House Calls

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

Home

Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL150014A


00:01 Hello friend, grab your Bible and a friend
00:02 and sit back as we explore God's word
00:04 together on this edition of House Calls.
00:25 Welcome to House Calls,
00:27 the place where Bible's are open
00:29 and we're praying hearts are also open.
00:33 Welcome to spiritual excursion through a book that's so deep,
00:36 if we don't have one Holy Spirit dare
00:38 we will drown.
00:40 So what are we going to do?
00:41 We're going to pray for the Lord to prove us
00:44 against everything that can consume us
00:46 and we're going to try to share with you
00:48 what God has in store for you today.
00:49 But it's always good to do this with my friend
00:52 who shares the passion and the name.
00:54 That's right. Good to have you here, John.
00:55 Hey, brother.
00:57 How is it going?
00:58 You know our wives, when we're with our wives
00:59 we don't call each other John,
01:01 he calls himself Coolidge and I call myself...
01:03 Parker. Parker.
01:04 So I don't use those names, those are exclusive.
01:07 But we're glad you have chosen to tune
01:08 into this dynamic program
01:11 where the word of God is alive.
01:13 And we have been saying this lately,
01:16 we have chosen not to be politically correct.
01:18 So thank you for accepting the fact
01:20 that it's going to be undiluted straight from the board of God.
01:24 We're going to get some questions and comments
01:25 in a moment before we do any of that,
01:28 John is going to have prayer for us.
01:29 Okay, let's do that.
01:31 Father in heaven,
01:33 again, we come before you seeking your blessing
01:35 and that blessing is the Holy Spirit to fill us,
01:39 to change our minds our hearts to bring us into harmony
01:43 with your word and your will.
01:45 And we pray, Lord, that you would take over this program
01:47 and that you would infect the lives of all
01:51 who are listening to it and viewing it.
01:53 May we encourage and strengthen the brethren
01:56 and we encourage and lift up our sisters in Christ
01:59 through the program that we have set for us today.
02:02 In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
02:07 Many of you come up with questions and comments
02:09 and you send them to us, here they are.
02:12 And the e-mail that appears on your screen is the place
02:14 that you can portal those to us, housecalls@3abn.org.
02:18 That's housecalls@3abn.org,
02:22 and we surely do appreciate not only your questions
02:25 but your prayers, your comments,
02:27 and your financial support of this network.
02:31 You know the Lord has no lack
02:33 when it comes to financial support.
02:35 But as my good friend, and founder,
02:37 and president of 3ABN says, Danny Shelton,
02:40 "God has no shortage of money, it's just in your pocket."
02:44 So pray for the Lord not only to open your hearts
02:46 but remember, but remember us monthly,
02:48 so that programming like this can continue.
02:52 Now, John, what is our first question for today?
02:54 Well, this question is coming from Virginia,
02:57 and she is really been struggling with something
02:59 that's going on in her family and it may be something
03:03 that others have dealt with before.
03:05 Maybe not exactly the same thing but...
03:09 but something else.
03:10 And so I'm going to just read part of the question here,
03:13 it's a long one but I'll read part of it
03:15 and then we can share a few thoughts with her
03:16 to encourage her.
03:19 She's from South Africa, and she says that,
03:23 "As an Adventist and raising her son,
03:25 I guess to be one as well,
03:26 that he finally he decided to almost four years ago now,
03:31 he decided one day to marry a Muslim."
03:34 And it says that,
03:36 she's worried about certain verses in the Bible
03:38 that could mean that she will be judged or destroyed
03:40 because she allowed her son to marry this woman.
03:45 And doesn't talk much about what their life is now
03:48 but, she just feeling a lot of anxiety
03:50 about that here of late.
03:52 And she mentions Deuteronomy 7:3,
03:55 so I'll read that here just so we can get some context
03:57 as to what she's thinking about.
03:58 She says, talk about 7:3,
04:02 which says this "Nor shall you make marriages with them,"
04:06 speaking of the other nations around Israel,
04:10 "Don't make marriages with them.
04:11 You shall not give your daughter to their son,
04:13 nor take their daughter for your son.
04:16 For they will turn your sons away from following Me,
04:18 to serve other gods
04:20 so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you
04:23 and destroy you suddenly."
04:24 So she's taking this as something
04:29 that is occurring, possibly occurring in her life.
04:35 And I want to encourage Virginia
04:37 that that is not in fact the case.
04:40 What this is speaking about specifically
04:41 is this practice back then of nations
04:45 marrying off their wives or their daughters
04:47 and their sons to other nations to bring peace agreements.
04:50 And it's a deliberate intention of the parents
04:53 to engage in this connection with somebody
04:57 outside of their family to bring about peace or harmony
05:00 between the two.
05:02 And this is not what's going on here.
05:04 I don't see anywhere that Virginia was,
05:07 in some intentional act of making sure
05:10 that her son was marrying outside of their faith
05:12 as being Seventh-day Adventist or being Christian.
05:17 The Christians marrying Muslims will bring challenges
05:20 because we both have different ideas,
05:23 different perspectives, different words of God.
05:28 And I think that she is probably
05:31 torn up a bit about that
05:32 because she's seeing maybe some of the results
05:34 of that relationship coming together.
05:36 And it says here, the reason you don't do this
05:38 they will lose their faith,
05:40 essentially is what Moses is writing here
05:43 and what God is telling Moses here in Deuteronomy Chapter 7.
05:47 Okay.
05:49 It also says in the New Testament
05:50 that, we should not be unequally yoked.
05:53 And so the principle there
05:55 is that we should not open ourselves up to marriage
06:00 that has two different fleece, two different religions
06:03 that will bring just disharmony into the marriage.
06:08 Plus, it will inevitably cause the one
06:10 that has a true faith in God to lose that faith
06:13 and to fall into the error of the other
06:16 or maybe just lose their faith in God altogether.
06:18 And so I would suggest this, Virginia, pray for your son,
06:24 and pray for his wife, and their family.
06:28 The Lord has a way of restoring
06:31 what sometimes we think
06:33 a situation that is hopeless is.
06:36 And so God can bring
06:39 a true faith back into that home
06:41 but they do need prayer,
06:43 and so make sure you're praying.
06:44 But don't wallow in this sense
06:49 of maybe you're going to be judged or condemned for this.
06:51 What was described in Deuteronomy 7,
06:54 as making sure that God was,
06:55 that that Israelis were not doing this.
06:58 It's not something you did intentionally.
07:00 We have to be very careful
07:02 in how we relate to our children,
07:06 especially when they get to a certain age.
07:07 John, I have seen situations
07:10 where parents have been so strict
07:12 and so overbearing on their kids to do the right thing
07:16 that it can actually drive their children away from God.
07:19 And so I think you have to be careful of doing that as well.
07:22 Our kids reach a certain age
07:24 where they do have to make decisions for themselves.
07:26 The best thing we can do is train up a child
07:28 in the way that we want them to go
07:30 and if they choose a different path at some point
07:33 we need to be praying for them so that the Bible,
07:35 the Bible says, they will return to God
07:38 later in life, that that will happen.
07:40 And so that's what I encourage you to do, Virginia.
07:43 There are a couple of other verses also, John.
07:45 Thank you for your response to Virginia.
07:49 But there are a couple of other verses I want to use
07:51 to be able to encourage you, Virginia,
07:53 because what we have to also keep in mind in this sense
07:56 is as John explain the context of that verse,
07:59 the content was the most important part of the verse.
08:01 Yes.
08:02 What the agreements were between nations,
08:04 and that's what they were talking about to bring
08:06 peace accord, peace agreements,
08:08 peace agreement, stronger economies.
08:09 The Lord said, "Don't do that, I could bless you.
08:12 You don't have to go down that route."
08:13 But let me also give you this passage,
08:15 in Ezekiel 18:19-20.
08:19 Really wonderful passages that shows
08:22 that each person is in fact responsible
08:24 for his or her own decisions.
08:27 Yet, you say, let me go and get the context here.
08:31 "Yet you say, why should the son
08:33 not bear the guilt of the Father,
08:35 because the son has done what is lawful and right.
08:38 And has kept all my statutes and observe them,
08:41 he shall surely live.
08:43 The soul who sins shall die.
08:46 The Son shall not bear the guilt of the Father,
08:50 nor the father bear the guilt of the son.
08:53 The righteousness of the righteous
08:55 shall be upon himself
08:57 and the wickedness of the wicked
08:59 shall be upon himself."
09:01 And John, everybody has to give an account
09:03 for their own decisions.
09:04 You can say, you better marry us, you know,
09:06 you better marry that.
09:09 People look for these decisions
09:10 and they will bear the responsibility
09:13 of their own decisions.
09:14 So that's what it says here,
09:16 father is not going to bear the guilt of the son,
09:19 and the mother is not going to be bear the guilt of the Son
09:22 or the mother bear the guilt of the daughter
09:24 or the daughter bear the guilt of the mother or the father.
09:27 Its clearly saying, relationally,
09:29 your children are responsible for their decisions,
09:32 you are responsible for your decisions.
09:35 It's your influence
09:37 that you have to pray about that doesn't lead them.
09:39 That's why the Bible says, train up a child in the way
09:41 they should go
09:42 and when they are old they won't depart from it.
09:44 If you say to your child when they're young,
09:45 it doesn't really matter who you marry,
09:47 then you do bear some responsibility.
09:49 But ultimately, it's their decision to go forward
09:52 and decide, this is what I want my life to be,
09:55 and they will be are the guilt of that.
09:57 And keep in mind,
09:58 the culture back then was arranged marriages.
10:00 Of fully.
10:01 So when it says, don't give your children,
10:04 your daughters or sons too another nation or someone,
10:08 a family that serves other Gods,
10:10 it's talking about the contents of arranged marriages.
10:13 And I'm presuming that here,
10:15 it was not a written arranged situation
10:17 where she was giving her son
10:19 because that doesn't sound like
10:21 something that happens in South Africa,
10:23 to another family deliberately as an act.
10:26 And so I like what you said in the beginning,
10:28 context is everything when you're reading a passage,
10:30 you can't just make this blanket statement
10:32 across all cultures and times.
10:36 Another one, Ezekiel 14:14,
10:39 "Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
10:43 they would deliver only themselves
10:46 by their righteousness."
10:48 And also verse 15, it's the long, verse 16,
10:54 "Even though these three men were in it,
10:55 as I live," Ezekiel 14:16.
10:58 "As I live, says the Lord God,
11:00 they would deliver neither sons nor daughters,
11:05 only they would be delivered,
11:07 and the land would be desolate."
11:09 So you have to keep in mind,
11:12 each of us is accountable for our own position
11:15 before the Lord.
11:17 So don't allow that guilt or that decision
11:19 that your son has made
11:21 to marry someone of a different faith
11:23 or different belief system all together.
11:25 Don't take that guilt upon your own children.
11:28 Here's a question,
11:33 "I was listening to your show on Tuesday night
11:37 and there was a question from someone saying,
11:40 'Is hell real and will we really burn forever and ever?'
11:45 It was rather interesting, however,
11:48 I have a question according to Revelation 20.
11:50 What is the second death?"
11:53 And also they add,
11:55 "If Haiti is referred to as hell,
11:59 then what is death?
12:01 Is death to grave?
12:03 For it's said both hell and death
12:05 were thrown into the lake of fires.
12:08 What is the lake of fire? I don't understand.
12:11 Is the Bible referring to three different distinct places
12:14 the grave, hell, and the lake of fire?"
12:17 And so that question is that,
12:19 let's first start with the first one.
12:22 "Is hell real and will we really burn forever and ever?"
12:27 John, recently on the news, on CNN I saw
12:30 one of the presidential candidates,
12:34 his faith was being made publicly known.
12:39 And CNN said, as they listed his beliefs,
12:42 speaking about a Seventh-day Adventist as, Dr. Ben Carson,
12:45 the second thing they said about him is,
12:47 about Seventh-day Adventist, they don't believe in hell.
12:50 And I thought, that's not true, that's not true.
12:56 We believe in a hotter hell
12:58 than the rest of the Christian world.
13:00 That's right.
13:01 We believe in hell so realistically.
13:03 Let me go and give you a couple of passages in the Bible.
13:05 First, let's go to Malachi. Malachi.
13:09 We believe in a hot, hot, hot hell.
13:13 A hell that is so hot
13:16 that it doesn't leave anything that is thrown into it.
13:20 All right, look at Malachi 3,
13:23 Malachi 4 beginning with verse 1,
13:28 "For behold, the day is coming,
13:32 burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes,
13:36 all who do wickedly will be stubble.
13:40 And the day which is coming shall burn them up,
13:43 says the Lord of host,
13:46 that will leave them neither root nor branch."
13:51 There's gonna be quite a fire.
13:53 The fire that's coming here
13:56 is not for the purpose of burning up cotton
13:59 and spider webs.
14:00 This gonna burn up everything
14:02 leaving them neither root nor branch.
14:04 Jesus also made the statement,
14:05 if there's a root and branch showing
14:08 that the Devil and those he has influence,
14:11 those he had influence will all be consumed together.
14:15 One of the questions, John,
14:16 that so many people don't ask themselves,
14:17 those who believe in this eternal burning idea.
14:20 But they apply that to people
14:22 but I deny and infused the question
14:23 and I'll do the same now.
14:26 Is the devil gonna be destroyed?
14:27 And the answer is...
14:29 Sure. Yes, of course.
14:31 Ezekiel 28 makes it clear.
14:33 "The Lord says,
14:34 he will bring fire forth from the midst of him
14:37 and consume him on the earth,
14:39 in the sight of all those who know him."
14:41 The devil is going to be destroyed.
14:42 Now, if you have no roots
14:47 can you have fruits?
14:50 Absolutely not.
14:51 And the Bible says,
14:52 "I will leave them neither root nor branch."
14:56 So if the roots of the tree, if the fire is so hot
15:00 that it consumes the roots of the tree,
15:02 I can guarantee you, there will be no branches.
15:06 The devil, the root of evil,
15:07 those who have accepted his claw, his lies,
15:09 the branches of evil,
15:12 all both will be consumed together.
15:17 Anything you want to comment on before we go on?
15:18 Well, I was thinking about the statement
15:20 that was made there on CNN that we don't believe in hell.
15:23 And I think in some ways it's true
15:26 because we don't believe in a place called hell
15:30 that is burning now that people go to.
15:33 But they don't qualify that way.
15:34 Right, they didn't qualify that way.
15:36 But we would say that the Bible doesn't support
15:38 a place of hell, it supports the event of hell,
15:40 which is hell fire that comes down from heaven
15:43 that burns everybody up at one point in time
15:45 after the thousand years.
15:47 It's not burning now, it's not a place
15:48 where everybody is burning now,
15:50 that is where we would disagree with our evangelical friends
15:54 in their assessment of how they read
15:57 you know, hell, what's happening.
15:58 In fact, John, you don't go to certain,
16:01 you don't go to funerals
16:05 where someone was a bad character,
16:08 yet, the family wants a funeral in the church.
16:11 And have that pastor stand up and say,
16:14 "Well, Fred wasn't a great guy,
16:20 and right now we can be confident of one thing,
16:22 he is in the fires of hell suffering day in and day out."
16:27 You just don't hear that. No, you don't.
16:30 But that's the reality of what they believe,
16:32 they do believe it.
16:34 But the Bible says that they will rest in the grave,
16:37 both the wicked and the righteous,
16:40 when they die, they rest in the grave.
16:42 The righteous to come up at the second coming of Jesus
16:44 in the resurrection, to be called up in the air
16:47 and to go to heaven with him for thousand years.
16:49 The dead not living any longer,
16:50 not raised until after the thousand years,
16:53 then they are raised to judgment and then hell fire.
16:57 That's hell right then,
16:59 which is fire coming down out of heaven
17:01 and burning everything up including,
17:04 and here's a better picture of God.
17:07 The fire is designed to burn the wicked up
17:10 but its intention is to get rid of sin.
17:13 Right.
17:15 God's intention is to destroy sin forever,
17:17 they have held on to that sin.
17:20 God will burn that sin but it burns them as well,
17:23 but it also purifies the effects of sin
17:25 on the earth.
17:26 And then immediately on the heels of that we watch,
17:29 the righteous watch and God recreates the earth anew.
17:32 That's right.
17:33 So that is the intention of hell fire.
17:36 We get this, you know, I think sometimes,
17:38 evangelicals are so concerned with giving up
17:44 this idea of motivating the wicked
17:47 to give their hearts to God through fear.
17:51 That if you don't give your hearts to the Lord now,
17:53 if you don't confess your sins and follow God,
17:55 you're going to burn in the fires of hell
17:57 forever and ever and ever.
17:58 And as if that's the kind of motive we need to serve God,
18:01 as if he's a torturer to keep people alive
18:04 to suffer for eternity.
18:05 That is not the picture of God that we find here.
18:08 And so we really agree in the sense
18:12 that there is no place of hell now,
18:14 but we disagree
18:16 with the evangelical view of hell.
18:17 That's right.
18:18 So that's the statement I would add to this,
18:21 and I think it's an important one.
18:24 The other thing that we have to keep in mind
18:25 in continual answer to this question,
18:29 Psalms 37:9-11,
18:35 "For evildoers shall be cut off,
18:40 but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
18:44 For yet a little while
18:45 and the wicked shall be no more,
18:47 indeed, you will look diligent for his place
18:50 but it shall be no more.
18:53 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
18:56 and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
19:01 That abundance of peace,
19:04 whenever my wife and I go anywhere together
19:06 and we go to these cities
19:08 that are just discombobulate with traffic
19:10 and the horns honking, you know we say,
19:15 "Can't wait to get back to Thompsonville.
19:18 Can't wait to get back to where it's quiet.
19:21 Oh, we're just so tired of this traffic.
19:23 Oh, It's just hectic."
19:25 And it's just like a rat race and somebody,
19:28 I remember years ago, somebody once said,
19:30 "Even if you win the race
19:32 you're still a rat in the rat race."
19:35 And so we think about these
19:37 who are connected in the sense of the righteous
19:42 will long enjoy the abundance of peace.
19:45 So will the wicked be burning forever and ever?
19:48 Absolutely not.
19:50 Roman 6:23, let's repeat that together,
19:53 "The wages of sin is death.
19:55 The gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
19:59 The main reason why the wicked cannot burn forever,
20:01 the main reason why they will never burn forever,
20:04 as they don't have eternal life.
20:06 Only the righteous have eternal life.
20:08 The righteous receive something eternal,
20:10 that's a life.
20:12 The wicked receive a life sentence
20:14 that eternal death.
20:17 They receive the death sentence,
20:18 eternal death, not eternal burning.
20:22 Okay, and so don't fret yourself
20:25 because of evil doers as the Bible says,
20:26 "Soon they shall be cut off
20:28 like the grass and wither as the greener,
20:30 you will look for them and they won't be found."
20:33 Psalm 37:1.
20:35 Buddy, you had another question there, John.
20:37 You want to register anything or you want to wind up on that.
20:40 No, I think we wind up on that note,
20:41 because it will give us a little more time.
20:42 This is just a single program on this topic,
20:45 and it'll give us enough time to cover it.
20:47 Sounds good, sounds good.
20:49 For those of you who are listening to the program
20:51 or watching have any questions, you can send us questions
20:53 to this following e-mail address
20:55 and this is our portal to you and your portal to us
20:59 that is, housecalls@3abn.org.
21:02 That's housecalls@3abn.
21:05 And we surely do appreciate everything you do
21:07 for the cause of God and for the word of God
21:11 going forward undilutedly.
21:14 John, what's our topic as we wind up
21:16 this second our second half of the program,
21:19 speaking about what?
21:20 Well, we're going to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit
21:23 in the converted life.
21:25 Okay.
21:26 So we're not going to get involved in defining
21:29 or at least showing that the Holy Spirit exist,
21:34 you know, the person of the Holy Spirit
21:36 all these things that sometimes are in conflict today
21:39 that people are discussing with in Christendom today.
21:41 What we're gonna talk about is
21:43 when a man or woman gives their life to Jesus,
21:46 the promise of the Holy Spirit comes into them, converts them,
21:50 what does that look like.
21:52 And then their life is forever changed.
21:55 And what is the role then of the Holy Spirit
21:57 not only in conversion,
21:58 but in that life going forward, the sanctified life.
22:01 So we're gonna talk about
22:03 the Holy Spirit in that aspect today.
22:04 All right.
22:05 I think we ought to start with verse John 14.
22:08 Let's go there.
22:10 Because that's the promise of the Holy Spirit,
22:12 that's probably the most well known passage
22:14 for this topic.
22:17 Okay, go for it.
22:19 Let's see.
22:21 Fifteen and sixteen? Yeah.
22:22 Jesus is meeting with the disciples
22:27 here in the upper room
22:28 prior to his trial and crucifixion.
22:32 And in fact, five chapters 13 through 17
22:36 cover the upper room experience.
22:37 Okay.
22:38 And so this is where he's letting them know,
22:40 he's basically commissioning his disciples
22:43 to carry on the work that he began.
22:46 And that's why you'll find in verse 12,
22:52 where he says, "I say to you, he who believes in me,
22:54 the works that I do he will do also
22:57 and greater works than these he will do,
22:59 because I go to my father."
23:00 So he's basically saying, I started the works,
23:02 I did some works but now you're going to carry it on
23:04 and you going to do much greater works in number
23:07 because I go to my Father.
23:08 And how will you do those works
23:10 are described in the next few verses number.
23:13 Number verse 13 and 14
23:15 talk about asking the Lord for help with that,
23:20 and though that the works that you may be glorified,
23:22 it says, in the son.
23:25 If you love me keep my commandments.
23:27 In other words, you order your life in harmony with mine
23:29 and my principles as given in the Ten Commandments.
23:31 But then here comes the promise of their helper, verse 16,
23:35 "And I will pray the Father,
23:37 and He will give you another helper,
23:41 that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth,
23:45 whom the world cannot receive,
23:46 because it neither sees him nor knows him,
23:48 but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
23:52 I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you."
23:55 So Christ comes into the life
23:57 through the presence of the Holy Spirit
23:59 and he says, to the disciples, ask for the Holy Spirit.
24:03 That's right.
24:05 Ask for me to pour out
24:06 the blessing of the Holy Spirit into your life,
24:08 because I know that without the Holy Spirit in you
24:11 there can be no conversion.
24:14 And conversion is simply a transformation of the heart
24:16 and its desires to incline them toward God
24:19 and not to the world.
24:20 That's right. That's to convert.
24:21 So the Holy Spirit can be placed in you to convert you
24:24 and to change your life nor will you have the power
24:27 to live the life that I've given you
24:29 do you want to do the works without giving you to do.
24:30 Right.
24:32 Holy Spirit needs to be in you to do that.
24:33 Okay.
24:34 In John 16, one of the other,
24:39 there are important components I believe to this study is,
24:43 when Jesus says, "However
24:45 when the Spirit of truth has come,
24:48 he will guide you into all truth,
24:50 for he will not speak on his own authority
24:52 but whatever he hears he will speak
24:56 and he will tell you things to come.
24:59 He will glorify me
25:01 for he will take of what is mine
25:03 and declare to you."
25:06 Very important point here,
25:07 a lot of people today exalt the Spirit of God,
25:10 the Holy Spirit,
25:11 but the Holy Spirit's work is to exalt Jesus,
25:15 exalt Christ to not say,
25:17 we must pray for the and filling of the Spirit.
25:20 But what is it life eternal
25:23 that we might know the only true God
25:25 and Jesus Christ whom he sent.
25:27 The active power, the active agent,
25:30 the third person of the Godhead
25:32 the Holy Spirit is the one that comes into our lives
25:36 and works not only on us...
25:39 Let me just put this equation together,
25:41 I like the way I say this.
25:43 First, he works on us,
25:45 when we accept Jesus then the Spirit works in us
25:49 so that later on he can work through us.
25:52 And so that's a process, he's working on me.
25:54 People Say, and you know
25:56 the Bible talks about conversion.
25:57 It's like the wind that blows, you don't know
25:59 where the wind sort of blowing, where it's going,
26:00 where it's headed, but you see the impact of it.
26:03 And the change of life I think
26:05 is one of the greatest evidences of the presence,
26:07 and power, and the indwelling
26:09 sufficiency of God's Holy Spirit.
26:12 You know sometimes I think,
26:14 and this is what we're trying to give us
26:15 the biblical view of the Holy Spirit
26:17 in the life of the believers,
26:19 the one that is given themselves
26:20 to Christ to be his disciple.
26:23 Or to be that one
26:26 who is walking with God day-by-day
26:30 and Jesus does that through the power of his Spirit.
26:33 But I think sometimes it boils down to within Christianity,
26:37 this physical manifestation.
26:39 Something has to make you feel different.
26:42 You know, you see the slayings in the spirit
26:45 and the speaking in tongues,
26:46 the manifestation of the Spirit.
26:48 And the other things that make you feel different.
26:50 I was in this meeting one time, it made me very uncomfortable.
26:54 There was a man who said that,
26:55 "We're now going to have ministry time
26:59 for the Holy Spirit."
27:00 I said, "Well, what's that?"
27:02 And so they said, "Everybody stand up,
27:03 close your eyes."
27:05 And he proceeded to talk about
27:07 to invite the Holy Spirit to come
27:09 and to reveal himself to those standing there.
27:15 And this was not those of, although, it was,
27:19 some who were in the Adventist Church,
27:21 they invited someone outside
27:22 to kind of bring their interpretation of this.
27:24 This is a different view a perspective
27:26 that is out there of the Holy Spirit.
27:28 But he was he was doing this,
27:30 and this lady was coming around,
27:32 this is before were Sharon and I were married.
27:34 Coming around and she stopped in front of me
27:37 and I'm sitting there, going, "Oh, boy, just please,
27:39 this event needs to end so I can get out of here,
27:42 " I was not comfortable.
27:44 And so then afterward, and I was praying,
27:46 "Lord, I don't want any of that weird stuff,
27:49 this is not what I'm into."
27:50 And so I was praying at the time.
27:53 So when we finished.
27:54 Usually, they expect some people to testify
27:57 to something that happened, and everyone was quiet.
28:01 He said, "Did no one sense anything?"
28:04 "No."
28:05 Then, yeah, because I'm praying my heart out, you know.
28:09 And then the girl,
28:10 because I was new to this group,
28:12 she picked on me.
28:13 She says, "I sense John, very warm.
28:16 He was very warm, he got very warm."
28:19 And I commented, I said, "Yeah,
28:21 because I was really kind of uncomfortable
28:23 and nervous about the whole thing."
28:26 What I'm saying with that story is that some people see
28:29 the Holy Spirit as something they can use
28:31 rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to use them.
28:34 Okay.
28:35 And that is the complete difference between what is true
28:38 about the Holy Spirit's ministry in our lives
28:42 and what is false
28:43 about the Holy Spirit's ministry in our life.
28:44 And, John, I know you have a place to go from here.
28:46 Well, you know, what people look for is the manifestation
28:50 of the Spirit.
28:51 You see, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit
28:53 was descended upon the disciples
28:55 and the cloven tongues as a fire equipped them
29:00 to now communicate to different cultures
29:02 in different languages.
29:03 And these people that heard the messages
29:05 they didn't hear gibberish,
29:07 they heard their own language, their own dialogue,
29:10 and that all the people are listed there.
29:13 But let me talk about the manifestation
29:15 of the spirit.
29:16 Go to 1 Corinthians 12,
29:19 the manifestation of the spirit.
29:22 People want to want to know
29:23 now there's the manifestation of the spirit
29:26 as the fruit of the spirit.
29:29 One comes before the other.
29:30 Let me just go ahead
29:32 and, one is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit,
29:35 that's before when conversion comes the fruit
29:38 now are manifest
29:40 then the fruit are continually shown in preparation
29:44 for the for the gifts of the spirit.
29:47 All those could be considered manifestations
29:49 but in particular,
29:51 look at verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12:7.
29:54 "But the manifestation of the Spirit
29:56 is given to each one for the profit of all."
30:00 So one when we pray for the spirit to manifest,
30:02 this is something you have to keep in mind
30:04 and I really, really want you to write this on your forehead
30:07 so when you look in the mirror you see it.
30:10 The manifestation of the spirit is not for personal benefit.
30:15 The only benefit you get
30:17 from the manifestation of the Spirit
30:18 is the power to live a godly life.
30:21 But that godly life is not to be a secluded life.
30:24 But when you ask for the spirit to give you something,
30:28 what he's going to give you
30:30 is the power to live a godly life.
30:32 As many as received him to them,
30:34 he gave power to become sons of God.
30:37 See, that's, that's a promise.
30:38 As many as received him.
30:40 I believe that John 1:12, as many as received Jesus,
30:45 to them he gave power to become sons of God,
30:47 and that power comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
30:50 But where we, where this whole Holy Spirit
30:53 achilles heal comes in
30:55 is not because of the work that spirit does
30:57 but because of what we ask for.
30:59 And as I'm reading Romans 12 here,
31:02 you have to keep this in mind.
31:04 Let me just go back a little bit
31:06 and just show you why this is important.
31:10 Okay.
31:12 Verse 4, 1 Corinthians 12,
31:16 "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.
31:22 There are differences of ministries,
31:24 but the same Lord.
31:28 There are diversities of activities,
31:30 but it is the same God who works all in all.
31:35 But the manifest, but, now notice here,
31:38 "gives ministries activities."
31:42 There's a, "but, the manifestation of the spirit
31:45 is given to each one for the profit of," how many?
31:49 "All." "For all of us."
31:51 Now go through the list, John, go down to verse 10.
31:54 Yeah, it says in verse 8,
31:56 "For to one is given the word of wisdom
31:57 through the Spirit,
31:59 to another the word of knowledge
32:00 through the same Spirit,
32:02 to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
32:04 to another the working of miracles,
32:06 to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits,
32:09 to another different kinds of tongues,
32:11 to another the interpretation of tongues.
32:14 But one and the same Spirit works all these things,
32:17 distributing to each one individually as He wills."
32:20 Okay, so who decides?
32:22 The Holy Spirit decides. The Holy Spirit decides.
32:24 So when you pray, "I want tongues,
32:26 I want tongues."
32:28 That is not evidence
32:29 that the Spirit of God abides in your life.
32:30 The evidence of the Spirit of God
32:33 in your life is the fruits.
32:36 "By their fruits you will know them."
32:38 And by the way, in Galatians, when you read Galatians,
32:42 it didn't say, the fruits of the Spirit are,
32:44 says, the fruit of the Spirit, singular.
32:46 The vitamins in there, the vitamins are love, joy,
32:49 peace, longsuffering, generalist, meekness, patience.
32:52 You bite that fruit of the Spirit
32:54 and the same fruit of rebellion is now,
32:56 replaced by the food of the Spirit okay.
32:59 So...
33:00 Well, and the other big important part
33:02 about that is that the Holy Spirit manifests
33:05 for the purpose of communicating a blessing
33:09 or to encouragement for the profit of others, okay.
33:14 So, because that's what we started with here,
33:16 with verse 7.
33:17 The benefit.
33:19 So any of those things, being a word of knowledge,
33:21 a word of wisdom, discernment,
33:26 prophesy, and tongues,
33:28 all are for the benefit of ministering
33:32 to somebody else.
33:33 That's right.
33:34 So here's the thing, when you're praying
33:36 for the ability to speak in tongues
33:38 and you're on your own,
33:40 the likelihood of the Holy Spirit manifesting
33:43 that way is very, very low.
33:46 In fact, the prerequisite
33:48 for the manifestation of the spirit
33:51 in the gift of tongues is two people together
33:55 that aren't able to communicate in the same language.
33:58 That is the qualifier
34:00 for the imparting of the gift of tongues.
34:02 That's right.
34:04 If you are not speaking another language
34:06 with the person that you're trying to communicate to,
34:07 if you have can't communicate.
34:09 Then the possibility exists
34:11 that maybe tongues will be, given.
34:12 Right.
34:14 It only as the Holy Spirit wills.
34:16 But when we're there with English speaking people
34:18 and that's everybody speaks English,
34:20 there's not going to be a gift of tongues given.
34:22 You don't need it. That's right.
34:24 People think of it as somehow, some kind of a holy thing that,
34:28 "Oh, we got a language the devil can't understand."
34:32 Let me tell you something, there's a language
34:34 the Bible talks about that you don't have access
34:36 to only the Spirit of God does.
34:39 Look at Romans 8, look at Romans 8,
34:42 I want to show you a couple of things.
34:44 We're going to start with Romans 8
34:46 and 14 to 16, John, I want you to read that.
34:52 And then go down and read 26 down to 28, 14 to 16.
34:58 Okay.
35:00 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
35:02 these are sons of God.
35:04 For you did not receive
35:05 the spirit of bondage again to fear,
35:07 but you received the Spirit of adoption
35:09 by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'"
35:12 Okay, and verse 16.
35:13 "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit
35:16 that we are children of God,"
35:19 Okay, the Holy Spirit and then our spirit.
35:23 Yeah.
35:24 Now let's get this,
35:25 there's a spiritual connection, spiritual things are...
35:30 Spiritually discerned. Spiritually discerned.
35:32 The Lord, we pray for the spirit of discernment,
35:36 so that when the Holy Spirit speaks to us we connect.
35:40 We pray for the spirit of discernments,
35:43 so that when the Holy Spirit speaks to us
35:45 there's a connection.
35:47 That's what that is talking about,
35:48 the spirit of discernment.
35:53 We don't discern based on our own intellectual knowledge,
35:56 we discern the work of the Spirit
35:58 through the spoken word of God.
36:00 Now let me tell you what I mean that,
36:02 you have to be very careful when people say,
36:05 "God spoke to me, " or "The Spirit spoke to me."
36:08 And you can't trace what they said
36:10 to the word of God to support it.
36:11 That's right.
36:13 Because that's how deception works.
36:14 Deception works when people, and this is the society
36:17 in which we have the, you know, the rhema word
36:20 or the they have the written word,
36:24 the spoken word,
36:26 and I think the other one is the manifested word.
36:29 So people say, "Oh, the Lord just said something to me"
36:32 and he speaks this to the entire congregation
36:34 and they go, "Wow."
36:37 And you have no evidence that that is from the Lord.
36:40 But when Spirit of God reveals to you
36:44 what God wants you to do you can always trace it back
36:46 to the word of God for support
36:48 and for evidentiary fact finding
36:50 that God is the one that actually has communicated this.
36:54 And you know what, in most cases in scripture
36:55 when someone has a word for somebody else,
36:58 god sends a prophet.
36:59 Right.
37:01 Most of the time the Lord is convicting
37:02 the heart of the one
37:04 that he's trying to communicate to directly,
37:06 through the Holy Spirit.
37:08 So if we need, as a follower of Christ,
37:11 if we need direction, listen to the Holy Spirit
37:14 through the word of God.
37:15 As you read the word of God, as you read your devotionals,
37:17 as you spend time with him, he will communicate to you
37:20 through His Spirit and through those things
37:22 you're reading, specially the word of God
37:24 what He wants you to do.
37:26 He doesn't need to send somebody else.
37:28 So that's I like what you said,
37:29 we got to be very careful with this, you know,
37:31 God told me to say,
37:32 so are you saying you're a prophet?
37:34 Right. Really?
37:35 What about what I measure your word with?
37:37 Now, on the other side,
37:39 if the Spirit of God convinces me.
37:42 Let me give you some wonderful examples,
37:44 there are people that have said,
37:47 you know, something impressed me
37:51 to turn the channel today.
37:54 And when I turned it, I was a blown way
37:57 because the very thing that was talked about today
38:01 is what I asked the Lord to review.
38:02 Let me give you a perfect living example.
38:04 I was down in the Bahamas,
38:09 and it was about a few years ago,
38:11 and I was walking through the Bahamas.
38:13 Somebody took us to this big old hotel called Atlantis.
38:17 And we were walking through because one of the guys there
38:19 that was a member of our church.
38:21 He said, "Hey, I want to show you
38:22 behind the scenes in the aquarium,"
38:24 because you know everybody see's the aquarium,
38:26 behind the.
38:27 Let me take you to the nursery, behind the scenes.
38:30 So we're walking through the hallway
38:31 and in Atlantis, this big old hotel.
38:36 And a guy, as I'm walking past him,
38:39 he grabs my shoulder almost like the...
38:44 He said, "I cannot believe you're in my hotel."
38:49 "And who are you?"
38:51 He said, and he spoke of in the West Indian accent
38:54 and says, "Just yesterday,"
38:57 he said, "I was watching you on 3ABN,
39:00 but just yesterday."
39:03 I said, "Lord, I want you to let me know
39:09 whether or not I need to go to the Adventist Church,
39:11 and here's what I want, if I can meet John Lomacang."
39:15 I am not kidding you, as God is my witness.
39:18 Yeah, wow.
39:19 What are the chances of me being,
39:21 he didn't even know I was in the Bahamas.
39:23 What are the chances that me being the day after
39:26 he asked that question the day before,
39:28 he said, and he was, so blown away,
39:30 he was like messed up.
39:32 He said, "I just," he said,
39:34 "I'm just trying to process this,"
39:35 he's telling me.
39:37 "I'm trying to process this, because just yesterday,"
39:39 and he said, I kind of did that
39:41 because I know that's kind of like
39:42 I was wrestling with what I'm hearing on 3ABN.
39:45 You know, sometimes you put these impossible fleece
39:47 that kind of say, "Well, God is not going to hear me."
39:50 Oh, after tomorrow passes then I'm cool.
39:52 God worked that man's heart over in that for you.
39:56 And I'm standing there, and the pastor who is with me.
39:59 The guy that the worked at the Atlantis, and my wife,
40:01 we all stand the amaze.
40:03 And all I could say to him was,
40:04 "So are you going to listen to God?"
40:06 That's all I said, "Are you going to listen to God?"
40:08 He said, "Man, this thing is messing me up."
40:11 He's saying this with his West Indies accent,
40:12 he had this like, one gold tooth in his right.
40:14 "This thing is messing me up
40:15 because I just ask God yesterday.
40:17 If you want me to go to the Adventist Church,
40:19 let me meet John Lomacang."
40:20 He said, "Man, I don't know what to do this thing,"
40:22 I said, "Are you going to listen to God?"
40:24 And the pastor took his phone number
40:26 and we had a good, we could not stop talking about that
40:28 the rest of the day.
40:29 Now that's direct Holy Spirit.
40:32 There's nobody coming to him saying,
40:34 "God wants you to go to this church or that church."
40:36 He said, "Lord, if you want me to go.
40:38 Here's what I want you to do." That's the Gideon fleece.
40:41 And very well possible
40:42 that the Holy Spirit prompted him
40:43 to even ask for that...
40:45 Because, the Lord knew I was gonna be there.
40:46 He knew that you're gonna be there, that's right.
40:47 See that's powerful.
40:49 'Cause I was there a few days prior to meeting this guy,
40:51 and the Lord, that's and that's the kind of point
40:54 that you know God is all about.
40:55 That's right.
40:57 But here is what we have to bear in mind
40:58 also in Romans 8,
41:02 I'm gonna show you also that when you pray
41:04 there's no there's no kind of language
41:06 you can use to get through to God
41:07 or even speak the devil couldn't misunderstand
41:11 or the devil can understand.
41:12 But the Spirit is the one that does this speaking.
41:16 Look at Romans 1:26, Romans 1:26,
41:21 "Likewise the Spirit also helps
41:24 in our weaknesses.
41:28 For we do not know
41:31 what we should pray for as we ought,"
41:34 Now get this prayer language, people say,
41:37 speak in tongues as a prayer language
41:39 and the Bible says,
41:40 you don't even know what you need to pray for.
41:42 But look at this,
41:44 "But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us
41:50 with," what John, say those last five words.
41:52 "Groanings which cannot be uttered."
41:55 Which means you can't do it.
41:57 Nor can you even ask for it.
41:59 You can do it, you can ask for it,
42:01 because is the work of the Spirit,
42:02 the Spirit is the one uttering.
42:03 And why does he do that, verse 27,
42:06 "Now He who searches the hearts," that's God,
42:11 "He who searches the hearts
42:12 knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
42:16 because He makes intercession
42:18 for the saints according to the will of God."
42:20 Now, get this.
42:21 The spirit takes our prayers, brings it to Jesus,
42:25 who brings it to the Father.
42:28 And the Spirit says, "Father, this is actually
42:31 what we're asking."
42:33 He takes our prayer that is all discombobulated
42:36 and out of whack because we don't,
42:38 when we pray, as James says, sometimes we ask amiss
42:42 that we may waste it on our own desires."
42:44 So even when we pray, sometimes we pray prayers
42:47 and the Lord says, "I heard what you said,
42:51 but I know what you need."
42:53 And the Lord, as I said to people,
42:55 when you put your plans before the Lord
42:56 if they don't come to pass,
42:58 put another plan, say, "Lord give me, tell me
43:00 what you want me to do."
43:02 But so let me just make the point
43:03 and transition to the next point in our study.
43:06 You don't pray for the gift of tongues
43:08 nor do you pray to be able to communicate
43:11 in a language that the devil doesn't understand.
43:14 Because let me tell you something,
43:15 if you understand it, he understands it.
43:17 The spirit is the only one that can communicate.
43:20 By knowing your heart, knowing the heart of God,
43:23 he will take your prayer and package it
43:25 so that it is acceptable before father,
43:27 before Christ who then conveys that to the Farther.
43:32 Yeah. That's an intermediary work.
43:34 Yeah. It's and it's, it's God's work.
43:37 I mean, we can't, we don't drive this process,
43:39 we can't use the Holy Spirit
43:40 the Holy Spirit works on and uses us.
43:43 And I know one of the things that.
43:45 Sometimes is separated a little bit
43:47 from the spirits work is obedience to God,
43:53 because the Holy Spirit never causes us to disobey.
43:58 He'll never tell you something,
44:00 and you already mentioned this before,
44:01 he'll never tell you to do something
44:03 or to respond in a way or to act in a way
44:05 that disagrees with the word of God.
44:07 It's always drive us to obey. That's right.
44:10 And we need to remember that, when we're listening,
44:14 when we're trying to understand what God is warning us to do,
44:17 don't rely on the, the feeling in your bosom.
44:21 Right, that's a...
44:22 The one fuzzy that tells you this is true,
44:26 you can't rely on that.
44:27 Right.
44:28 Because feelings can be deceptive,
44:31 you have to rely on the word of God.
44:32 So are you gonna read that text in Acts?
44:34 Read it, read it.
44:36 Acts 5, the statement John made
44:38 was a segue right to this verse,
44:41 in Acts 5:32,
44:44 "And we are His witnesses to these things,
44:48 and so also is the Holy Spirit,"
44:52 get this now, "Whom God has given
44:55 to those who obey Him."
44:59 Why do you give a power like the Holy Spirit
45:02 to a disobedient person?
45:04 Yeah.
45:05 And that's why the command,
45:07 "If you love me keep my commandments
45:08 and I will pray the Father,
45:10 and He will send you another company or another helper."
45:12 Obedience is the prerequisite
45:14 for the power of the Spirit of God
45:17 to be working through you.
45:18 Yes.
45:19 Well, willingness to obey,
45:21 and then the power coming in and impressing us to obey,
45:24 and then giving us the power to obey...
45:25 That's right.
45:27 All those things aligned with obedience.
45:29 Can you say that again.
45:31 Yes, telling us what it is to obey.
45:34 Okay.
45:35 Impressing us with,
45:37 well, we have the power desire to obey,
45:39 impressing us with, with what obedience looks like.
45:41 in other words, desire to obey.
45:43 And then, what was the last one...
45:46 Giving us the power. Giving us the power to obey.
45:48 That's right.
45:49 So it's all not about us, it's all about what the Lord
45:52 is working in through our lives.
45:53 I don't want to go down a rabbit trail,
45:55 but some people ask you know, "Well, you know,
45:57 you see all these manifestations
45:58 of the Holy Spirit out there.
45:59 The people on TV, you know, they're healing people.
46:02 How do you know if that's right or wrong?"
46:04 And I always say, my answer usually is this,
46:07 "You know by what they say, you know by what they do,
46:11 because the Holy Spirit
46:13 will not bring that kind of power
46:14 into the life of someone
46:17 who is speaking against the truth,
46:20 who is speaking against what God's word is."
46:23 So I have to listen to what they say
46:25 and I discern by what they say,
46:26 and what they teach, and what they do
46:28 as to whether or not this is a true Holy Spirit
46:31 or a false manifestation of the Spirit.
46:33 And so a lot of times
46:34 what I'm seeing on their in these instant healings
46:36 and other things come from people
46:38 who speak against the word of God.
46:39 They're not speaking the truth.
46:41 And so I can say,
46:42 I can conclude very easily there
46:44 that that is not a true spirit of God
46:46 that is being manifested through their ministry,
46:48 it is a false spirit.
46:50 It is a false healing, false healing.
46:52 And that is probably the biggest indicator
46:55 of whether or not it is the Holy Spirit
46:58 in reality that is working through some gift
47:01 that someone says they have.
47:03 We've got a look as to how their life is lining up,
47:06 they are obedient to the Word of God,
47:08 if they're following the word of God, then you can say,
47:11 maybe even not yet with one 100 percent conclusion
47:13 but you can pretty much say,
47:15 "Yes, I believe that
47:16 this is the Holy Spirit moving in a right way."
47:19 That's why the Apostle John, 1 John 4:1,
47:24 he says, "Beloved,
47:26 do not believe every spirit but test the Spirit."
47:31 There you go.
47:32 "Whether they are of God,"
47:34 because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
47:39 Test what they're saying.
47:41 By their fruits you will know them.
47:43 But you know there's another text,
47:45 you know the other text.
47:46 1 John 2:3-4,
47:48 1 John 2:3, 4,
47:50 "By this we do know that we know him
47:53 if we keep His commandments."
47:55 1 John 2:3.
47:56 Now 1 John 2:4,
47:59 "He who, says,
48:00 I know him and does not keep his commandments
48:03 is a liar and the truth is not in him."
48:06 That's not my word that's God's Word,
48:09 "By this we do know that we know him,
48:11 if we keep His commandments."
48:13 Isaiah 8:20,
48:15 "To the law and to the testimony,
48:17 if they speak not according to this word,
48:20 it is because there is no light in them."
48:24 I sure that was somebody here not too long ago John,
48:26 you know, the response I got from this individual is.
48:28 What?
48:29 "Well, Jesus commandments were different
48:32 than the Ten Commandments.
48:33 When he said Commandments
48:35 there were different commandments."
48:36 What do you get the support for that?
48:38 Exactly what I said, "What do you get that?"
48:40 I mean, Jesus even quotes,
48:43 from the Ten Commandments themselves.
48:45 How can you say it's a different commandments?
48:46 "No, that's the way it is
48:48 because he gave the commandments."
48:49 And one command he never gave was about the fourth,
48:52 the seventh-day being the Sabbath,
48:54 the fourth commandment.
48:55 I said, "Oh, actually yes,
48:56 he commented very specifically on that in Mark 2:27, 28."
48:59 That's right, Luke 4:16.
49:01 Anyway, so we have these ways,
49:03 this wrangling to get around obedience,
49:06 but obedience does,
49:08 is most evident in the Ten Commandments
49:11 that we started off with the passage
49:13 from John 14.
49:14 That's right.
49:16 Right smack down in the middle of him, saying,
49:17 I promise Holy Spirit
49:18 and that ask for him and I will give him to you
49:23 that power and strength to you which you will.
49:24 And then he says,
49:26 "If you love me keep my commandments."
49:27 That's right.
49:29 Right in the middle of all of this,
49:30 he says, "The commandments are important."
49:32 That's right,
49:33 and when you manifest the spirit of obedience.
49:36 Then you manifest a spirit of fellowship.
49:39 If we walk in the light, get this,
49:41 if we walk in the light as he is in the light
49:45 we have fellowship with one another
49:47 and the blood of Jesus Christ
49:48 His Son cleanses us from our sin,
49:50 1 John 1:7,8,9.
49:53 Okay, so we have to
49:54 we have to be willing to walk in the light.
49:57 If you walk in the light you have,
49:58 if you fellowship Jesus
50:00 then you could have fellowship with us.
50:02 But if you say, "I want the Spirit of God,
50:05 but I don't want the truth."
50:06 It does not work that way.
50:09 You cannot disconnect one from the other,
50:12 you will get the other one
50:14 if you don't manifest obedience,
50:15 that's why John 14:15, is there.
50:17 "If you let me keep my commandments
50:19 and then I'll go ahead and ask for the Father,
50:21 to send the Spirit
50:23 that will lead you and guide you into all truth."
50:25 So John 16:13, "He leads us and guides us into all truth."
50:28 So don't ask for the spirit without the truth.
50:31 That's right.
50:33 There's so much stuff nowadays
50:34 the human heart battles so deceptively doesn't it.
50:36 It really does.
50:37 Now here's something that maybe we can start to end on.
50:40 Okay. I think is can be challenging.
50:42 All right.
50:44 For some, we talked about the Holy Spirit
50:45 in this role of conversion its
50:47 in its will of role of guiding us
50:49 in our daily walk with him,
50:51 and in that role of helping us to obey,
50:53 and to keep the commandments and have the power to do that.
50:56 And the fruit in our life it changes us.
50:59 But what about the gifts of the Spirit, okay.
51:03 The fruit is manifest in the life of someone
51:06 that is converted we know that.
51:08 Right.
51:10 But what about gifts with the gifts
51:11 aren't being manifested in the life of a believer.
51:15 And we say that the Holy Spirit is at work.
51:18 And so here's the challenge
51:20 because our in our pews in our churches,
51:22 are pews were what we have a significant group,
51:26 a contingent of members
51:28 that aren't active in service for God.
51:30 Right.
51:32 And, and, and I think it has something to do with
51:35 the fact that maybe we aren't seeing
51:37 the power of the Spirit at work,
51:39 as much as we would like to see it in our churches.
51:42 We're seeing maybe some time some more strife or contention
51:46 or arguing or just not quite getting along,
51:48 or just some other things
51:50 because we're not involved in using our gifts
51:53 to reach out beyond the four walls of the church
51:55 to seek and save the loss,
51:56 because that is the commission that Jesus gave to us.
51:58 That's right.
52:00 So what is the role then of the spirit
52:01 in regard to the gifts.
52:04 And how are we accountable to use those gifts.
52:07 And this maybe the response we may give here
52:09 may not be something that we all want to hear,
52:11 because I'll tell you what.
52:13 Here's one something I learned very well.
52:17 Is that I find that the Holy Spirit
52:19 cannot use me to reach lives of others
52:21 unless, I become
52:23 unless I have a level of uncomfortableness
52:26 to move beyond sitting where I'm comfortable.
52:29 Praising the Lord, and doing things by myself.
52:37 Most of the time that are here argument within the church
52:39 seem regard to so and so not living
52:42 according to the fruit of the Spirit,
52:44 but I say what about your work and your service for others.
52:47 We're not seeing evidence of that.
52:49 So I mean, we know the gifts are for a purpose.
52:53 What is that purpose?
52:54 When Jesus saves us,
52:57 when we are brought into a relationship
52:58 with Christ
53:00 Ephesians 2:8 and 9, is so vitally important,
53:03 "For by grace are you saved through faith,
53:05 and that not of yourselves;
53:08 it is a gift of God, not of works,
53:10 lest any man should boast."
53:11 But I don't have John read verse 10,
53:13 because we often talk about salvation
53:14 we come into the saving relationship,
53:17 but we don't get into a working relationship.
53:20 You know, and the Lord says,
53:21 he that is not gathering with me
53:23 a scattering abroad,
53:24 read verse 10 of it, Ephesians Chapter 2.
53:26 So we coming to the saving relationship
53:28 we talked about I'm saved
53:29 but James says, "That's your faith,
53:32 but faith without works is dead being alone."
53:38 It says in verse 10, "For we are His workmanship,
53:40 created in Christ Jesus for good works,
53:43 which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
53:46 Okay, Now I've got to say something,
53:48 because this is in a sermon here recently.
53:50 You have inverses 8, 9 "Not of works, not of works."
53:54 That's right. We have in verse 10, "Works."
53:56 That's right. What's changed?
53:58 When I was say, by works, we say for works.
54:00 That's true, but something else has changed.
54:02 Okay.
54:03 There's a qualifier in verse 10.
54:04 Okay.
54:06 The first in the verses 8, 9 is just works in verse 10.
54:08 It's good works. That's right.
54:10 There's no one good not one except whom?
54:12 Christ.
54:13 Christ and God himself,
54:15 so when you are transformed, by the Holy Spirit
54:18 good works become part of your life
54:20 in fact, Paul over, and over again
54:22 said, to the church.
54:24 "You need to be careful to conjure up
54:25 to inspire each other on with good works."
54:28 See that there's a difference between works and good works
54:32 just works are something that we do try
54:34 and appease God
54:35 to get his recognition, those things.
54:37 But good works is something
54:38 the Holy Spirit does through us,
54:41 and gives us the power to do in the lives of others.
54:43 To use those spiritual gifts, that's what's changed.
54:47 So I say, you know, why don't we spend time
54:49 talking about good works in the church.
54:52 We need to spend more time talking about good works
54:54 because we want our members out doing good works.
54:57 That's right.
54:58 And these aren't the works that you do
54:59 but you allow the Holy Spirit to do through you,
55:03 and it may put you into
55:04 uncomfortable situations sometimes,
55:05 but I think when we get in those
55:07 uncomfortable situations
55:08 and He equips and trains us by getting out into the field
55:11 to use our gifts.
55:12 Then we become more comfortable and more regular in doing them.
55:16 That's' right.
55:17 And I think that's what this that's really what is being,
55:20 he's trying to drive us to move us forward to do more.
55:23 That is Paul in this text.
55:24 Because people are paying
55:26 praying for the outpouring of the Spirit of God,
55:27 but then the outpouring of the Spirit of God
55:30 is proportionate to your need.
55:32 Why do I, why would I give you power
55:33 and when I don't have anything with it.
55:36 When the day of Pentecost came in the Spirit of God
55:38 was poured out what did they do.
55:40 Those disciples turned the world
55:42 upside down, inside out.
55:44 They, they transformed the landscape
55:47 they went against every political norm.
55:51 They spoke what people didn't like,
55:54 they got tortured and persecuted.
55:56 But the world was on the world was converted.
56:00 And within 34 years, the world knew who Jesus is,
56:05 so when the Bible says,
56:06 "Let your light so shine before men,
56:08 that they may see your good work
56:10 and glorify your Father in heaven."
56:12 It is saying, "Don't ask for the Spirit of God,
56:14 if you don't want to use that for good works."
56:17 Yes, you're saved.
56:18 Yes, the fruits of their, but now let's get to the gifts.
56:21 And many people are not developing
56:23 in the areas of fruits,
56:25 because they're not exercising the gifts
56:27 so they come become frustrated and all this negativity
56:30 they start falling back and all these awful gifts,
56:33 these rancid grapes, start showing up.
56:35 I would say that's all you're doing
56:37 is focusing on the fruit.
56:38 You're only focusing on yourself.
56:39 That's right.
56:41 I'm just going to end this real quick,
56:42 quick statement comes from a book
56:44 that we know.
56:45 Well, it's a test of the testimonies.
56:47 Okay.
56:48 Ellen White, says, "I was shown God's people waiting
56:50 for some change to take place a compelling power
56:52 to take a hold of them but they will be disappointed
56:55 for they are wrong.
56:56 They must act they must take a hold of the work themselves."
56:59 That's right, and then the Lord says, in Titus 2:14,
57:03 "We are God special people,
57:05 but we must be zealous for the good works."
57:09 Zealous, what can I do to advance the Kingdom of God,
57:13 God wants to use every one of us
57:15 John is busy, I'm busy,
57:17 the Lord doesn't want to just to be busy
57:19 for a business sake
57:20 he wants to Spirit God to work in us
57:22 and through us and on us.
57:23 And so friends, give your life to the Lord,
57:25 and experience the transforming power
57:28 of his indwelling spirit.
57:30 God bless you.


Home

Revised 2016-09-13