The Supernatural Realm (part II) – The Holy Spirit

 

-We’re going to take our eyes off of the spooky and the sensational for a moment, we’re going to change our focus from the eerie and evil forces of darkness, and we’re going to turn our attention instead to the person and work of God’s Holy Spirit.

• From the outset of this message, I want to acknowledge the fact that there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding when it comes to the third member of the trinity.  

• Most Christians have a fairly good understanding and appreciation for the person and work of God the Father, whose plan and designs cover the entirety of the Old Testament Scrptures.  

• We also have a pretty solid grasp, concerning God the Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for us and to pay the penalty for our sins.  His life is covered in great detail all throughout the Gospels and the book of Acts.   

• However, when it comes to person and work of the Holy Spirit, many of us find that we don’t really understand who the Holy Spirit is, what His role in God’s plan is, and why He is so vitally important to our daily spiritual walk today.

We’re going to take our eyes off of the spooky and the sensational for a moment, we’re going to change our focus from the eerie and evil forces of darkness, and we’re going to turn our attention instead to the person and work of God’s Holy Spirit.  From the outset of this message, I want to acknowledge the fact that there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding when it comes to the third member of the Trinity.  

• Most Christians have a fairly good understanding and appreciation for the person and work of God the Father, whose plan and designs cover the entirety of the Old Testament Scrptures.  

• We also have a pretty solid grasp, concerning God the Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for us and to pay the penalty for our sins.  His life is covered in great detail all throughout the Gospels and the book of Acts.   

• However, when it comes to person and work of the Holy Spirit, many of us find that we don’t really understand who the Holy Spirit is, what His role in God’s plan is, and why He is so vitally important to our daily spiritual walk today.

The personal experience of God’s Holy Spirit is one of the greatest distinguishing marks of Christianity!

There are many religious ideas and notions out in the world today…There is a huge smorgasbord of beliefs from which to choose from…Whether you realize it or not, many non-Christian religions actually do say some really good things (though they are only partially true).  Many of them have high moral standards for their adherents to follow…A few of them emphasize the existence of one true God.  Others even claim to have some form of a trinity.  Some even present a means to salvation in one form or another…But understand this…No other religion, outside of Christianity, offers anything like the HOLY SPIRIT!

• All other religions leave their people to do in their own strength and power the good things that are asked of them…
• All other religions expect people to try and lift themselves out of the mire by their own bootstraps and to pick themselves up by their own belt buckles!
• ONLY CHRISTIANITY, gives us the person, power and anointing of the Holy Spirit to cleanse, transform and empower us to become the kind of people that Scripture instructs and commands us to become!

According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is more than just an essence.  He is more than a supernatural power or a manifestation of God’s energy, and He is more than what the KJV so inadequately describes as some sort of “holy” ghost-like being.  The truth of the matter is that the Holy Spirit is a person, with a personality and a will.   And as such, He cooperates in perfect unity and with complete harmony to carry out the divine will of both God the Father and God the Son.

Now what makes the Holy Spirit so unique for us, is the simple, yet incredible fact, that He provides the point of contact between us and God. 

• He is the point at which the Holy and mysterious Trinity becomes personal and real in the life of the believer.  
• For it is through the Spirit that we are allowed to EXPERIENCE the work of God in our lives.  
• It is He that provides the tangible, experiential, and utterly transformational means for us to understand, obey, and follow God’s plan!

If you look at how the Holy Spirit has moved upon people throughout the Scriptures in both the OT & the NT, you will see very clearly that those who encountered Him, knew Him in a definite and personal way…

• If you were to ask Samuel, Elijah or Isaiah whether or not they experienced the power of the Holy Spirit when He came upon them, they would respond in the affimative, as it was the Spirit who gave them the prophetic words to utter which challenged and changed people’s lives for the Lord…
• If you were to ask one of the Judges (Gideon, Samson, or Deborah) whether or not they experienced the power of the HS when He came upon them, not one of them would pause and question whether it had taken place…not one of them would say “I’m not sure,’ or ‘I really don’t know,’ for it was through the Spirit’s power and anointing that they were able to route armies, conquer evil nations and turn the hearts of God’s people back to Him!
• If you were to ask King Saul whether or not he had experienced the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, he would tell you the same thing.  When the Spirit came upon him he prophesied, and scripture declares that “he became a different man.”                

All of these OT saints would affirm that the HS is real.  That He is divine.  That encountering His presence and power was a life-altering experience for each of them. However, their ability to experience the HS was limited.  It wasn’t until the NT that the Spirit was allowed to remain in the life of a believer…IN the New Testament, however, a new era of the Spirit is birthed, a time of activity among men which was prophesied from the days of old when God’s spirit would be poured out upon all flesh. 

• It all began when He descended upon Jesus in the physical form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism and He remained upon Him throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry.
• The sound of a mighty rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire heralded His presence among the 120 gathered on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.  
• On three separate occasions in the book of Acts, when the Spirit came upon believers there, they were filled with His presence and began to speak in other tongues (Acts 2:4;10:46;19:6)
• Another time, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they all spoke the Word of God with boldness!  (Acts 9:31)

And because of His influence, the supernatural became a regular part of the life of the early church, as they quickly recognized their constant need for His presence in their lives and meetings…

None of these individuals ever had to guess whether or not the Holy Spirit was living and active in their lives, for without a doubt,THEY ALL KNEW IT!  They felt it, they experienced it, and the evidence of the Spirit’s touch upon their lives was evident to everyone with whom they came into contact – for their lives were dramatically transformed!

 

When we think of people who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, our minds often roam to the eccentric, to the far left extreme of the Charismatic movement.  We think of people in estactic states of worship being slain in the spirit, dancing in the spirit, rolling down the aisles or hanging haphazardly from the chandeliers.  We think of extreme manifestations, loud shouting, tongue talking, revival-type behavior -things that either attract you to Pentecostal/Charismatic circles or quickly repel you.

But , in reality, the person we should be thinking about is Jesus!  For He is the PERFECT example of what a spirit-filled man looks like and acts like!  He is our role model for what can happen when we submit our lives to the power and control of the Holy Spirit in our lives on a daily basis!

After all, it was at His baptism when the Spirit descended upon Him and enabled him to overcome the temptations He faced in the desert.  Though Jesus was divine,  He didn’t use His divine power to defeat the enemy.  Rather, identifying himself as a spirit-filled man, He defeated Satan by the same means that are available to us today – the Word of God and the bold, fresh power of the Spirit.

We must keep in mind the reason why Jesus needed the baptism in the Spirit – it  wasn’t just so He could perform miracles and cast out demons – according to John 3:34,35, He was filled with the HS WIHTOUT MEASURE so that He could do all that God had sent Him to accomplish. It was the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus which gave His teaching such impact, it was the Holy Spirit that enabled him to heal the lame and to cause the blind to see. It was the Holy Spirit who aided Him in living a sinless, perfect life as a human man. 

Think about it…if Jesus needed the help and the power of the Holy Spirit to daily accomplish God’s will through His life, how much more do we need it?  How much more urgently do we need to cry out after this precious gift so that we can begin living out God’s will for our lives today?  

Didn’t Jesus say that we’d be doing even greater things than He did?  If so, we’ll certainly need the power of the HS to accomplish it!!!!

I don’t know if you realize it or not – I certainly hope you do by now—but it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to live the way Scripture commands us to live APART from the Holy Spirit’s help!  We can’t overcome our sinful and fleshly desires without inviting His power to indwell us and to change us from the inside out.  Hard work and sweat won’t cut it.  Will power alone will NEVER be enough to do the trick…

Fully aware of this fact, just before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He took the time to tell his disciples about the gift He would be sending in His place.  It was the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  In John 14:16 he said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter… I will not leave you as orphans, I will not leave you comfortless.”

A comforter, a helper, an advocate, a teacher, and a guide.  The Holy Spirit is all of those things!  He is the personal presence of God in our lives who is more than adequate to meet all of our needs!                                      

In fact, the secret to the success of Pentecostal people and the Pentecostal Movement is our recognition that we are not self-sufficient, but are rather TOTALLY DEPENDANT upon the Holy Spirit to help us carry out God’s will.

Listen to how Jesus describes the role of the HS in our lives.  He said the Spirit would:

TEACH US –  

• Just as Jesus had taught His disciples, so now the HS would do the same.  
• His role is to remind us of what Jesus has repeatedly said in the Word, and assisting us in applying those truths to our lives.

Jesus also said the HS would GUIDE US INTO ALL TRUTH–                  

• The picture here is that of a guide or escort leading a traveler into territory unfamiliar to the traveler but very familiar to the guide.                      
• This gives us hope as we travel along the often mysterious paths of God’s will, that if we adhere to the Spirit’s leading, we can be certain that we will arrive at our appointed destination. (AMEN?)                    
• And for those times when Scripture isn’t clear or doesn’t make sense, we can be certain the Spirit will illuminate the Words He inspired the biblical authors to write and that He will allow its truth to penetrate deep into our hearts.

Jesus also said that the HS would CONVICT THE WORLD OF SIN.                                    

• To convict means ‘to convince someone of something’; ‘to point something out to someone’ that they might not see.                   
• In this regard, the HS acts like a divine prosecutor showing us the error of our sinful ways, even when we don’t necessarily want to see it, so that we can be brought back to repentance and not have our relationship with Christ disrupted or hampered due to hidden or unforseen sin.

Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit would PURIFY US.                   

• One of His primary activities is to bring new, regenerated life to believers.              
• His job is to assist us so that we can be cleansed from our sin and be made holy, just as God the Father is holy.  Theologians calls this “sanctification;” it is a process whereby we become more and more like Jesus through the daily, active power of the Holy Spirit.  It is the process of us learning to DAILY WALK in the SPIRIT and to live according to His divine direction.  For it takes more than a one time dip in the powerful stream of the Holy Spirit to gain victory over the power of sin in our lives.  It takes continually living and walking in the Spirit, allowing the spirit full control over our lives so that we learn how to overcome and defeat the desires of our flesh.

After all, the point of spirit baptism is sanctification – it’s not supernatural manifestations!  If there is one pet peeve I have about the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement of which I am apart, it is this: We seem to care more about chasing after the latest HS trends, desiring the latest outward physical  manifestation of His presence, than we care about living holy, consecrated lives!

And if you don’t mind, I’m just going to say it bluntly – I don’t care how often you speak in tongues, I don’t care how many times you have been slain in the spirit, or have had a supernatural manifestation in your life, if you’re not completely changed and made more holy after it is all said and done, you have wasted your time and energy on fleshly endeavors!

The point of being filled with the spirit is not experiential bliss,  it is holiness, backed up with the proof of a changed and transformed life.  And if you haven’t gotten the hint yet, changed lives are what it’s all about according to Scripture!  

Don’t get me wrong – I am not discouraging you from being filled and enjoying the Spirit’s presence and power in your life, in fact I encourage it, I simply don’t want you to miss the point of what your experience with the Spirit is intended to give you.  

 

The Supernatural Realm – An Overview

 

When you think of the supernatural world, what images come to you mind?  

-Do you see spirits and demons, perhaps like those you were exposed to in horror movies growing up such as Poltergeist or The Exorcist, or in current television shows such as the CW’s ‘Supernatural?’ 

-Do you think of hyper-charismatic Christians who see demons behind every door, and as the author of all trouble and calamity?

-Do you think of deliverance-type ministries, where strange looking preachers with big hair speak to demons in loud authoritative voices and command them to come out?

-Or do your thoughts turn to the safe and holy realm of angels where white fluffy winged cherubs fly carefree above us in the sky and pass their time lying on clouds playing their harps for Jesus while keeping watch over sweet and innocent children, seeing to it that no harm befalls them?

-Or perhaps, you are like many well-meaning persons, who honestly never give the supernatural realm much thought at all in their daily routine of life?

When you think of the supernatural world, what images come to you mind?  

-Do you see spirits and demons, perhaps like those you were exposed to in horror movies growing up such as ‘Poltergeist’ or ‘The Exorcist,’ or in current television shows such as the CW’s ‘Supernatural?’ 

-Do you think of hyper-charismatic Christians who see demons behind every door, and as the author of all trouble and calamity?

-Do you think of deliverance-type ministries, where strange looking preachers with big hair speak to demons in loud authoritative voices and command them to come out?

-Or do your thoughts turn to the safe and holy realm of angels where white fluffy winged cherubs fly carefree above us in the sky and pass their time lying on clouds playing their harps for Jesus while keeping watch over sweet and innocent children, seeing to it that no harm befalls them?

-Perhaps, you are like many well-meaning persons, who honestly never give the supernatural realm much thought at all in their daily routine of life?

Beyond the world of our senses lies this unseen world of the supernatural, where all that is of a spiritual nature dwells – both good and evil.  This is the realm of life Ephesians 6:12 talks about when it says, “For our struggles are not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  

Whether you agree that the supernatural exists or not, regardless of whether you recognize its existence as truth… The fact of the matter is that each one of us is engaged in a calculated spiritual battle for the control and occupation of our hearts.  Even though we can’t see it or hear it, many believers claim to have experienced some type of interaction with the supernatural realm.

In 2 Kings 6:15-17,we are given a snapshot of what our physical eyes are incapable of seeing.  The story goes something like this…                                                                       -An army had gathered to capture and kill the prophet Elisha.  Under the cover of night, they surrounded the prophet and his servant.   When the servant wakes up, he peers out the window of the house where they were staying and he is instantly overcome with fear as he sees a vast array of enemy soldiers who are gathered together to capture them.

-With fear and trepidation, and in a state of panic, he asks the prophet, “What are going to do now?”  I want you to listen to Elisha’s reply.  He said, “those who are with us are more than those who are against us.”   Elisha then prays, “O God, open his eyes that he may see.”  The Lord supernaturally opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant and he saw that the hills all around him were filled with angelic armies complete with horses and chariots of fire, all standing guard,ready to thwart the evil plans of the enemy.

And here’s what I want you to take away from this passage…

YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS SPIRITUAL BATTLE!  

Though there are certainly times when you feel outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outwitted, please understand that you are NEVER alone in the spiritual battles you face.  Even when it looks as if all Hell is raging against you.  Even when it appears that all hope is lost and every option at your disposal has been used up…all hope is NOT lost!  Far beyond what your physical eyes can see, legions of angels are standing at the ready, waiting to swoop into battle with you and on your behalf.

You have not been left alone.  You have not been left defenseless.  Your God, who loves and watches over you, has assembled a mighty army that is ready, willing, and able to defeat the enemy in its non-stop attempts to discourage, disgrace, and defeat you!

But 2 Kings isn’t the only glimpse Scripture gives us into the supernatural.  Let’s look at another example found in Daniel chapter 10.  

-Here we find Daniel fasting and praying , asking God to give him wisdom and understanding.  This scene played itself out for more than three weeks, yet Daniel still hadn’t received any understanding or wisdom concerning the situation at hand.    He was beginning to think that his prayers were going unnoticed.

Don’t you sometimes feel that way?  You pray humbly, honestly, and from the depths of your being, yet day after day, you receive no answer and you convince yourself that God doesn’t listen to you, that your prayers are meaningless and you feel as if all your efforts to do the right thing are for nothing…

But Scripture gives us an idea of what was taking place during that time.  An angel appears to Daniel to set the record straight.  Listen to the insight he gives…“Do not be afraid, Daniel.  Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, YOUR WORDS WERE HEARD, and I have come IN RESPONSE to them.  But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.  Then Michael, of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.  Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come…” 

There is much here we don’t understand, but what is very obvious is that a spiritual battle was taking place between demonic spirits and God’s angels.   We know that the enemy was attempting to prevent Daniel’s prayers from being answered, and a long, drawn out spiritual battle ensues which lasts for 21 days.   And what we come to find is that although the enemy was able to delay the answer to Daniel’s prayers, he was powerless to prevent Daniel’s prayers from being answered.

And what I want you to take away from this passage is this…

YOUR PRAYERS ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU REALIZE!

Even when you feel as if you are talking to the wall…Even when it seems as if God is not listening and your words are falling to the ground…Your prayers are far more powerful than you can imagine.    Scripture declares in James 5:16 “that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (NIV)  The Message Bible translates it, “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.”  The Amplified says it even better, “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its working).” 

   

Don’t ever underestimate the power of prayer in your life!  Don’t ever allow the enemy to convince you that your prayers are wimpy and pathetic – NOTHING could be further from the truth!  Your prayers are powerful weapons which are mighty in the mouth of a person living in a right relationship with God!

So don’t pray with timidity, don’t pray with stuttered words – pray with the convincing power of God’s Holy Spirit.  Believe that what you are praying for is not only being heard by God, but that it is producing amazing, and wonderful spiritual results -even if you have to wait a while to see them come to pass!

Cultivate your prayer life.  Train yourself in this godly arena of the Christian life.  Don’t allow yourself to be found in a powerless, defeated, and impotent position by the enemy of your soul, simply because you have not taken the time to harness the power of prayer in your life.  Do it TODAY!

We’ve got to stop thinking that prayer is a boring, mundane ritualistic exercise in futility. Alright…so we don’t actually say things like that, but based on the limited amount of time we spend engaged in the activity of prayer, we (nevertheless) say it with our actions!!    True prayer is POWERFUL, it is EXCITING, and it has the power to change our lives!  True prayer touches the heart of God and it sets our souls ablaze for His glory!   True prayer plows hardened ground, it waters spiritual seeds which have been planted.  True prayer produces a crop of righteousness, and it moves the heart of God to act on our behalf, according to His gracious and sovereign plan!

You will never be successful in your Christian walk until you learn to become successful in prayer.  After all, didn’t Jesus himself say in Matthew  21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer?”  And in John 15:7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.”

And trust me… you’re going to need all the help, strength and power you can get.  For you are up against a powerful enemy who knows how to defeat you:

Listen to what the Bible says concerning the tactics the enemy uses against us, as he engages with us in spiritual battle in the supernatural realm…

#1 HE STEALS GOD’S WORD FROM US. 

Matt 13:19 says that “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.”   It seems that since the dawn of creation, the devil has been twisting God’s word and sowing seeds of doubt and misunderstanding in our minds, hoping that it will lead us into sin.  He did this rather effectively with Eve back in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, and I see him still today being incredibly effective using this very same tactic .  When we are unable to stand squarely on the promises of God given to us in His word, we allow the devil to steal our joy, and rob us of our hope

#2   HE SETS TRAPS TO ENSNARE US.   

2 Tim 2:26 says… “and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” As a master deceiver, the devil loves to lure us into traps and snares which will trip us, harm us, and prevent us from growing strong in our relationship with the Lord.  He sets all kinds of traps for us to fall into – each one is tailor made and designed for our particular struggles with sin – whether it be pride, arrogance, materialism, greed, lust, or power, he has a trap set to meet our weakness…

#3  HE FIGHTS TO STOP US. 

“For we wanted to come to you-certainly I, Paul, did, again and again-but Satan stopped us.” 1 Thessalonians 2:18  The devil tries valiantly to prevent us from growing in our spiritual walks.  He tries to stop us from reaching maturity, and from experiencing God’s powerful touch upon our lives.  He knows that if he can successfully keep us at arm’s length from God’s presence, we will easily settle for his counterfeit pleasures and ideas, which will further keep us from ever discovering and pursuing our divine destinies!

#4  HE PLANS TO DESTROY US.  

 

“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  Understand this, the devil’s intent isn’t to weaken our will, or to cause us to slip up, and feel bad about ourselves – his intent is to completely destroy the image of God in our lives!  He knows that his time on earth is short and that he will ultimately be defeated, so he has turned his attention away from God and has placed it instead on God’s children.  As such, he is Hell-bent on defiling us, destroying us and dragging as many of us with him to Hell.

However, we are not helpless in this fight.  For not only have we been given the weapon of prayer to fight with, God has also given us other weapons – both offensive and defensive – so that we can stand our ground and emerge victorious in these battles.  Listen to the familiar words found in Ephesians 6:13-18:

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”  

Let’s take a closer look at some of our battle gear…

The Belt of Truth – Satan fights with lies, and his lies oftentimes sound like truth.  Only God’s truth is able to defeat the deceitful lies of the enemy.  It is the truth of God’s word which Jesus used to defeat the devil in the desert, and it is that same word of truth that we are to use in our own spiritual battles with the enemy.

The Breastplate of Righteousness – Satan often attacks our hearts, which is the seat of our emotions, self worth and trust.  Righteousness comes from living in a right relationship with God, refusing to allow habitual and unconfessed sin to creep into our lives.  And what we find is that the more closely we walk with Jesus, the more we allow His power to guard and protect our hearts, the less often we will find ourselves falling victim to the enemy’s traps.

Footgear- Our feet are important because if our footing slips, we are opent o enemy attack.  It is only when our footing is secure and stable, that we can stand firm and truly resist the advances of the enemy!

Shield of Faith – Satan’s attacks are relentless.  He hurls insults, condemnation, fear, lust, greed and pride in our direction.  The only way we can safe from his fiery attacks is by putting on the shield of faith.  This faith is more than just belief, however, it is rooted in a constant, steady and committed relationship with Jesus.

Helmet of Salvation – Satan’s power over us comes through his ability to make us doubt God, Jesus and our salvation.   The helmet of salvation protects our minds from doubting God, so that we can have full confidence in His saving, keeping and protecting power over our lives.

And finally, there’s the Sword of the Spirit -The sword is our only offensive weapon, other than prayer.  The Word of God is our sword.  Its power comes from the truth, the knowledge, as well as the wisdom and power contained within the pages of this book.  Therefore, it is imperative that we read it daily and meditate on what it says.  For the best way to combat an enemy who so craftily twists and perverts scripture, is to hide the scriptures in our hearts so that its truth is readily available to us whenever we need it!  

And there’s one final take-away I want to give to you this morning in regards to the supernatural, and especially as it pertains to spiritual warfare.  The take-away is this… 

YOU DO NOT FIGHT FOR A POSITION OF VICTORY. YOU FIGHT FROM A POSITION OF VICTORY. 

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)

The greatest thing about being a child of God is the knowledge that we are on the winning team.  Through the Scriptures, we already know the ultimate outcome of this battle.  Though the enemy wages a valiant war, though he curses and screams and inflicts casualties, in the end he is powerless against the God we serve!

Therefore, we do not fight this battle in order to gain a position of victory.  Rather, we fight from a position of victory.  Semantics, some might say, but I beg to differ.

When we’re fighting to gain a position of victory, we’re unsure of the outcome.  We’re filled with fear and dread.  We’re uncertain of how things will ever turn out.  All we want to do the entire we’re fighting is to run and hide…

However, when we’re fighting from a position of victory, we are certain of the outcome of our spiritual war.  And we are filled with the assurance that nothing can ever separate us from the father’s love.  We can know in our hearts that regardless of how hard the enemy comes out against us, the God we serve is mighty and all-powerful.  In just the right time, we can be certain that He will swoop in, gather us up in his protective arms and put an end to madness of the evil one. 

As John 16:33 so clearly reveals, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!”

(Be sure to check out the next installment of this series, as we take a look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit!)

WALKING WITH WISDOM (Part I)

 

Every single one of us has done something in our past that we regret.  Whether it was dating the wrong person, making a wrong purchase, walking away from the Lord, getting into debt, cheating on a spouse, getting a divorce, breaking the law, rebelling against our parents, or allowing ourselves to become addicted and enslaved to sin…Regardless of what our particular mistakes may have been, it’s pretty safe to say that we’ve all made plenty of knuckle-headed, rash, impulsive, and utterly foolish decisions.

Don’t you wish there was some way you could go back in time and STOP YOURSELF from making many of those wrong choices?   Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow take a giant eraser and forever cover over some of the stupid things you’ve done in your checkered past?  I know I do!    Well unfortunately, there is no such thing as a magic eraser which can blot out our mistakes, however, the Bible does talk about something God makes available to each of us, which if we would simply learn to apply it to our lives, it would save us from making many foolish decisions in the years to come…it’s called wisdom.

Before talking about what wisdom is, let me first share with you what wisdom IS NOT:

- Wisdom is not common sense.  In fact, in today’s cultural climate, it’s not very common at all…

- it’s not something which you are either born with or you are not..

- It has nothing to do with book smarts or intellectual intelligence.  

- It has nothing to do with intuition, gut feelings or natural inclinations.  

- And it is not the same as foresight or careful, methodic planning.  

Wisdom is a gift which can only be obtained and properly understood by tapping into the very heart and mind of God Himself.

So in order to get a proper handle on wisdom, we must turn to Scripture.  Proverbs, chapter 8 summarizes best for us what wisdom truly is, where it comes from, and why it is so vitally needed in our lives today.  

(verse 12)  “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion…(v 14) Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power.  By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on the earth.  I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find me.  With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.  My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.  I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasures full.”

Verse 22 helps us understand the origins of wisdom… “The Lord possessed me (the footnotes in the NIV says, ‘He brought me forth’) at the beginning of his work before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.  I was the craftsman at his side”

Verse 32 calls us to heed wisdom’s clarion call and warning… “Blessed are those who keep my ways.  Listen to my instruction and be wise, do not ignore it.  Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.  For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.  But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death!”

I love what verse 36 says, “Whoever fails to find me HARMS HIMSELF!”  Isn’t that what we’ve all done in the past?  Haven’t we all made quick, fool- hearted decisions which ended up causing great emotional harm both to ourselves and to others?    The reason this is so, is because we have failed to apply God’s wisdom to the choices we were making…and the results were often quite DISASTROUS…But what’s really interesting to me, is the fact that at the time when these decisions were being made (the ones which lead to so many disastrous consequences), we managed to somehow convince ourselves that we were making good and sound choices.

Perhaps that is why Scripture says that we can’t always trust our hearts.  After all, our hearts can be deceptive and they can easily mislead us.  And I think that is what Proverbs 8:36 is hinting at…for whenever we choose to make decisions apart from wisdom, we always end up hurting ourselves in the process.                

Here’s a statement I heard from a very wise communicator and I want to share it with you this morning…my hope is that it will stick with you the way it has always stuck with me.  The saying goes like this… 

“NO ONE EVER PLANS TO MESS UP THEIR LIFE, THE PROBLEM IS THAT MOST OF US NEVER PLAN NOT TO!”

Every time we make a decision without consulting God’s wisdom, we unknowingly plan to mess up our lives.  But I want you to understand today, that it does not have to be this way!    Scripture gives us some pretty clear and pointed advice in this regard… So if you’re sick and tired of making wrong choices and then being forced to live with the unwanted consequences they bring,  God’s Word is going to offer us a new, better way of doing things through the gift of wisdom.  

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as UNWISE but as WISE, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be FOOLISH, but understand what the Lord’s WILL is.”  

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)

The Amplified says it like this: “LOOK CAREFULLY then how you walk! Live PURPOSEFULLY and worthily and accurately, not as the UNWISE and WITLESS, but as WISE (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be vague and THOUGHTLESS and FOOLISH, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.”

What Paul is talking about here in this passage is our need for the practical use of wisdom in the everyday operation of our lives!  Not just in the big and importance decisions we make, but also in the small, insignificant decisions as well.

We’ll learn more about this in the second part of this post coming soon!

Who Is Jesus?

I believe there are at least five things which cause Jesus Christ to stand out from the rest of humanity.  Each of these things gives us keen insight into Jesus’ life and mission, and into the reasons why so many people – even today – have devoted their lives to seeking His truth and to living under His Lordship and rule.

Let’s look together at the first one…

#1 Jesus claimed to be God

Unlike every other world religious figure who came before or after him, only Jesus ever claimed to be God incarnate!  Buddha, Mohommad, Hare Krishna, and all the rest…though they claimed to know truth, or to show the pathway to find God, ONLY Jesus ever actually claimed to be God himself.  Billy Graham once remarked that, “Jesus was not just another great   religious teacher, nor was he just another in a long line of individuals seeking after spiritual truth.  HE WAS, instead, TRUTH ITSELF.  He was God incarnate.”

Jesus clearly, emphatically and repeatedly claimed to be God

Now…we’ve got to understand that this claim of His to be God was undoubtedly controversial, both back then, as well as today.  Religious leaders during Jesus lifetime accused him of blasphemy and had him murdered for making such a damnable claim.  Conspiracy theorists have even gone so far as to accuse the early church Christians of continuing this false and crazy notion in an attempt to propagate their religious movement, known as Christianity… However, Scripture clearly affirms that Jesus’ claims to be God were not the words of a mentally unstable man, nor were they false claims made by a group of religious zealots desperately trying to keep their religion alive.  Rather, it reveals with absolute certainty, without denial, that Jesus Christ was indeed, the son of God!

In fact, His name alone, says it all!  The Hebrew word for Jesus, ‘Yeshua,’ actually means “SAVIOR.”  And “CHRIST,” meaning ‘Anointed One’ in the Greek is the equivalent of the Jewish word, “MESSIAH,” referring to the prophet of God who would rescue God’s people and save them from their oppression and sin.

The Gospel of John bears witness to this when it says in chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

When Jesus first “outed” himself as God, he quoted from Isaiah’s prophecy concerning God’s anointed one.  When he finished reading it, he simply said, “today these words have been fulfilled in your presence.”  On numerous occasions, he confided this fact to his disciples, and scripture records various instances in which he proclaimed it to others as well.  On one such occasion in Mark 14:61, Jesus revealed to the high priest that he was indeed the son of God.  In John 8:58 he made an equally outrageous claim when He said  “…before Abraham was, I am.”  In saying this, he revealed the fact that he was an eternal being. Abraham had lived and died more than a thousand years before Jesus’ time, yet Jesus was emphatically saying that — even then — He existed.  The gospels declare that “by him and through Him were all things created, both in Heaven and on earth.”  When Jesus used the phrase ‘I AM’, he was declaring himself to be the same God who revealed himself by that title 1400 years prior, the same God who spoke to Moses from within the burning bush

And one of Jesus’ most brazen statements can be found recorded in John 10:30, in which he declared, “I and the father are one”  By saying this, he made himself equal in splendor and majesty as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Jews, the Hebrew nation

But Jesus wasn’t the only one convinced that He was God.  The disciples were firmly convinced of this fact as well.  In fact, John the beloved, Jesus’ closest friend, attests to this fact in 1 John 1 when he writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the word of life.  The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim what we have seen and heard…our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

All throughout the New Testament Scripture Jesus is worshipped as God:

o He is worshipped by a blind man, 

o He  is worshipped by a man who had miraculously been delivered from demonic possession, 

o He was worshipped as God by Thomas the  doubter, by all 12 disciples, 

o He was also worshipped as God by the mother of James and John, by the entire New Testament church

o He was even worshipped as God by his own mother and brothers, following the resurrection.  

You don’t really need much more proof that that!  Now let me ask you…how many of your moms have worshipped you as God?  I know some of your moms might think you’re a saint, but I’m certain we can find many more who will testify to the fact that you are (most certainly) not.  Yet in the case of Jesus…even the apostle Paul, who was once the most fierce persecutor of Christ’s followers, would eventually go on to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God and that He lived a sinless, perfect life.

But not only did Jesus claim to be God…

#2 He performed miracles which could only be performed by God

Though he was a great leader & teacher, Jesus ministry was most famous for the miracles which accompanied His ministry wherever He went.  The bible mentions nearly 40 miracles that were performed by Jesus.  In fact, just in the gospel of Mark alone, roughly 1/3 of the book deals with Jesus’ miraculous works

In it, he records instances in which Jesus: 

- healed the sick, 

- caused the blind to see, 

- made the deaf to hear, 

- and even enabled the lame to walk again

- He turned water into wine

- He cast out demons

- He walked on water

- He spoke to the wind and the waves in Mark 4 and they were stilled at his command

- He turned a couple fish and a tiny loaf of bread into more than enough food to feed 5,000 people (not including women and children)

- The Gospel of John, in chapter 20, verse 30, gives us an explanation for why Jesus performed so many miracles.  It tells us that these miracles were given to us as signs to prove that Jesus was indeed God, and so that men might take notice Him, place their faith in him and thereby receive the gift of salvation that only He alone could offer to mankind.

But not only did Jesus claim to be God, not only did he perform miracles that God alone could do, He also claimed to…

#3  Live a perfect, sinless life

Perhaps the greatest miracle of all, during Jesus’ 33 years of life here on earth, is the fact that he never sinned.  And He did this through the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Though He came to this earth fully God, He was also fully man.  And because of that, He laid aside his divine attributes while on earth to serve as our example of how we can live under the guidance direction, anointing and power of the Holy Spirit.  The fact that He could live as we live, yet without sin, makes Jesus admittedly more holy and worthy of our devotion that anyone else who has ever lived and it should prove to us, once again, the fact that He WAS and TRULY IS God.  After all, ONLY God is without sin

This claim of sinless living is unparalleled in history, and it is repeated by His disciples throughout the New Testament, most of whom suffered and died without ever recanting their ‘preposterous’ claim that He did not sin…Please understand that these testimonies didn’t come from those who saw Jesus from a distance, rather it came from those who knew him most intimately, who witnessed him up close and personal in a variety of different situations and circumstances.  If anyone would have had adequate opportunity to catch him committing a sin, it would have to be them — yet none of them ever did.   Even JESUS’ OWN BROTHERS later testified that they had never seen him commit a sin…I don’t know what your siblings think about you, but I know my sister would certainly never describe me as sinless…in fact, it would be quite the opposite!

Even in the face of extreme cruelty and death, the disciples refused to deny the sinlessness of Jesus… In fact Jesus’ brother James, as well as many of the disciples, died excruciating deaths – they were beaten, boiled alive, stoned, crucified, thrown off the top of the Jewish temple, yet not one of them EVER recanted their testimony or withdrew their firm conviction that Jesus was God, that he lived a sinless life, died a horrible death and rose again on the third day!  Even Jesus’ FORMER ENEMIES, Saul of Tarsus and Judas Iscariot, both later would go on the record saying that He was indeed without sin

And not only did his friends confirm this fact, but so also did the ruler Pilate who oversaw Jesus’ murder, as well as one of the soldiers who participated in his brutal death, and even one of the guilty sinners who was crucified at Jesus’ side, confessed that He was being crucified for  a crime he most certainly did not commit…

And now we come to Jesus’ most controversial claim of all.  In fact, it is this claim, which still to this day, arouses the anger, contempt and scorn of people worldwide.

#4  Jesus claimed to be the only way to heaven

While other religious and spiritual teachers claimed they could point you to the path to heaven, they never claimed to be the path themselves.  Jesus, in contrast, promised that He alone is the ONLY way to heaven.  “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus said in John 14:6, “no one comes to the father except through me.”  Simply put, there is no other way to enter Heaven’s gates then through the shed blood of Jesus and through faith that He is indeed, who He claims to be, the eternal, pre-existing, self-sacrificing Son of the living God!

Most people can accept Jesus as a great teacher, as someone who lived a wonderfully moral and upstanding life, but they shudder at the arrogant thought and they tremble at the not-so-subtle implications which would follow if He was indeed the ONLY WAY to God.  For if this is true, and here at PCA we stake our lives and very existence on this truth, then it means that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior will not enter into the courts of Heaven, but will be thrown into the fiery flames of eternal torment forever and ever.

For a lot of people, that is simply too much to bear and to swallow!  It is too narrow-minded and restricting.  It reeks of favoritism and eliticism .  After all, if God is a god of love and peace, how could he ever allow good, descent, religious people, who devote their lives to 

o Buddism, 

o New Age Mysticism, 

o Mormonism, 

o Jehovah’s Witnesses

o Hinduism, 

o Kaballahism to enter into eternal torment and judgment…simply because they called God by the wrong name????

o It just doesn’t seem right!

So as a result, they try to place labels upon Jesus.  They label him a good man, a wise teacher, they label him a liar, they even label him a deceiver!  Some even go so far as to label Him as a deranged and disillusioned, mad-man!  But I love how author extraordinaire, CS Lewis, responds to such trickery in His book, Mere Christianity… 

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God   But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher, He has not left that option open to us.  He did not intend to.”   

The fifth fact which separates Jesus from everyone else who has ever lived is this…

#5 He died on the Cross to save us from our sins

1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself [speaking of Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds you have been healed.”

Jesus’ entire reason for coming to earth…His entire purpose for living…was to come and die…as a ransom, as a substitute, and as the propitiation for our sins!

Though Jesus preached and taught God’s word, He didn’t come here simply to preach…

Though he performed miracles and healed a variety of illnesses, he didn’t come here simply to heal…

Though He set a perfect example for us to follow, he didn’t come here merely to set for us an example…

The reason He left the comforts of Heaven, and allowed His divinity to be wrapped in human flesh was so that He could go to the cross, on our behalf, and sacrifice His life in our place, in order to forgive us of our sins.

John 3:16 states so plainly, “For God so loved the world that HE gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 John 4:9-10 “In this [speaking again of Jesus] the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  This is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

It is at the cross of Christ where God’s love for us is most clearly seen.  It is in His sacrificial giving.  It is in the offering of His very own life that we are able to be redeemed from the penalty our sins deserve.

We’ve got to understand!  Jesus’ life was not taken by another… 

-The Jews didn’t kill him, the Roman guards didn’t end his life.   Jesus himself proclaimed in John 10:18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18NO ONE TAKES IT FROM ME, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”

God the father, through Jesus Christ the Son took the initiative to quench His own wrath against our sin.  It was because of His love –and NOTHING that we had done, which caused Him to take this drastic measure on our behalf!  After all, according to…

Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” That includes me and you!

Romans 3:23 “for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” And this is bad news because according to…

Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

We were wicked, we were sinful.  We had rebelled against God’s authority, His teaching, His rule.  In a situation where we didn’t love him and where there was nothing about us to move Him to do anything on our behalf…HE LOVED US, and because He couldn’t bear the thought of His beloved creation ever experiencing the pain and trauma of Hell…JESUS SUFFERED GOD’S WRATH ON THE CROSS FOR US, HE DIED an excruciatingly painful death IN OUR PLACE so that we could experience everlasting life in God!

I don’t know about you…but I can’t imagine it ever getting any better than that!  I can’t imagine any way that God could possibly up that ante…YET HE DID!

Which leads us to our 6th and final point- Jesus is different from all of humanity because…                                                                                                                                    

#  6 He Rose from the dead, under His own power and authority, He defeated Death, Hell and The Grave, and He allows us – His Children – to live in His resurrection power!

 

* I used many sources in preparing this article.  Though they are not properly marked, I give credit to the following authors:  Mark Driscoll (“Vintage Jesus”), Millard Erickson (Christian Theology), Wayne Grudem (“Systematic Theology”), Paul Enns (“The Moody Handbook of Theology”), Leon morris (“New Testament Theology”).  And if there’s anyone else I ripped off without giving due credit, I offer my humble apologies.  I am indebted to so many creative, inspired and insightful men of God who continually help me to grow in my understanding of the Gospel!

If You Could Ask Your Pastor Anything, What Would You Ask (part 6)

 

What is the role of prophecy in the church today?  Why do some churches over emphasize it while others hardly emphasis it at all?

This is a great question that finds many well-meaning believers in conflict.  The body of Christ is divided as to whether or not the prophetic is still a valid gift in the church today.  And even for those of us who feel it is valid and useful, many of us world disagree as to the importance that should be placed upon it within the context of the local church.

There is a wide range of teaching concerning prophecy throughout Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.  And I believe that a strong word of caution needs to be issued on this subject, for there is a variety of distortions and misunderstandings as to the nature and function of prophecy especially in the area of personal prophecy, words of wisdom and words of knowledge, which is where I’m going to focus my remarks this morning.  

I firmly believe that God desires to speak directly to His people.  And I believe that He uses a variety of means with which to accomplish this task – His Holy Spirit illuminates the Scripture in our hearts when we read it, He also speaks to us through preaching, which I believe is very prophetic, this is especially true in Pentecostal preaching, which is delivered under the anointing and the power of the holy spirit.  But God doesn’t stop there, He also uses people within the church body that have been gifted with supernatural words of wisdom and words of knowledge (as mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12) for specific instances where clarity or direction needs to be confirmed in an individual’s life or in the life of a local church.

However, I think in many charismatic circles, there has been a misguided over-emphasis on personal prophecy and on ‘words of wisdom’ and ‘words of knowledge,’ which often come in the form of someone claiming that they ‘have a word from the Lord’ for another person.  My personal opinion, after spending many years in Pentecostal charismatic circles, and after much prayer and study is that these ‘words from the lord’ from others can have quite a damaging and harmful affect on young and immature believers- especially when this gift is used improperly or it is abused by unscrupulous and errant teachers/preachers/and so-called prophets.

What troubles me is that I see many believers becoming increasingly reliant upon others and upon the charismatic leadership of their church to bring them a word from the Lord for their lives.  

One of the basic truths of Christianity is that when Jesus died on the cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to  bottom.  In essence, Jesus opened the Holy of Holies to every Christian.  His sacrifice forever did away with the need for old-testament style priests who would get God’s word for others.  Each Christian has now been given direct access to the throne of God, the wisdom of God and the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit.

We no longer need someone else to go into the presence of God and to come out with a word for us…rather we have been given the privilege and the open invitation from Jesus to do that for ourselves!  And I believe that a reliance upon others to do this for us, keeps us in a perpetual state of spiritual immaturity.  And what’s worse, is it opens us up to other people who might not be clearly hearing from the Lord or are simply guided by good intentions and well wishes, which I have personally encountered when receiving a word from the lord from others.

I guess if I could give you a rule of thumb to follow from scripture it would be this – to carefully judge prophecy, to place it under the authority of Scripture and to be certain that is BEARS WITNESS to what God is ALREADY DOING OR SPEAKING in our lives.  NEVER allow a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge to set the course for your life or actions, unless or until it has been confirmed in your spirit and through the Word of God.

If You Could Ask Your Pastor Anything, What Would You Ask? (part 5)

If God knows everything, then why do we pray?  

Let me start by quoting from a preacher more eloquent and far better equipped to answer this question, Charles Hadden Spurgeon:

“… calling upon the name of the Lord – glorifies God.  He asks nothing of you but that you ask everything of Him.  You are the beggar, and He is the benefactor.  You are in trouble and He is the deliverer.  All you have to do is trust Him and ask Him.  This is easy enough.  This takes the matter out of your hands and puts it into the Lord’s hands.  Do you not like the plan?  Put it into practice immediately!  It will prove itself gloriously effective.”

Based on that statement, as well as the overwhelming counsel of Scripture, I thnk it is safe to say that prayer is intended much more for our benefit than it is for the benefit of God.

Even though scripture says that God knows and answers our prayers while they’re still on our lips, He still desires us to pray.  In fact, Scripture COMMANDS US TO PRAY over and over again…

- 1 Chr 16:11 “Look to the lord; seek his face always!”

- Mt 7:7 Tells us to continually ask, seek and knock of God’s door in prayer

- Mt 26:41 tells us to watch and pray!

- Lk 18:1 tells us to always pray and to never give up

- 1 thess 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing

Here are just a few of the benefits of prayer in our lives:

- IT is through prayer that we come possess an intimate knowledge and understanding of the God we serve.

- It is through prayer that we receive peace and comfort in times of trouble

- It is through prayer that we receive strength to endure and the power to carry on

- IT is through prayer that we learn to discern the voice of God in our lives

- Its through prayer that we find direction for our lives

- It’s through prayer that die to our will so that we can become enabled to live out God’s will for our lives

- Pray is the avenue God has given us to communicate with Him so that we can receive from Him what we need to live the life as believers HE has called us to live!

If You Could Ask Your Pastor Anything, What Would You Ask? (part 4)

Why is it so difficult to witness and bring others to Christ?  How do you continue to reach out to someone who seems unreachable?  

- The first question we have to answer is this – why do we evangelize? We witness/evangelize/reach out to others, not out of a sense of guilt or obligation, rather, we do it because we have been commanded in Scripture to do so by Christ.

o Jesus said that He came in order to seek and save the Lost…(Luke 19:10)

o Before ascending into Heaven, He gave his disciples the command to preach the gospel and to make disciples of all menr, beginning where they lived, and continuing throughout the entire world! (Mk 16:15)

o As the disciples established the early church, it was clear that the church’s purpose was two-fold: to glorify God and to continue Christ’s mission of seeking and saving the lost.

o As Christians, and as members of the church today, our mandate is still the same as it was in the book of Acts – to preach the gospel with our lives and to make disciples of men.

It’s important that we address & understand the proper motive for evangelizing:

- We don’t evangelize people simply to convert them; we evangelize people because we love them.  And we love them because Jesus loves them and gave His life for them.  

- If we’re only using our friendships with unbelievers as evangelistic opportunities, it won’t be long until they figure out what we’re up to, and they go running away as fast as they can to get away from us.

o Imagine finding out that the person who brought you to Christ only  befriended you to put another notch in their spiritual belt buckle…or to escape from the guilt of not doing what Christ had called them to…wouldn’t that be incredibly insulting?

o Wouldn’t it be far better if the person who brought us to Christ, did so because they genuinely cared about us and desired God’s best for our lives?

We must fight the urge to see people as evangelistic opportunities – they are not opportunities – they are people!  And God has called us to love them, invest in them, pray for them, encourage them and to stand beside them even if THEY NEVER ACCEPT CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR!

Success in evangelism needs to be rethought as well…Our success in our evangelistic endeavors is not found in how many people we bring to Christ, but in HOW we bring people to Christ.  Do you catch the difference? 

This means that evangelizing isn’t a one shot encounter, rather it is a commitment to ‘do life’ with people who don’t know Christ.  It means that the process of seeing them come to Christ could take weeks, months, even years (or decades), however, our duty is not to grow weary in well doing, and to give up on them the moment they refuse to say the sinner’s pray with us, but to faithfully show them the love of Christ and to daily pray for them until they accept Christ, or until they die.  

• This means that our emphasis should not be on our rhetoric or on our cleverly memorized spiritual arguments, but on the way in which we live our lives! 

• We’re commanded to embody the message of the gospel

• In fact, the most convincing argument for Christianity is not our words, it is our lives which have been radically changed and transformed by Christ!

• This means that we can’t expect to win people to Christ, if we are not intimately acquainted with Christ ourselves.

- When we become passionate and excited about Christ, others who are around us, will not be able to miss our excitement or become intrigued by our passion and joy!

- As Mat 5:16 reminds us, “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good deeds and praise our Father in heaven!”

Here are a few practical suggestions when witnessing:

#1  Pray daily.  Plug into the Lord’s power source everyday.  Receive from Him fresh insights, new mercies and divine revelations.  Pray for those you are reaching out to.  Pray to break down the walls in their lives which are preventing Christ’s love for coming through.  Allow God to use your prayers to protect and cover them until they come to the point of repentance and salvation.

#2 Purposefuly plant yourself into their lives.  A friend in need, is a friend in deed.  People won’t care about Christ until they see Him lived out in you.  It is through your acts of mercy, kindness and compassion that they will eventually see Christ, be drawn to His love, and be forever changed.

#3 Look for teachable moments along the way.  Don’t force Jesus down their throats or turn every conversation into a spiritual talk.  Learn to live life with them.  Be more concerned about showing them Christ than you are in constantly telling them about Him.  Be on the lookout, however, for teachable moments when they ask and initiate spiritual conversations with you.   Quickly, yet with wisdom and discernment, answer their questions and use the everyday events of life to illustrate God’s plans and purpose.

#4  Be patient and trust God for results.  Seeing our friends come to Christ will likely take time.  We need to patient.  Further, our friend’s salvation will not be dependent upon our clever conversations, our convincing arguments or through our carefully studied modern evangelizing techniques  when our friends come to Christ, it will not be because of what we have said or done, it will be because Christ, who is at work in us, has graciously drawn them to Himself.  Allow this to take some pressure off of you.  You are only responsible to convey the message, your friend must make the decision for what he or she does with the message you tell them.

If You Could Ask Your Pastor Anything, What Would You Ask? (part 3)

What does our church believe about eternal security?  

Let me start by saying that there are a lot of misconceptions about the teaching of eternal security.  Like some of you, I was taught that it meant as long as someone said a prayer of salvation at some point in his/her life, then regardless of how they lived, they could be certain that they would go to heaven.  When I first heard that, I was shocked that people could teach it and believe in such a thing, though as a teenager I really, really wanted it to be true so that I could have some fun and not have to worry about the eternal consequences of my actions. But that’s another story altogether…

Over the years, however, as I’ve studied what the original thinkers behind this teaching had in mind, I’ve found that it’s nothing like what I was taught.  This teaching basically says that if you have a sincere, full salvation experience, and if you continue in your spiritual walk until you die, you can be certain that you will go to heaven.  And on that point, I fully, whole heartedly agree.  As long as the evidences of the Christian life, which we just spoke about, are consistently manifested in your life, then yes, you can certainly be secure in your salvation.  

But here’s where we disagree with eternal security.  Reformed and Calvanistic believers who teach this doctrine, see Salvation as completely one-sided.  It’s all done for, by, and through God, and humans do not have a choice in the decision.  They believe that God’s grace is irresistible, and that when it comes upon a person, he or she has no choice but to be saved.  There is no free-will or any ability on the part of the individual to accept or reject God.  Because of this, because God irresistibly chooses to save man, it is impossible for him to ever lose his salvation.  HOWEVER, the caveat they put in is this – that those who endure until the end are ever truly saved.  So if a person does not endure until the end, he was never truly or fully saved.

Now, as Arminians, we believe that we have been given free will, and that we have the capacity to either accept or reject God’s gracious offer of salvation.  Furthermore, because of that free will, we also believe that it is possible for a person to accept Christ, and then over a period of time, reject Christ, willfully walk away from Him, and allow his hear to become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  And as a result of our God-given ability to make free will decisions, we can reach the point where we willfully, deliberately and calculatingly walk away from God’s grace.  We believe this because Scripture clearly states that some will walk away from the faith, that some will commit acts of apostacy and that eventually they will renounce their faith in Christ. 

Let me make a few things really clear: losing your salvation is not like losing your car keys or your cell phone or your sunglasses.  It can’t happen by accident, it can’t happen in one sinful encounter, it cannot happen to us without us knowing what is taking place, and it cannot happen without us purposefully giving our hearts and desires over the pleasures of sin to the point where our hearts are hardened and become dead to the love of Christ and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  

If you’re sitting here today and you’re wondering whether you have lost your salvation or whether you have committed the unpardonable sin, I want you to rest assured that you haven’t, or you wouldn’t be here, and you wouldn’t be wrestling with those questions. 

However, it is good to wrestle with these questions from time to time, so that we can do what Paul encourages us to do, which is to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  Not in constant doubt as to where we stand, but in constant awareness that our lives need to be marked by confession, life change and engagement in the mission of God.