Episode 51
The Spirit Was There All Along
Have you ever wondered if the Holy Spirit has been overlooked in our understanding of the New Testament? This episode explores how the Spirit was present all along—before, during, and after the ministry of Jesus—shaping the story far beyond dramatic moments or church buildings. Discover why recognizing the Spirit as foundational, not peripheral, can transform how we see ourselves, our faith communities, and the boundaries we create. If you’re ready to rethink what it means to truly be the temple of God, this episode will challenge and inspire you.
"The people are the temple. The Spirit is the life." - Tim Winders
Access all show and episode resources HERE
Episode Resources:
- NT90 Hub – This is the central website for the 90-day New Testament reading plan, with downloadable, printable plans, background information, and links to all episodes and resources.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 Don’t Miss the Spirit
00:47 NT90 Reading Plan
02:10 From Correction to Spirit
03:54 Spirit in Jesus’ Birth
04:42 Baptism and Mission
06:11 Promise of the Helper
07:47 Acts Power and Pentecost
10:34 Spirit Breaks Boundaries
13:11 Life and Fruit
15:30 People as God’s Temple
18:53 Modern Misreads and Practice
20:32 Closing Challenge
Transcript
If you only listen for the word church, you may miss the people.
Speaker:If you only look for the building, you may miss the temple, and if
Speaker:you only look for dramatic moments, you may miss the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:The Spirit is not absent in the New Testament.
Speaker:The Spirit is there before Jesus is born.
Speaker:The Spirit is with Jesus as he ministers.
Speaker:The Spirit is promised before Jesus leaves.
Speaker:The Spirit is poured out after Jesus rises.
Speaker:The Spirit is active in the people who carry the message forward.
Speaker:The Holy Spirit was there the whole time
Speaker:welcome to Seek Go Create.
Speaker:I am Tim Winders.
Speaker:I have read the entire New Testament recently.
Speaker:I did it in 90 days.
Speaker:It's actually been a few months now.
Speaker:I might need to cycle back and do it again.
Speaker:I keep saying that at the beginning of some of these episodes because so
Speaker:many things have spun off from this reading of the New Testament and
Speaker:all the research that I did leading up to creating the reading plan.
Speaker:I wanted to put the books of the New Testament, the letters, in the order
Speaker:that they were written so that I could get the most context possible.
Speaker:So I could, I could kind of read when Galatians kind of came out in the
Speaker:order prior to when Luke wrote what he wrote, and just see how it builds.
Speaker:It was awesome.
Speaker:I enjoyed it, and, I think it would be really cool for you, if you haven't
Speaker:done it already, to do that also.
Speaker:And, it's-- it'll really challenge you.
Speaker:It really will.
Speaker:You can get that plan.
Speaker:I've developed it and made it available.
Speaker:It's at k2m.foundation/nt90, k2m.foundation/nt90.
Speaker:The link should be down wherever you're consuming this, in the podcast
Speaker:notes or in YouTube or wherever it is that you're checking this out.
Speaker:Go get it.
Speaker:Go get it and just start.
Speaker:Now, in the last episode, I asked kind of in a truthful and transparent way
Speaker:whether I had missed the Holy Spirit when I went through this whole process, not
Speaker:because the Spirit was absent, because I was reading a lot for correction.
Speaker:There were some things that I just needed to get shaped in my brain that seemed
Speaker:like, or at least for years I thought they were right, but then I started reading the
Speaker:New Testament going, "That doesn't sound right." And so I needed some correction,
Speaker:and I think in many ways we do.
Speaker:I was watching for things like the rapture theory, temple assumptions,
Speaker:church systems, political religion, and all the things that we added or misread.
Speaker:That work was good.
Speaker:It mattered.
Speaker:It was important.
Speaker:It really has helped me and a lot of other people.
Speaker:I've gotten a lot of feedback.
Speaker:But this episode slows down and follows the Spirit through the story.
Speaker:When I did a read-through of the New Testament in order, context, and all
Speaker:of that, I kept seeing big arcs and things that were going on and things
Speaker:that were there and things that weren't there, things that I thought were
Speaker:there that I tried to force in, and other things that jumped out at me.
Speaker:And a- again, the thing that I may have missed during that process
Speaker:was that the Holy Spirit is one of the foundations of that story.
Speaker:Not as a doctrine first, as a storyline.
Speaker:Because when you read the New Testament this way, the Spirit is not waiting
Speaker:in the background for, you know, some kind of a later theological
Speaker:chapter that comes into play.
Speaker:The Spirit is moving from the beginning.
Speaker:It's there throughout.
Speaker:The Spirit is there before the public ministry of Jesus ever begins.
Speaker:In Luke 1, the Spirit surrounds the birth narratives.
Speaker:John the Baptist will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.
Speaker:Mary is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon her.
Speaker:Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:Simeon comes by the Spirit into the temple.
Speaker:Before Jesus preaches a sermon, heals the sick, confronts religious leaders,
Speaker:or announces the kingdom, the Spirit is already extremely active in the story.
Speaker:Then we get to Luke 3.
Speaker:Jesus is baptized.
Speaker:The heavens open.
Speaker:The Holy Spirit descends on him.
Speaker:The voice from heaven identifies him as the beloved Son.
Speaker:Then Luke 4 tells us Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit and is led
Speaker:by the Spirit in the wilderness.
Speaker:After the testing, Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit.
Speaker:Then he walks into the synagogue, opens up Isaiah, and reads, "The
Speaker:Spirit of the Lord is upon me."
Speaker:It's not a side note.
Speaker:That's almost the foundation of the entire story.
Speaker:That is the announcement of his mission.
Speaker:The Messiah is Spirit-anointed.
Speaker:So the Spirit is not a replacement for Jesus.
Speaker:The Spirit is already woven into the mission of Jesus himself.
Speaker:Jesus is not doing kingdom work apart from the Spirit.
Speaker:Jesus is showing what Spirit-anointed kingdom life looks like.
Speaker:That matters because many of us have treated the Spirit as
Speaker:what happens after Jesus leaves.
Speaker:But Luke will not let us do that.
Speaker:The Spirit is there with Jesus.
Speaker:Before the cross, before the resurrection, before Pentecost, the Spirit is
Speaker:already present in the mission.
Speaker:In John 14 through 16, Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure.
Speaker:They obviously do not fully understand what is coming.
Speaker:They followed him.
Speaker:They've heard him teach.
Speaker:They have watched him heal.
Speaker:They're hopeful that he's gonna create some new kingdom on Earth.
Speaker:That's not what happens.
Speaker:They've actually seen him confront the systems around them.
Speaker:They think he's gonna replace it.
Speaker:That's not what happens either.
Speaker:And now he starts telling them he's going away.
Speaker:That sounds like abandonment, but Jesus tells them they will not be abandoned.
Speaker:The Helper, I believe it's the Paraclete in the Greek, the Helper will come.
Speaker:The Spirit of truth will come.
Speaker:The Spirit will teach.
Speaker:The Spirit will remind.
Speaker:The Spirit will bear witness.
Speaker:The Spirit will guide.
Speaker:That matters for the original audience.
Speaker:They were not being told to keep a memory alive by building
Speaker:an institution around it.
Speaker:They were being told that the presence of God would remain with them by the Spirit.
Speaker:And then Jesus leaves.
Speaker:He ascends.
Speaker:He doesn't abandon.
Speaker:That is the distinction.
Speaker:The Spirit is not a consolation prize.
Speaker:The Spirit is the promised presence of God with the people of Jesus that's
Speaker:in that kingdom, and that changes how we read everything that comes next.
Speaker:When we get into Acts, the disciples are not told to build a headquarters.
Speaker:They're not told to create a political strategy.
Speaker:They are not told to turn the movement into a religious institution
Speaker:that can survive without presence.
Speaker:They are told to wait
Speaker:That's hard for people who like to control.
Speaker:They were probably a little like that.
Speaker:We are definitely like that, too.
Speaker:Just wait.
Speaker:Pause.
Speaker:Wait.
Speaker:Not because nothing is happening, because they need power from another source.
Speaker:Acts 1 opens with the promise, "You will receive power when the Holy
Speaker:Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses." Not you will be my
Speaker:witnesses, then you'll receive power.
Speaker:You'll receive power, then you will be my witnesses.
Speaker:Sometimes we get those crossed up.
Speaker:That sentence gives the structure of Acts.
Speaker:Power comes from the Spirit.
Speaker:Witness moves outward.
Speaker:Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.
Speaker:Then Acts 2 brings us Pentecost, wind, fire, languages, a crowd from many
Speaker:nations hearing the mighty works of God.
Speaker:That is not just a dramatic miracle.
Speaker:Pentecost is God dwelling with His people in a new way.
Speaker:The temple was still standing.
Speaker:That is important.
Speaker:The temple did not fall the day the Spirit was poured out.
Speaker:The priests were still working.
Speaker:Sacrifices were still being offered.
Speaker:The old system still had stones, courts, rituals, and daily activity.
Speaker:But the New Testament shows the presence of God moving in a new way,
Speaker:not away from people, into people.
Speaker:The Spirit fills the followers of Jesus, and then witness begins.
Speaker:Peter stands up and explains what is happening.
Speaker:That's not confusion.
Speaker:This is not drunkenness.
Speaker:This is what the prophets had pointed toward.
Speaker:God is pouring out His Spirit.
Speaker:Sons and daughters, young and old, servants and handmaidens, the
Speaker:Spirit is not being reserved for a priestly class, for a select few.
Speaker:The Spirit is being poured out on the people, everyone who desires it and wants
Speaker:it, and wants to be part of that kingdom.
Speaker:Every person, it is being poured out to them.
Speaker:That is a new kind of sacred space.
Speaker:That is a new kind of people.
Speaker:That is a new kind of access to the Creator And then Acts just keeps
Speaker:showing the Spirit crossing lines that religious systems and worldly
Speaker:systems would have kept in place.
Speaker:The Samaritans receive the message.
Speaker:An Ethiopian eunuch is welcomed.
Speaker:And if you knew the system that was in place, both of those things were no-nos.
Speaker:That doesn't happen.
Speaker:In Acts 10, Peter is told not to call common what God has made clean.
Speaker:The dietary laws all of a sudden look different.
Speaker:Cornelius hears the message, and the Holy Spirit falls
Speaker:before Peter finishes talking.
Speaker:That is something opening wide Cornelius, a Roman, all of a
Speaker:sudden is part of the kingdom.
Speaker:That moment should make us pause.
Speaker:Peter is still speaking, and the Spirit interrupts the whole process.
Speaker:He doesn't get finished with what he's giving instructions on.
Speaker:The Spirit takes over, takes control.
Speaker:The Spirit doesn't wait for a committee.
Speaker:The Spirit doesn't wait for Jerusalem to write a policy.
Speaker:The Spirit doesn't wait for the religious system to decide
Speaker:whether Gentiles are acceptable.
Speaker:God gives the same Spirit to them.
Speaker:That is how the boundary breaks.
Speaker:Later, in Acts 15, Peter points back to that moment, shows how significant it is.
Speaker:God gave them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us.
Speaker:God made no distinction.
Speaker:God cleansed their hearts by faith.
Speaker:That is not just a nice inclusion story.
Speaker:That is the Spirit confirming the people of God before the system catches up.
Speaker:The system had to learn what the Spirit had already made clear, and
Speaker:that is still a word for us today.
Speaker:Sometimes our categories are too small.
Speaker:We shrink it down.
Speaker:Sometimes our approval processes lag behind the work of God.
Speaker:Sometimes the Spirit is forming people we would not have invited into the room.
Speaker:We would have excluded them.
Speaker:The New Testament keeps showing us that the Spirit is not controlled
Speaker:by the old boundary markers, not ethnicity, not temple access, not
Speaker:religious approval, not human comfort.
Speaker:Spirit forms one people in Christ.
Speaker:Paul then does not present the new life as rule-keeping with Jesus' language added.
Speaker:He describes life in the Spirit.
Speaker:Romans 8 is one of the clearest examples.
Speaker:The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
Speaker:The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God.
Speaker:The Spirit helps in weakness.
Speaker:The Spirit gives life.
Speaker:The Spirit is not decoration for Christian belief.
Speaker:The Spirit is the life of the people of God.
Speaker:And then this verse that many of us love, this chapter in Galatians 5,
Speaker:Paul contrasts two kinds of fruit.
Speaker:The works of the flesh include hostility, strife, jealousy,
Speaker:fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy.
Speaker:Sounds like some of our social media feeds The fruit of the Spirit
Speaker:is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Speaker:gentleness, and self-control.
Speaker:That list should test every system we build or bow down to.
Speaker:Religious systems, political systems, family systems,
Speaker:business systems, church systems.
Speaker:If the system produces hostility, strife, rivalry, dissension, and fear, we should
Speaker:not call it kingdom work just because it uses Christian words or a scripture.
Speaker:The Spirit produces different fruit, and that fruit cannot be manufactured by law.
Speaker:It cannot be elected into office.
Speaker:It cannot be produced by a party platform.
Speaker:It cannot be forced through religious guilt.
Speaker:It grows from life.
Speaker:That is why this matters.
Speaker:If the church or group of people forgets the Spirit, it will still
Speaker:try to produce Christian-looking outcomes, but it will reach for whatever
Speaker:operating system is easiest to see: religion, Rome, performance, control.
Speaker:We've all seen it.
Speaker:The fruit will tell the truth.
Speaker:This may be, as we slide into this next section, one of the
Speaker:biggest parts of the story.
Speaker:In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the believers, "You are God's
Speaker:temple, and God's Spirit dwells in you." Not the building, you.
Speaker:Not a sacred room, the people.
Speaker:That changes everything about the old system and the new.
Speaker:That is the contrast.
Speaker:That's the thing we've got to get and understand the
Speaker:message of that New Testament.
Speaker:It's not a-- God's not in a building anymore.
Speaker:He's in you.
Speaker:In the old system, the temple represented God's dwelling with His people.
Speaker:There was sacred space, priesthood, sacrifice, restricted access, one
Speaker:place at the center Then Jesus comes, the veil tears, Jesus sits down.
Speaker:We've seen that in Hebrews.
Speaker:The Spirit is poured out.
Speaker:We saw that in Acts 2.
Speaker:And Paul tells believers that God's Spirit dwells in them.
Speaker:That means the center moved from a place to a people, to a soul, to a heart.
Speaker:Not necessarily plural, singular, but plural when you combine it all together.
Speaker:The building can help the people gather, but it's just a side thing.
Speaker:It's not the main thing.
Speaker:We mess up when we make it the main thing.
Speaker:The building does not become the dwelling place of God in the old sense.
Speaker:The Spirit makes the people the temple.
Speaker:And this is not anti-gathering, this is not anti-order, and
Speaker:this is not anti-building.
Speaker:This is anti-confusion.
Speaker:When the people are the temple, the building can serve the
Speaker:people, but the people are not support staff for the building.
Speaker:When the Spirit dwells in the people, the program can serve life, but
Speaker:the program cannot replace life.
Speaker:When Christ is present by the Spirit, leadership can serve the
Speaker:body, but leadership cannot become the mediator between people and God.
Speaker:We've got to stop doing that.
Speaker:The guy on stage with the microphone is not the mediator between you and God.
Speaker:The Spirit was there the whole time, and the Spirit is there now.
Speaker:The Spirit changes where we look for the presence of God.
Speaker:What did it mean then?
Speaker:Let's look back, and then we'll look at now.
Speaker:The first century followers of Jesus were living through a transition.
Speaker:The temple still stood for them.
Speaker:They still saw this building that historically had been where God is.
Speaker:But the Spirit had been poured out to them.
Speaker:The old system still had stones and priests and sacrifices and smoke
Speaker:coming out of it, but the new people of God were being formed by the Spirit.
Speaker:The Spirit showed that God was not limited to Jerusalem, ethnicity,
Speaker:temple access, or religious approval.
Speaker:Where does the modern misread, or what have we done to mess up
Speaker:what is actually in the text?
Speaker:We often read Acts as a book of church growth or strategies, or possibly
Speaker:even just supernatural events.
Speaker:That actually misses the deeper movement.
Speaker:Acts is showing the Spirit forming a people beyond the old boundaries.
Speaker:When we reduce the Spirit to signs, programs, or denominational debates,
Speaker:we miss the story the text is telling.
Speaker:What does this still mean for us?
Speaker:It's really simple and hard at the same time.
Speaker:How we treat people.
Speaker:The Spirit pushes us beyond the lines we draw around who belongs.
Speaker:Our natural tendency is to create division.
Speaker:The Spirit tells us to get rid of that.
Speaker:How we do religion in church, the Spirit makes people the dwelling
Speaker:place of God, not the building.
Speaker:It impacts how we do politics.
Speaker:The Spirit forms allegiance to Jesus before allegiance to
Speaker:nation, party, or our tribe.
Speaker:It also impacts how we do business and work.
Speaker:The Spirit forms honesty, patience, courage, and self-control, and also
Speaker:gives wisdom in ordinary decisions.
Speaker:The Spirit changes how we treat people, how we gather, how we engage public life,
Speaker:and how we work when the old boundary marks no longer get to decide who belongs.
Speaker:The Holy Spirit was there the whole time.
Speaker:The Spirit was present with Jesus, promised by Jesus, poured out after
Speaker:the resurrection, given to the people at work across every boundary
Speaker:the old system tried to keep.
Speaker:So the question is not whether the Spirit appears in the New Testament.
Speaker:The question is whether we have let the Spirit remain central
Speaker:and foundational to the story.
Speaker:Because if the Spirit is central to the New Testament, then the
Speaker:Spirit cannot be peripheral to the Church, to our gatherings,
Speaker:to what we call the Church today.
Speaker:The people are the temple.
Speaker:The Spirit is the life.
Speaker:And that brings us to the next question that we wanna ask.
Speaker:If the people are the temple of the Spirit, why do we keep treating
Speaker:the structure as the center?
Speaker:Next time, we will ask what happened when we built churches and missed the Spirit.
Speaker:I wanna remind you to go get the reading plan at k2m.foundation/nt90.
Speaker:Read this stuff for yourself.
Speaker:Don't take my word for it.
Speaker:Man, it'll get you thinking, and it will press you and
Speaker:challenge you, I guarantee it.
Speaker:Go get it and read it.
Speaker:Links are down in the notes.
Speaker:I am Tim Winders.
Speaker:Keep seeking.
Speaker:See you on the next episode
