Timothy C. Tennent - The Spirit-Filled Life

TIMOTHY C. TENNENT

Copyright 2019 by Asbury Theological Seminary

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge, 1796.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover design by Strange Last Name

Page design by PerfecType, Nashville, Tennessee

Tennent, Timothy C.

The Spirit-filled life / Timothy C. Tennent. Franklin, Tennessee : Seedbed Publishing, 2019.

pages ; cm

The contents of this work originated from a sermon series, of the same name, preached by the author at Asbury Theological Seminary, in 2019.

Includes bibliographical references

ISBN 9781628247824 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781628247831 (mobipocket ebk.)

ISBN 9781628247848 (epub ebk.)

ISBN 9781628247855 (updf ebk.)

1. Holy Spirit--Biblical teaching. 2. Spiritual life--Biblical teaching. 3. Spiritual formation. 4. Christian life--Methodist authors. I. Title.

BS680.H56.T46 2019231/.32019949863

SEEDBED PUBLISHING

Franklin, Tennessee

seedbed.com

In honor of Arvid and Judy Metcalf, two servants of God who daily demonstrate what it means to live the Spirit-filled life.

Each year I write a small book to share with the friends of Asbury Seminary some teaching on a Christian theme. This has become a tradition at Asbury, dating back to our founder, H. C. Morrison, who published what, at that time, was known as the Pentecostal Herald, today known simply as The Herald. It has always been part of Asburys mission to not just train future pastors and leaders who are preparing for ministry, but also to help train and equip all those who are connected to the larger ministry of Asbury Theological Seminary. You are an important part of our mission, and we see you as integral to the ministry and outreach of Asbury around the world.

The world cannot hear the message of Christ well if it is only heralded by a professional class of full-time ministers. It must be shared and embodied in and through the whole church. Every member has the privilege and responsibility to bear witness to the Christian gospel in both word and deed. However, many Christians feel inadequate and are not getting strong biblical teaching in their local church. They believe the gospel, but they do not know how to discover their own gifts, or do not always see how their lives can be used effectively for the extension of the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you feel that way at times. We all need teaching that is practical, biblical, and reliable.

We asked many of you in recent years what questions you have, and how we can help you grow as a Christian. One of the prominent responses to that question was that many of you felt that you did not understand the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. You accepted Jesus and you understand the centrality of his death and resurrection in your life, but were not as confident about what happens after that. Central to the Christian message is that even after conversion, God continues to work in us and prepare us for effective witness. It is important to not just become a Christian, but to learn how to live as a Christian. This book is a response to that need.

This year I decided to preach a series of sermons at Asbury entitled The Spirit-Filled Life. This book is taken from that series. It is my hope that each and every one who reads this book will grow in their Christian life, and become more aware of the amazing ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

One

When we think of the Holy Spirit, we often assume that the Holy Spirit comes to us on the day of Pentecost. If we take that assumption, we would make the New Testament, particularly the book of Acts, our starting point for understanding the Holy Spirit. However, this is not the case. The Holy Spirit is one of the members of the triune God and, therefore, we meet the Holy Spirit all through the Bible. Therefore, this book begins by a brief survey of the presence of the Holy Spirit with the Old Testament. There are so many texts I could choose from the Old Testament, but Ive selected a few in order to give a picture of the full role of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. These are all chosen in order to paint a picture of the functions of the Holy Spirit.

When we open the Bible to Genesis, we immediately find the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters. Hes right there in the act of creation. When we are created, God breathes into us ruah, the Hebrew word for the breath of life, or spiritused for your spirit, Holy Spirit, wind, and breath. This same word is used for all of those meanings based on the context. So here is the Father breathing into us the Spirit of God, and this is what makes us image-bearers. Later on, as the Israelites go into the wilderness, they attend a meeting about constructing the tabernacle, and they have to design a lot of new things. They have to design altars. They have to design basins, utensils, priestly clothing, candlesticks, and on and on it goes. They dont have the knowledge to do this. Now, apparently, Bezalel had the gifts for it, but he had no experience to know what to do. Were told in Exodus 31:13 that the Spirit of God came down on Bezalel so that he could make the things in the tabernacle.

In Numbers 11:2526, the Spirit of God falls on the seventy elders at the tent of meeting, anointing them for leadership. But, the Spirit also fell on Eldad and Medad, two of the elders who were not present at the tent of meeting, but were in the main camp. Thus, there were seventy-two who were anointed, which is the number of the nations, the great anticipation of that theme of the Spirit being poured out on all peoples. In Deuteronomy 34:9, Moses lays his hands on Joshua and he prays that he be filled with the Spirit of God, that he might follow through on the ministry of Moses and lead as his successor.