The Dove Bible Study


Bringing Glory To God Is Your Goal

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esus willingly paid the debt of sin and purchased our salvation and the promise of the Holy Spirit.  We are no longer our own; we are His and His alone.  We are not on our own; we belong to God.  The LORD sent the Holy Spirit for our comfort because Jesus paid for the sins of the world.  The Holy Spirit is not a personal attendant; He is God.  The Holy Spirit is in perfect understanding with the Father and Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is part of the plan for our regeneration.  We need to die to self so He can reign. Most people do not die to self-life at conversion.  He becomes a part of our life so we willingly surrender our heart to God and lay our life on the altar.  We will not mature if we do not learn to take up the Cross and follow Christ daily.  We would not need the Holy Spirit if total sanctification and regeneration took place at conversion.  The point being, if we laid our life on the altar and surrendered to God’s will, why are we still trying to run our own life?

          God unites His family in Christ by the fact His grace saves us through faith.  The avenue that the Holy Spirit uses to draw us to salvation is the witness of God’s Word working in the life of believers.  There are different levels of understanding but our maturity is a matter of learning to be obedient to the Word of God.  Our salvation came through Jesus Christ alone and we must receive Him as LORD, Savior, and Life individually.  Salvation is a personal experience.  We receive our new heart and spirit as the Holy Spirit brings us individually into a personal experience with Him.

          We need to know and understand that with His Spirit we also received the fruit.  The Spirit bears witness to the ‘born again’ conversion experience.  As individuals we do not know all the mysteries of our faith.  However, we share the fruit of the same Spirit.  We simply apply what we understand about God’s love within our community, home, and work place.  The Holy Spirit Himself produces the good works which God has prepared for us to walk in. -- Eph 2:10

          God’s desire for us is to give grace and show mercy in the same manner we receive God’s irresistible grace.  We are God’s children 'in Christ’.  For this reason we should love one another.   We are members of one body, and in some manner love must confront sin.  We are to question immature behavior because God works through us in each other’s life too.  Jesus said we will know other believers simply by sharing and allowing the fruit of their new life in Christ to reveal their identity.

          Some people know all about the Bible.  The knowledge puffs them up but the fruit is what will witness to the motives of a new heart.  People may understand all mysteries and still lack love for one another; people can be foolish without God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit.  Some believers only perceive what is right and wrong in their own understanding.  Still others show apathy instead of mercy and compassion.  God has enabled you to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only, to forgive one another, and rejoice in the salvation God provided.  God calls us to grow in love, accepting one another as individuals.  We need to appreciate and accept all of the children of God, saved or not, allowing for the Holy Spirit to convince them of sin.  No person is worthy or deserving of God’s love for before coming to Christ; everyone needs salvation, and this only by the grace of God.

          Only God knows the hearts of individuals.  We can only try to understand other people's rejection, lean on God for direction and understanding as we share our life and faith in God with others.  Why do we try to live spiritually on our cunning and craft?  The answer is that some people do not really understand God’s grace.  Some believers are still trying to provide their own self-righteousness when God wants them to trust solely on the work of the Cross and the Holy Spirit.  Again, the failure of the believer to bear fruit is a matter of not knowing God in an intimate relationship.  We can choose to share His love in our own strength knowing God will honor His Word.  However the evidence of our trust in Him will come to light in the fruit that God produces when we remain connected to Christ.  If we cannot love and be intimate with those who surround us, we cannot truly love the One we haven’t seen.

 

Jesus Promised To Send Us The Spirit of Truth

 

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, "even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."    -- Jn 14:15-21

 

The Cost Of Receiving The Holy Spirit

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. -- John 14:23-26

 

The Holy Spirit Guides Us To Continue Jesus' Work

 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go

away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: "of sin, because they do not believe in Me; "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. "All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. -- John 16:7-15

 

The Disciples Received The Holy Spirit And Power To Remit Sin

 

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." Now when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Then Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."    -- John 20:19-23

 

The Ascension And Great Commission

 

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.    -- Acts 1:4-9

 

The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit

 

Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. -- Acts 2:1-4

 

The Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit In The Last Days

 

'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and notable day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.'    -- Acts 2:17-21

 

The New Testament Promise For All Generations

 

Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."    -- Acts 2:38-39

 

The Promise Is To Those Who Hear And Believe

 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.   -- John 5:24

 

The Victory And Triumph Of Those ‘in Christ’

 

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.  -- 2 Cor. 2:14-17

 

Jesus Revealed God’s Love For Us And That We Are Live For Christ

 

For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. -- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

 

We Are A New Creation ‘In Christ’

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,

all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  -- 2 Cor. 5:17-19

 

We Are God’s Children

 

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.   -- 1 John 3:1-3

 

By Believing In Jesus, God Abides In Us And We Receive Everything We Need

 

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.    -- 1 John 3:19-24

 

We Receive The Promise Of God’s Spirit As The Evidence Of Our Salvation And Adoption

 

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. - Gal 4:4-7

 

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  -- 1 John 4:12-13

 

The Gospel And The Spirit Witness That We Are ‘In Christ’

 

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. -- 1 Jn 5:9-15

 

By Abiding ‘In Christ’ We Have Both The Father And The Son

 

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.  This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.  Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.  He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. -- 2 John 1:6-9

 

The Holy Spirit Works Through Us

 

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. -- 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

 

We Are Members Of One Body, United ‘In Christ’

 

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.- 1 Co.12:12-14

 

Our Assurance Comes From The Holy Spirit

 

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.  -- 1 Thess. 1:5

 

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. -- 2 Cor. 3:4-6

 

We Are Being Transformed By The Spirit Of The Lord

 

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.  -- 2 Cor. 3:17-18

 

Our Love For One Another Fulfills The Law Of Christ

 

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."   -- Gal. 5:13-14

 

We Overcome The Corrupt Nature (Flesh or Self-life) By Walking In The Spirit

 

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. - Gal. 5:16-18

 

The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Manifested By Crucifying The ‘Self-Life’

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.- Gal.5:22-25

 

We Are Sealed By The Holy Spirit As A Guarantee Of Our Inheritance

 

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. -Eph. 1:13-14

 

We know God and Receive the Holy Spirit Through Faith

 

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. -- Ephesians 3:14-19

 

The Evidence Of Being Filled With The Holy Spirit

 

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.  -- Ephesians 5:18-21

 

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.  Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.  Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal life.  These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.  But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. -- 1 John 2:20-27

 

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.  And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.  Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. -- 1 John 3:22-24 

 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. -- 1 John 4:7-17

 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.   We love Him because He first loved us.   If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?   And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.  -- 1 Jn 4:18-21

 

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.   By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.   For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.   For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.   Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  -- 1 John 5:1-5

 

Christ Abides In Us Through The Spirit

 

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.  And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  -- 1 John 3:21-24

 

When The Holy Spirit Comes, He Will Never Leave Us

 

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, "even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." -- Jn 14:16-21

 

The Holy Spirit Will Reveal Christ And Bear Witness To Us

 

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;

"that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.-- John 17:20-23

 

The Holy Spirit Gives Us Life And Leads Us Into All Truth

 

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors; not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. -- Rom 8:9-14

 

The Spirit In Us Will Assure Us Of Eternal Life In Christ

 

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.  He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.  And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  -- 1 John 5:9-13