Spirit bearing witness.

Post by **_Freelancer** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:56 am

I'm listening / studying 1John with Steve's audio. Last night Steve was talking about how to know if someone is truly a Christian, one point being that the Holy Spirit bears witness within us.

Steve or someone; Can you explain this a bit deeper? My feeling/understanding of this would be that, if the Holy Spiirit is in us then the things we do and say will be that wich Jesus has commanded us to do.

Am i on the right track here?

Post by **_TK** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:59 am

Hi freelancer--

just to clarify- do you mean how do we know if someone else is a christian, or how does a person know that he himself is a christian?

thx, TK

Post by **_Freelancer** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:06 pm

I guess both but that would depend on what is meant by the Holy Spirit "bearing witness"....

Post by **_TK** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:10 pm

as to someone else, i guess we cannot ever know for sure, but we can be reasonably sure based on the fruit that they produce. i think the HS bears witness to us, i.e. gives us a level of discernment in, this regard.

i remember sitting in a church several years ago, i cant even remember exactly why i was there. but when the minister started speaking i almost immediately sensed that he didnt know the Lord at all. he wasnt saying anything anti-christian, but he wasnt saying anything christian, either.

in regard to ourself, the same answer applies in a way-- if we arent bearing the fruit of the Spirit as outlined in scripture then red flags should go up. the bible says that we must "examine ourselves" to make sure that we are in the faith. we have to do so objectively vs subjectively; perhaps the HS helps us to be objective in our assessment of ourselves.

TK

Post by **_Freelancer** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:07 pm

Thanks for the reply, That is what I had in mind but wasn't sure.

Thanks again