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
         He says to you, "Eat and drink!"
         But his heart is not with you. "

1 Corinthians 2 v16
" “Who has known the mind of the Lord
   so as to instruct him?”
   But we have the mind of Christ. "

Your mind is part of being human.  It's a gift from God.  Because of the fall our minds are warped, our thinking's twisted.

Genesis 2 v17
"but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 

-->the problem was knowledge.  That we could think independantly of God and thereby separate ourselves from God.  It was a battle for the mind.  Satan didn't call God a liar.  He said, "Did God really say...?"  And Eve questioned it.

Romans 1 v18-32
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 
 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. "
 
Governments take care of the physical aspects of life, but not the root of the problem, which is the heart of man.
 
In the west we're taught that something is true when we understand.  Faith says, believe it and then understand it.  It's not what we're taught, because we all think we need to understand a thing before we're willing to believe it, before it can be right.
 
The first thing you have to do in salvation is repent, which is changing your mind.
 
Your mind is not born again.  It's not wiped like a computer drive.  You still know who you are, how you grew up, etc.  All it's learning and memories, so your mind has to come under the control of the Spirit, forever.
 
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is something that should be yours right from the beginning; day one.
 
Your mind is based on what you were.  The old Chantal.  God works to transform you by the renewing of your mind.  Until the moment you speak in tongues (because the Christian life is very much about speaking), every word you've spoken in your life up until that point has been under the control of your mind. 
 
You're not designed to be a silent believer!  Take things by agreeing with them, verbally!
 
When you speak in tongues, your words are controlled by the Spirit.  You speak truth and your mind becomes more like Christ.
 
Don't rationalize it with your brain.  If someone's a Christian then they already have the Spirit in them.
 
As you speak in tongues more, you'll find that your mind begins to yield to the Spirit.  To the control of the Spirit.  Your mind wants to be fed and renewed.  Your mind is still very important because it becomes the means by which the things of the Spirit are acted out.
 
Our minds are constantly being renewed and they NEED to be constantly renewed.  If you stop, your mind won't revert back, but it also won't renew and your mind of the flesh will start to show.
 
An important thing about speaking in tongues is that you don't babble.  It's a language you never learn, but it's a language: it has expression, context, syntax.  It is you talking to your father.  Anything's possible.  Focus your thoughts on the Lord!  He's who you're talking to, and TALK to him.
 
There's a corporate nature in speaking in tongues.  (story of hearing angels sing)
 
Tongues can appear to be mechanical, but it is us trying to get ahold of something.  The discipline of speaking in tongues is that sometimes you don't see the benefit right then.
 
There's power in speaking in tongues when you really need it.