SSLS 2017-02-20
2017 1st Quarter
Lesson 8, February 18-24, The Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit
Monday, February 20
“The Lord Jesus acts through the Holy Spirit; for it is his representative. Through it he infuses spiritual life into the soul, quickening its energies for good, cleansing from moral defilement, and giving it a fitness for his kingdom. Jesus has large blessings to bestow, rich gifts to distribute among men. He is the wonderful Counselor, infinite in wisdom and strength; and if we will acknowledge the power of his Spirit, and submit to be molded by it, we shall stand complete in him. What a thought is this! In Christ ‘dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him.’ Never will the human heart know happiness until it is submitted to be molded by the Spirit of God. The Spirit conforms the renewed soul to the model, Jesus Christ. Through its influence, enmity against God is changed into faith and love, and pride into humility. The soul perceives the beauty of truth, and Christ is honored in excellence and perfection of character. As these changes are affected, angels break out in rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice over souls fashioned after the divine similitude.” (Ellen White, Review Herald, August 25, 1896, emphasis added.)
“Of all the gifts that God has bestowed upon men, none is more precious than the gift of speech. If sanctified by the Holy Spirit, it is a power for good. It is with the tongue that we convince and persuade; with it we offer prayer and praise to God, and with it we convey rich thoughts of the Redeemer’s love….” (Ellen White, Vol. 6, Testimonies for the Church, 337, emphasis added.)
“God has in store love, joy, peace, and glorious triumph for all who serve Him in spirit and in truth. His commandment-keeping people are to stand constantly in readiness for service. They are to receive increased grace and power, and increased knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s working. But many are not ready to receive the precious gifts of the Spirit which God is waiting to bestow on them. They are not reaching higher and still higher for power from above that through the gifts bestowed, they may be recognized as God’s peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Ellen White, Vol. 8, Testimonies for the Church, 247, 248, emphasis added.)
“The Lord has bestowed great blessings upon his church. Justice demands that she return these talents with usury. As the treasures of truth committed to her keeping have increased, her obligations have increased. But instead of improving upon these gifts and going forward unto perfection, she has fallen away from that which she had attained in her earlier experience. The change in her spiritual state has come gradually, and almost imperceptibly. As she began to seek the praise and friendship of the world, her faith diminished, her zeal grew languid, her fervent devotion gave place to dead formality. Every advance step toward the world was a step away from God. As pride and worldly ambition have been cherished, the spirit of Christ has departed, and emulation, dissension, and strife have come in to distract and weaken the church.” (Ellen White, Signs of the Times, January 18, 1883, emphasis added.)