(25-09-2024, 10:32 AM)Lukongsimi Wrote: Not all churches have the feeling of God’s presence
Was very sleepy bef baptism after that my eyes never fail to stay open until end of sermon
I initially wasn't sure why the presence of God is acutely felt only in certain churches. I later realized Paul's statement in 2 Cor 3:17 may help to explain the phenomenon, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." In the NT, "Lord" represents the sacred name of God, which is "Jehovah" or "Yahweh"; it indicates a Divine Being.
Paul said, "the Lord is the Spirit." God the Father is Lord, God the Son is Lord, and God the Spirit is also Lord. Jesus is Lord over the church, but the Holy Spirit is Lord in the church. Jesus' lordship over the church is effective only insofar as the Holy Spirit is Lord in the church. Should a church truly desire Jesus as Lord, the Holy Spirit must first be Lord within that church.
This requirement presents a problem to many contemporary Christian churches whose members confess Jesus as Lord but fail to make the Holy Spirit Lord in their lives and in their church meetings. The first step towards making the Holy Spirit Lord is to be baptized with the Holy Spirit or, failing that, the stirring of the Holy Spirit may not be felt at all.
Paul identified two ways that the Holy Spirit dwells within the church, the body of Christ. In 1 Cor 3:16, he wrote: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" The "you" in this passage is plural in the original Greek. Paul was speaking to Christians collectively as a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the next breath, he said, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" (v 19) Here, Paul addressed individual believers. Not only does the Holy Spirit dwell in the church - a collective group of believers - but he also dwells within each individual believer.