The Holy Spirit

In one paragraph

Brian opened this service from the TMC by stepping away from the ongoing new wine series to share two scripture passages and a dream he had the night before. The passages were Exodus 30 and Isaiah 32, and the congregation worked through them together, looking for a common thread. That thread turned out to be anointing, consecration, and what it means to carry a royal identity as sons and daughters...

Read together

1. Exodus 30:22-33 read aloud to describe the sacred anointing oil and its consecrating power
2. Isaiah 32 read in full as a prophecy about a righteous king, the pouring out of the Spirit, and future restoration
3. Acts 2 referenced as the fulfillment of the Spirit being poured out after Jesus died and rose
4. Revelation 5:9-10 read aloud to connect the theme of believers made a kingdom and priests to serve God and reign on earth

Talk about it

1. Brian walked through how knowing the genre of a biblical book, who wrote it, who it was written to, and when it was written can change how much you get out of reading it. Where in your own Bible reading have you felt lost, and how might some of that background information have helped?
2. The group noticed that in Exodus 30 the anointing oil worked differently from the usual rule, where instead of the holy thing becoming ordinary, anything that touched the anointed objects became holy. Where in your life have you seen someone carrying something of God that seemed to lift the people around them rather than being dragged down?
3. Several people in the group connected the 'righteous king' and 'honest princes' in Isaiah 32 verse 1 to the idea that followers of Jesus are already royalty, with both privileges and responsibilities. How does that identity sit with you personally, and what makes it easy or hard to accept?
4. Lissa shared a picture during the ministry time of kings asleep at a table, covered in vines, still wearing their royal garments but unable to function in their identity. She used the word 'untangle' to describe what the anointing could do. What are some of the things in your own life that have tangled themselves around your sense of who God made you to be?
5. Brian described his dream as calling him to pour something out over a hill of broken concrete, twisted rebar, and chaos, and said the response he felt was not outrage but simply 'let's fix it.' When you encounter chaos or brokenness in your family, workplace, or community, what is usually your first instinct, and how does that compare to what Brian described?