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without him we can do nothing

"The essential, vital, central element in the life of every congregation is the person and work of the Spirit of God as illuminated and structured and judged by the Spirit-breathed Word."

"There is no good in any of us that is not a result of the Spirit’s work. Every virtue we possess, every victory we win, and every thought of holiness are due to the Spirit. Whatever God calls us to do in life can be accomplished only by the Holy Spirit. Without Him we can do nothing. We cannot do any spiritual good without the Spirit. Every new Christian becomes a believer through the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian who finishes the race of life and enters glory has been kept and prepared for heaven by the power of the Spirit. The only sin for which there is no forgiveness is one committed against the Spirit."

[On thinking of the Spirit as an impersonal force..."We must be careful not to do that with the Holy Spirit. He is not merely a background influence in the church like the heating system, or a crowd rouser like a band at a rock concert or an agent of raw power such as electricity or an extraordinary means of communication like the World Wide Web. The Spirit may be heat and influence and power and communication, but before He is any of them, He is a person. He is as much a divine person as is God the Father or Jesus the Son. Many cults deny this."

-- Geoffrey Thomas, The Holy Spirit (Reformation Heritage Books, 2011) 



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