Microchurch Minute
Present at Creation
Genesis 1:2: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Gives Life
Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Inspired Scripture
2 Peter 1:21: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Timothy 3:16
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness.”
Conceives Jesus
Luke 1:35: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you…”
Anoints Jesus for Ministry:
Luke 4:18 (quoting Isaiah): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor…”
Leads Jesus:
Luke 4:1 “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit
in the wilderness.”
Empowers Jesus:
Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…”
Convicts of Sin
John 16:8: “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness
and judgment.”
Causes New Birth
John 3:5–6: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Regenerates and Renews
Titus 3:5: “He saved us… by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
Baptizes into Christ’s Body
1 Corinthians 12:13: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and all were made
to drink of one Spirit.”
Seals Believers
Ephesians 1:13–14: “When you heard the word of truth… and believed in him, were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance…”
Testifies We Are God’s Children
Romans 8:16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Pours God’s Love into Our Hearts
Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.”
Sanctifies
2 Thessalonians 2:13: “God chose you… through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth.”
Produces Fruit
Galatians 5:22–23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”
Empowers Victory Over Sin
Romans 8:13: “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Transforms into Christ’s Image
2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all… are being transformed into the same image… For this comes
from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Guides into Truth:
John 16:13: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…”
Teaches Believers:
John 14:26: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and bring to your
remembrance all that I have said to you.”
Directs Ministry
Acts 13:2: “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I
have called them.’”
Forbids / Redirects
Acts 16:6–7: “They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia…”
Helps in Weakness
Romans 8:26: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness… the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
groanings too deep for words.”
Enables Cry of Adoption
Galatians 4:6: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Empowers Witness
Acts 1:8: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses…”
Distributes Spiritual Gifts:
1 Corinthians 12:4–7: “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit… To each is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
Gives Specific Gifts:
1 Corinthians 12:8–11: To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to
another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same
Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another
prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of
tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and
the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Dwells in Believers:
1 Corinthians 6:19: “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…”
Dwells in the Church Collectively:
1 Corinthians 3:16: “You are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you.”
Creates Unity:
Ephesians 4:3–4: “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit… There is one body and one
Spirit…”
Raises the Dead
Romans 8:11: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you… he… will
also give life to your mortal bodies.”
Is the Down Payment of Glory:
2 Corinthians 1:22: “[God] has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a
guarantee.”
Can Be Grieved:
Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…”
Can Be Quenched
1 Thessalonians 5:19: “Do not quench the Spirit.”
Can Be Lied To:
Acts 5:3–4: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit… You have not lied to man
but to God.”
Microchurch Minute
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but God Himself — fully divine, fully personal, and fully present. From Genesis to Acts, the Spirit has always been at work: hovering over creation, empowering leaders like David, speaking through the prophets, and promised as the One who would one day dwell within God’s people. Jesus lived in complete dependence on the Spirit and promised that after His ascension, the Spirit would come not merely upon a few, but within all believers. At Pentecost in Acts of the Apostles 2, that promise was fulfilled — the Spirit was poured out, empowering the Church for bold witness and forming a new Spirit-filled community.
We also saw the major shift from the Old Covenant to the New: the Spirit no longer comes temporarily upon select individuals but permanently indwells every believer in Christ. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us — convicting, guiding, empowering, and producing fruit. The question is no longer whether we have the Spirit, but whether we are living in daily dependence on Him. Since we live by the Spirit, we are called to keep in step with the Spirit.
Don’t be afraid to ask yourself…
Do I actually believe that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within me?
Do I confidently call on Him?
Do I aim to keep in step with the Holy Spirit inside me, or do I have habits that are quenching it’s power?
Microchurch Minute
We have spent the last few weeks going through the book of Galatians together. It’s been a powerful journey to see Paul’s complete anguish for the people of Galatia that are still buying into the idea that grace just isn’t enough. This letter wraps up on a few key points, the first of which is how believers handle the transgressions of other believers. We are called to lovingly address the sins of our spiritual family out of a place of desiring spiritual restoration for them – not a place of boasting our own superiority. This ideology is pretty backwards from worldly thinking. As the human race, we intrinsically want to point out the flaws and errors of our fellow man, put them on display at the whipping post and stand with a false sense of earned smugness as we watch them get what they “deserve”. But God. He wants us to leave the judgements, consequences and condemnations to Him. If we truly love God and have received His grace, we may simply desire our fellow believers to be forgiven and reconciled to the Father. After all, do we not trust the God of the universe to dish out consequences far more justified than we could ever imagine? Then we are called to share one another’s burdens. This required openness and vulnerability on both the burdened party and the believing brethren. Keep in mind, no one on earth may ever know just how obedient you are in this act of shouldering the burdens of other believers and your spiritual leaders, but God sees it. Are you pouring into your flesh or into the Spirit? God knows. Paul reminds us that we reap what we sow. If you’re stuck on using your resources to gratify your flesh, you will awake one day to find yourself disappointed in the unavoidable decay and ultimate death of the flesh. However, when you use your resources to pour into the Spirit as you are convicted to do, it is increased tenfold (or more!) for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. This falls into the discipline of tithing, but we will get into that at another time.
Our house church family is positioned in such an intimate way, that we can easily access one another to serve each other as needed. Do you ever notice that individuals who make statements like “why didn’t anyone at church help me?” are generally the individuals who tend to isolate and withdraw from community? But when we are actively in pursuit of our spiritual brothers and sisters, the fruit of the Spirit is often times evident in the way that we show up for, care for and pray for one another. That’s my kind of community! That is the community we are not only invited into but have the responsibility to help build on earth as we allow the Spirit to direct us.
Throughout our reading of Galatians, has Paul made his point abundantly clear? DO YOU UNDERSAND THAT THE JUDAIZERS ARE MISLEADING? I imagine that Paul’s handwriting must have been big and bold by the way he wraps up this letter. These legalists had an end goal of growing their list of converts to boast in their own achievements, not in anyone’s actual salvation. Believers want only to boast in the cross. The cross is a dividing barrier between the worldly wants of the flesh and the eternal deliverance of the Spirit. The flesh hates the cross and what it stands for, but I will boast proudly in the cross and Jesus Christ who reconciled me to the Father!
There were those that believed circumcision was required. There were those that boasted in their refusal to partake in such ritual. But neither mattered to God. He is still seeking to see the new creating that you become when you accept the free gift of grace offered by Jesus’ death on the cross, His perfectly pure sacrifice. I can imagine by this point in his letter Paul would just be at an absolute breaking point in his frustration with the Jesus+ doctrine that he was trying so desperately to refute. After a long letter of rebuking, correcting, warning and pleading, we see that he ends his letter with grace, not law, to the people of Galatia.
Microchurch Minute
Freedom. Full freedom, in Christ. Freedom to rest in His protection, to be released from your old self that has passed away, to live as who you are called to be.
Freedom isn’t a side effect of the gospel of grace. Freedom is what we receive when eternity is secured in Christ. It still takes a level of personal accountability, we must guard our freedom. False prophets and partial truths from the enemy have been trying to lead believers astray since the dawn of Christ’s good work. We must be careful to acknowledge that the freedom we receive in Christ, isn’t some sort of permission to sin freely access. Instead, we have the permission to freely worship and serve one another. Freely giving of our time, money and talents – because at the end of the day, they all belong to God anyway. We have the freedom to trust that God will use all of these for His glory and we can follow His lead as the vessels through which He chooses to work. What beautiful responsibility to be entrusted with. His grace says that you are enough, you no longer have to strive to attain perfection to be worthy of the Kingdom of God. Even a child knows, none of us could ever earn that on our own. Paul reveals that there is an ongoing battle of the flesh and the Spirit. But flesh could never inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh strives for earthly glory, greed, immorality, gluttony and temporary pleasures. While the Spirit seeks God first and produces a good fruit. Others should be able to see by our lives that we are feeding off of God, in the same way that a plant grows fuller and brighter when given the correct nourishment. Do you see the fruits in your own life? Do others? Is there no doubt that you are producing:
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love
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joy
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peace
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patience
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kindness
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goodness
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faithfulness
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gentleness
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self-control
Let you love for Jesus and your true freedom in Him leave no doubt that you are actively choosing to live for something greater than yourself. Our victory against sin flows from our identity in Christ, it’s not something we can achieve on our own. The Spirit is alive in you and wants to move. Are you so desperately leaning in to God’s teaching that your desire is to allow the Spirit to move you?
Microchurch Minute
Paul continues his communication to the Israelites here. They were God’s chosen people, yet still rejected Jesus. The calling on Paul’s heart truly is for their salvation. He understands that God’s covenant with Abraham applies to all spiritual descendants, not just bloodline. Divine adoption is a powerful thing. It proves that God’s discernment is always the final say. His mercy has always chased after His own creation – Jew and Gentile through grace, not based on bloodline or human efforts. The mercy offered to us is forever undeserved. We are born sinners, the punishment for sin is death. We are incapable of living a life that could satisfy the law. Our striving efforts are in vain, if our heart isn’t heart fully yielded to God. Salvation is strictly dependent on God’s mercy for His creation. What glorious news!
There is an illustration given of the potter and his clay. Imagine the craftsmanship that goes into each piece of wetness. A blob of goo, carefully chosen my the potter. As he works with it and brings it to life. The potter determines the shape, size, depth, details and functionality of each piece before it is presented for use. Some of these might be everyday work pieces, used to bring water back and forth for animals and home, or a dinner plate to take in nourishment that God has blessed you with. Some pieces may be more ornamental and used for display purposes, to serve and be seen at the appointed time. Who is the clay to say to the potter “why did you make me this way?” We are to assume the posture of the clay piece, whatever it is, with thankfulness for the thought and creativity that went into every detail of our being.
God’s mercy chases us all. Paul even references back to Hosea where we see the similarity to when God called out Israel – they will be called His people. Those once rejected will be welcomed into the family of God. God has a chosen remnant, those that will not be abolished like Sodom and Gomorrah. Redemptive grace extends to all, Jew and Gentile alike. But it requires true faith in God and the actions that Christ took on the cross. Israel continued to pursue righteousness by works, the belief that Jesus’ death on the cross was enough for their salvation became their stumbling stone. It’s here that we see Jesus’ death is received one of two ways: either as an offense to the prideful or as salvation to the humble.
Microchurch Minute
We gathered on Sunday to discuss Galatians 4 – Paul takes a moment here to turn from argument to emotion, but not before expressing his frustration again. The Galatians lived as slaves to the law, in the same manner that the son of a wealthy man might be under the care of stewards and guardians, waiting to mature enough to officially inherit his father’s estate. This is wat Old Testament faith looked like, working to abide by the laws (the people’s “guardian”) under the care of stewards and guardians, awaiting the fullness of time when God would reveal the inheritance already promised. But isn’t it beautiful that Jesus, the Son of God, became the son of man so that all believers, sons of man, could become heirs to God. What a beautiful exchange! No wonder Paul is bewildered and pained when he sees the children of God falling back into the old rigidity of the law. Our lives look different when we are zealously living out our love for the Lord instead of vigorously checking off the next thing to-do on our sanctification check list. The enemy works in this way, to take parts of the gospel and counterfeit it into patterns that lure away timid sheep. How do we learn to discern the counterfeit teachings of false prophets? By knowing the Word in all of it’s glory. Personal accountability comes in here – are you using your time to deep dive into rabbit holes of counterfeit mis directions? Or are we simply turning to fact-check alluring doctrines to God’s Word that we know to be true? There is a whole profession dedicated to getting counterfeit money out of circulation. They don’t spend their time studying the wrong monies, they master the knowledge of what is authentic to have no doubt when something sketchy pops up.
We have very early documentation of this in the story of Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Through Abraham’s own efforts with Hagar, Ishmael was born—representing what is produced by human striving rather than God’s promise. But when God intervenes in His amazing grace, Sarah is blessed with Isaac (representing a covenant of grace). It’s been a question asked in our house before “Are you trying to man-handle this? Or have you actually surrendered it to God?” His grace and provision is always enough. Part of the radical faith of Christianity is accepting that your work is not what is required by God – appreciated, yes – but not what is necessary to earn grace. We are not just forgiven we are adopted. As we choose to accept His divine grace, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The goal? Christ being formed in us. Our humanistic egos can often times interrupt this design. The lies of busyness, fear of condemnation and selfishness actively act against our calling to live vulnerably among a family of believers.
To live as sons and daughters means embracing the lost, just as Jesus did. It means resting in grace by faith and freely sharing the truth of God’s love. We don’t just follow Jesus—we get to reveal Him.
