You know, tomorrow is Pentecost (I wrote this a few weeks ago) And like many sacred things in the church, we have made a symbol of it. We have reduced it to a ritual, a religious observance marked by a date on the calendar. Pentecost, like Christmas or Easter, has become a ceremony. But, brothers and sisters, let me tell you plainly, that is not what it was meant to be.
Pentecost was not a celebration of a day. It was the arrival of a Person. The Holy Spirit descended like fire from heaven. As the Word declares, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3–4, NKJV).
That moment was not meant to be memorialized once a year, it was meant to revolutionize every day. One encounter with the baptism of the Holy Spirit transforms a life utterly. It sets the heart ablaze and loosens the tongue with boldness. It becomes the source of power that causes the devil to flee. It strengthens our feet for the narrow way, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14, NKJV).
The Spirit enables us to pass through valleys, to climb spiritual mountains, to face the enemy of our souls. Not with trembling but with power. For “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NKJV). Pentecost is not a date, it is a way of living, it is heaven’s breath within us, propelling us forward in divine strength.
Jesus Himself declared, “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” (Luke 12:49, NKJV). And John the Baptist testified of Christ, saying, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16, NKJV). This fire, I believe, was taken from the coals of the heavenly altar, the very presence of God, and placed upon frail men.
And what happened? Those few, filled with that fire, “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6, NKJV). They did not wait for a Sunday. They did not look to feast days. They carried Pentecost in their bones, in their breath, and in their speech. They were pierced by power and spoke so that “when they heard this, they were cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37, NKJV).
You must be born again. You must be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You must have the fire of God within. Without Him, Christianity becomes religion, an empty shell. But with Him, it becomes life and that more abundantly (John 10:10, NKJV).
It is a holy thing to know who you are in the Lord. To search the chambers of your own spirit with trembling , for the flesh is relentless, and is our most cunning foe. It creeps in as a whisper, yet departs in a tempest, tearing as it goes. But the Lord, ah, the Lord He speaks not in thunder, nor in the earthquake, but in that still, small voice. It is not the volume that stirs and shakes mountains, but the weight of the Word itself, Spirit-breathed, eternal.
For passion can rage like a sea in a storm, waves rising like giants, smashing all that dares to stand. But gaze upon the Christ before Pilate, Truth wrapped in silence, power clothed in meekness. Love’s boldness stood face to face with earthly might, yet never raised its voice in pride or vanity, the power of knowing.
If the message be truly of God, then it does not waver,it is unchanging, steadfast as His own Word. But the messenger? Oh, he is tested. Ridiculed. Wounded. Laid bare. He is stripped of self until he walks quietly, humbly, unknown to men, yet known to God. His heart beats not for applause but for obedience, to carry the fire he was given.
It is sweet, yes,so sweet,to hear His voice. But to speak it? That is often bitter. Bittersweet, the flavor of the prophetic path. Yet we must be faithful. Come storm or silence, come crowd or solitude,we must speak what He has spoken.
Let the waves crash, let the world rage. But let us walk on. One step in front of the other. One day at a time. Falling down but getting back up again. We can do all of this in Christ alone. In Him all things are possible and only by the power of the Holy Spirit can the message be delivered.
In every great move there is a tearing down. Gideon, long before he does mighty exploits, is called to tear down the altars of his father and in its place build an altar to Lord His God so that it becomes a sanctuary, a meeting place. “His father’s altar to Baal stood as a symbol of dead religion, an affront to the living God. Despitie Gideon’s initial apprehension, he obeyed and his actions signaled a shift towards a new spiritual stirring.” (J.D.King)
The reformation is probably the largest example of a tearing down yet there are many more. In the 19th century in Scotland there was “the great disruption,” where almost 500 ministers abandoned the Church of Scotland and their Anglican roots to form the free church, gave us some great preachers like Bonar and his brothers.
Of course you had the confessing church with Bonhoeffer, rejecting the corruptions of the Lutheran church. The Jesus movement of the late 60s and 70s was led by anti- establishment “Jesus freaks.” I long to see this generation, the ones that are younger than me have their own Gideon moment/movement. A new wine skin for new wine.
Of course, the old guard will be, for the most part, against it, because second and third generations almost always morph into religion and establishment. Every field that seeks to continue to produce, must go through crop rotation. It’s time, I believe, for the present “church,” to be rotated. We’ve sucked all the nutrients out of the ground and our crops have suffered greatly for it, smaller, less fruitful and the yield almost down to nothing. Time for a new crop, new wine, therefore, time for a new wine skin.
There is a remnant people who have/will tear down the idols of their fathers, dead religion. It may have had life at one point( it may not have) but certainly God is calling this generation back to their first love. Yet just as when the Israelites were released from Babylon to go back to their beginnings, only about a third did, two thirds staying behind in the comforts and ease of Babylon.
The modern established church is a very comfortable place to be. It has a program for everything. It has a “senior pastor,” who will do all your thinking for you. Coming out of that is a horrifying thought for those who have worshiped there for generations. Yet, in the end, who will search for “the old paths?” Who will desire to return to their first love? The remnant.
I am convinced that 1 Cor 12-14 just cannot exist within the traditions of our fathers. One of the reasons the hippies, the “Jesus freaks,” of the late 60s and early 70s were so refreshing is that the Lord took their rebellion against organized religion and used it in a very simple but highly effective way.
It was like taking a complex arrangement of a song and breaking it down into one man and a guitar where the words and the simple melody could shine through. And then, tragically, that generation became what they had initially rejected. Mostly, I believe, because men wanted positions and titles just like” their fathers,” before them. The simplicity of the original movement got swallowed whole by the religious system it sought to replace.
The Church, I believe, is called to be a counter culture, called out and set apart, to be a beacon in the darkness. Yet, we always seem to underestimate the huge power of the religious mindset. And here we are again, the non denominational system almost entirely consumed by “rot and rut and routine,” as Tozer would put it.
It is not that men are inherently weak, it’s that’s God is inherently all powerful. The strongest man that ever lived, whether in body or mind or spirit, finds his proper state before and all powerful God. He falls on his face as one who is dead. He would cry out with the prophet “I am undone. He would not have the capacity to stand in His presence. He would only see his unworthy state. It takes fire from the altar, to alter his state, to enable him to stand, to have the audacity to say “here I am, send me.”
In Isa 40:28-31 God speaks. He announces Himself as . The everlasting God. 2. Lord. 3. Creator of the ends of the earth. He never faints. He is never weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He is not powerful, He is power itself and the very source of it.It is His to give and He gives it to the weak. He is not mighty, He is might itself and from the abundance of His eternal strength, He gives to those who have no strength. Who are these recipients? Who are these weak people? They are the ones who have come to understand that apart from the Spirit of God, they can do nothing, therefore they wait.
Our understanding of our own weakness kicks down the door of our ego’s and allows the light of God to penetrate the very depths of our beings. Death to “self,” is an emptying process. We must decrease so that there can be an increase. An increase of what? The Lord Himself, in us. By dying to ourselves and emptying our “self,” we are creating capacity. And into that capacity flows the fullness of God. ….That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with the saints, what is the width and the length and the depth and height -to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:14-21)
For those who are filled with the fullness of God, having waited upon Him in our weakness and low opinion of our “self,” shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint. And so the “weak,’ and those who have no “might,” shall fly, shall run and shall walk. In the dying to their “self,” they have increased their capacity and are therefore filled from inexhaustible fountains.
This is the making of the mighty men and women of valor. Warriors for Christ in the battle of the ages. Those who have humbled themselves. The broken and the contrite. The weak and the meek. They all fellowship with God in high and lofty places. To get there they need the wings of eagles. To run the race we need the strength of God. And to walk this narrow walk of faith we must have the power of God
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.(Rom 5:2-5)
The opening verse to this chapter reads “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. And through Him we can rejoice in hope and the glory of God. Yet we are told that we do not just glory in God, we glory in our tribulations. Imagine that, glorying in our trials and our tribulations, in our sufferings. You will not hear that preached in Charismatic circles. Like Job’s friends they would accuse a suffering saint of sin, or lack of faith. They have tried to turn faith into a weapon that destroys and nullifies suffering and trials and tribulations. Yet faith is what gives us access to grace. By trusting in God we glory in His unmerited favor. By trusting in His Son, the Lord Jesus and His work on Calvary we enter into the glory.
In order to flesh out this blessed hope, we have to learn from suffering and tribulations. We learn patience and trust which leads to hope. Therefore tribulations is the birthplace of hope. By patiently enduring our cross, we begin to see how much the flesh dominates us. As we stand there in the fire, the flesh begins to burn away. And yes, if one were to peer into your trials and tribulations they would see the Son of man standing there with you. And this hope that is forged in the fires of trial and tribulation causes us to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for we know it is the power of God unto salvation.
Those who patiently endure and overcome shall stand in that day, unashamed of our Lord, for He has walked with us, every step of the way, through the high mountain passes and in the depths of the valleys. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts for our Lord for He has been our companion through it all. He has stuck closer than a brother. He has been so faithful to us and therefore we could never deny Him. This is our strength. This is our glory, the glory of the God that dwells within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our closest companion, the lover of our souls and the one who has never left us not forsaken us. This knowledge, lived out in our lives, is the hope and the glory.
The sands of time are running low
Yet the river still continues to flow
It flows for you and it flows for me
And it still flows from Calvary
His Blood cries out and still it saves
It pulls men out from stormy waves
His Blood shall never ever fail
In the shadow of the Almighty we shall prevail
Who shall stand in the final hour
Who is held by His great power
Who shall rise above the flood
Those who are covered by His precious Blood
His Blood is still a mystery
It echos down through history
Those who are dying they fail to see
That victory was nailed to a Bloody tree
And from that tree it flows still yet
For you and for me and for our debt
We surely owed what we could not pay
Yet our sins were surely washed away
Washed and delivered I know not why
Yet the Son of God He came to die
And on that cross He took our place
Our sins were forgiven, were surely erased
And now I stand high above the flood
Washed and redeemed and covered by His Blood
Who shall take me out of His hand
There is none there is none for In Him I stand.
Thank you Jesus, for you died for me
Thank you Jesus for you set me free
Thank God in heaven that He sent His only Son
Thank you Father in heaven for victory won.
Luk 6:32 For if you love them which love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those that love them.
It is said about free speech that it only really counts when you tolerate speech that is extremely offensive to you. That is actual free speech. If you only tolerated speech that you like, then you are actually devoid of toleration and you are a totalitarian. You are headed down the road of dictatorship, the same road that Mussolini went down, the same road that Hitler and Stalin went down, the same road that every tyrant went down and all of them ended in pure hatred and destruction of whole groups of people. When I first came to America, it was liberals who defended neo-nazi groups and the argument went something like this “I hate what they are saying, but I will die defending their rights to say it.” It was liberals who had the saying “live and let live,” meaning let everyone do their own thing, lets not compel anyone to be something they are not. You do not have to major in political science to know just how much that has turned around in 30 years, the former guardians of free speech have now traded places with those who would have suppressed it. So, only tolerating speech you like is no toleration at all but rather it is the opposite, it is fascism.
For if you love them which love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those that love them(Luk 6:32) Jesus is saying, in effect, “so you love those who love you, big deal, everybody does that.” True love, Jesus love, is measured by how much we love those who do not love us. How do we react to those who do not like us? To those who hate us? To those who reject us. To those who cheat us and harm us? Are we just like the world or do we have something supernatural inside of us, Jesus, that has changed our very disposition? Too often brothers and sisters we are just like the world, it should not be so. The world only tolerates those who agree with them, they do not have love they have hate. How about us? Do we love even when we are not tolerated? Do we render evil for evil? Imagine if God the Father had rendered evil for evil? We would all be dead and rotting in an eternity separated from our Creator.
If we can recognize the truth of what free speech means, then surely we must recognize the truth of what true love is? It blossoms not on decadent beds of roses that we ourselves made, no, it blossoms in the fire and the dungeon and the heat of hatred. True love finds its expression when it is reviled. True love finds its expression in the arms of forgiveness. It is cradled in a cot of mercy. When it is attacked it has the opportunity to render its attacker of their true power, the power they have over you. True love stands alone atop the highest mountain for all to see. It is unsullied by the rage of human emotions and is grounded in the will of man surrendered to the heart of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the days darken, true love, the love of God, will be assaulted on every side and if we respond correctly then God shall be filled glorified around the world “for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.” Let us glorify God in this manner.
Many evangelical churches and most pentecostal or charismatic churches you go into today, raise their hands in worship. Like everything else in Christendom, there can be the mechanical act of doing something because it is supposed to be done, or there can be the true living dynamic response to the very presence of the Living God. Every single aspect of the natural worship of Christianity can be reduced to some dusty empty ritual that has long since replaced the living reality of God’s manifest presence. It is interesting when you watch secular concerts that you see arms aloft all over the stadium or concert hall, swaying to the rhythm of the song. Good music entertains us and can move us, Gods manifest presence invades every part of who we are and never leaves us the same. It creates in us a thirst that can never be quenched by anything other than His presence. It tears down and builds up, it raises us up from the dark valley floor to the lofty heights of His glory.
There is the presence of God to be found in glorious, enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and you leave strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of presence of God in worship, the kind of presence that there seems to be such a famine of throughout the land. The first kind of presence we spoke of lifts your heart, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely breathes as the Spirit of God slowly penetrates our very being and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. It saturates our very DNA.
The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks. The banks themselves begin to crumble and fall into this river of pure life as it swells up and floods every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being altered by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to Godly foundations are simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the water-brooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand up, jump up and down and raise our hands. In the Welsh revival two young women singing either acapella or simply backed by a piano typically sang “Here is love, vast as the ocean.” And there was love, in the very midst of them, vast as the ocean, flooding the hearts and minds of all who attended. Brothers and sisters, in all our modernity, what have we lost? In the program of churches and the professional class of worshiper leaders and pastors we have lost the simplicity of it all. And in the losing of it we now have to entertain the people. Spirit led worship is exactly that, it is Spirit led.
In work we have a routine. In life we have a routine. Prisoners in prison have a routine. Oftentimes we are slaves to the routine, it is what gets us through life. Yet, there is nothing routine about the Holy Spirit of the Living God. He is dynamic and you can never know what way the wind will blow next. Have we sold our souls for a routine? Routine in the home, routine at work, routine at church. Routine people do not change the world. Routine people do not do wage war on the battle-fields of life. The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because the environment inside them has been filled to capacity and is overflowing its banks. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are.
Let me go out on a limb a little bit and prophesy. I see the time coming when all the holy men whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit will desert worldly evangelicalism, one by one. The house will be left desolate and there will not be a man of God, a man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, left among them ( A.W.Tozer, The Dangers of a Shallow Faith, pg 14)
I believe with all of my heart that Tozer was indeed prophesying as he claimed. One by one men are leaving the Evangelical world behind. The world has invaded the modern church and men whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit simply cannot stay. Now if you count yourself in that number, be prepared. You will be torn to shreds. You will be accused of division. You will be accused of pride and arrogance. You will be accused of being about the enemies work. Yet can I tell you, that men and women whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit can only see what He has shown them.
Yes it will be lonely and yes you will question yourself and yes you will try everything that you do and every thought that you have by Scripture and by the Spirit of God in you. The accusations of men will ultimately fail because they cannot say anything to you that you have not said to yourself. You have tried your conscience in the fires of affliction. You have suffered loss and found yourself to still be standing. Standing on something, something immovable in an ever-changing world. The Solid Rock of Christ underneath your feet allows you to stand even as everything around you is shaking. Stand fast brothers and sisters, we are living in strange times. We have not seen these times before. This is not the cyclical times of revival and lukewarmness. This is the days of His coming. This is the days of a darkness the like of which we have not seen before.
Men will lecture you from history, men whose eyes have not been opened by the Holy Spirit. While we can learn many things from the past and from the great men of God who have went before us, only God can speak to us of the times in which we live and the times which are shortly to come to pass. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, He speaks to His people in the here and the now. He leads them and He guides them and He prepares them. Only He can do that. So, it is vital that our eyes are opened to the world in which we find ourselves. This opened eyed revelation from the Spirit will cause conflict among men, has it ever not been so? So my brothers and sisters, stay the course and stand upon the ground delivered unto you. When men accuse you of things then you are blessed in heaven above and these blessings from heaven will sustain you. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
We are living in strange days I am sure you will agree. Days in which folks no longer listen to sound doctrine. In 2:4 Tim we are warned of such days and rightly so of course. Paul tells Timothy that people will look for teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. The old phrase sola scriptura is latin for scripture alone. It was the battle cry of the reformation. It was the sword that sent a tremendous blow into the heart of religiousity. The traditions of men had swamped the truth and religious leaders made the people bear heavy external burdens without any regard to their internal spiritual state. All that mattered was what was seen on the outside.
And so, we often regard this warning from Paul as pertaining to the last days meaning perhaps the last of the last days for surely we have been living in the latter days since the birthing of the Church. Yet in this chapter Paul says “ for the time will come.” What time? Our time? His time? After he dies? A progression or better still a regression of all of these? Listen to what Paul says in Acts 20 to people he would not see again, his last words to them so to speak…..
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Act 20:28-31)
2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
The ministry of condemnation. That is quite a phrase is it not? This ministry that Paul is talking about is the ministry of Moses under the Old Covenant. Yes it had a glory, one that was fading away and veiled. Those who have not experienced the new birth will labor under this ministry of condemnation, their hearts veiled to the glory of the risen God through Jesus our Lord.
Now, if you are walking in condemnation, it makes sense that you will share what you know. You will share the condemnation that you yourself labor under. Your words will bring death for the letter killeth but the Spirit gives life. The Spirit of God that dwells in us who know Jesus and have been born from above brings life to the hearers. The Scriptures tells us that” if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” So it really all comes down to whether one has the Spirit of God in them or not.
But he gives more grace. Wherefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. (Jas 4:6)
The enemy is ever creating caricatures of the most powerful fundamental truths of Scripture so that people will flee from it; whether that be grace, obedience, holiness or the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He understands all too well the fundamental and elemental nature of these things to the saints. The Kingdom of God came down to us wrapped in flesh. The Kingdom had entered the world the moment Jesus was born. He walked in that power as did His disciples. He was Emmanuel, Christ with them. He would leave, but He would not leave them as orphans. He sent His Holy Spirit so He was no longer Christ with them but Christ in them and it was better for them for now the Kingdom of Heaven had taken up residence in their hearts. His Words, His teachings never change, they are the same yesterday today and forever. In fact the worlds will pass away but His word, every word that proceeds forth from His mouth stands. And we stand on it for it is like solid Rock and all other ground is sinking sand. One heart, one mind, one Body one Spirit one Truth.
God has called us to be obedient. He has called us and we walk in His grace. Holiness is an essential aspect of our Christianity. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is vital for a powerful walk with Him. We cannot pierce the hard hearts of men without this power. We cannot discern what the Spirit says to the churches without this power. Can I say that Grace and Holiness and obedience and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit are all vitally connected to one another. They are the building blocks of who we are as saints. All of those elements together create salt and light. Can we truly be a light to the world without being obedient servants to our Lord and His word? If we are not obedient to His Word can we walk in Holiness? Without Holiness can we really see God? If we cannot see God high and lifted up, if we are fallen from our first love can we move in power? If we fail to walk in a broken and a contrite state do we not quench the Holy Spirit? What do we find when we approach the throne in brokenness? Do we not find mercy and grace? Ah, grace, unmerited favor, perhaps the key to it all is a proper understanding of who we are in Christ. If we know that, if we can rejoice in the reality of knowing that we are sons and daughters of the most High God, redeemed and sanctified by His Blood, then we can understand Grace.
And so brothers and sisters, do not let the caricatures that Satan produces, the counterfeit truths, rob you of what is yours in Christ. Whether it is Grace and mercy, or Holiness or obedience or the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, all are vital to our walk and being salt and light to the world. Pursue truth whatever it may be and wherever it may take you. Dont worry that most of Christendom has thrown out the babies with the bath water. Dont worry that the world may lump you in with the counterfeit of the caricatures of Satan, for that is exactly his plan. We are not ignorant of his schemes. Continue to be lovers of the Truth no matter the opinions of men and run after it with all of your heart and mind and body and soul. In doing this you will be a true and genuine light unto a world of ever-increasing darkness.
Martin Luther writes………….”If we look aright at what people now do who reckon themselves as Evangelical and know how to talk much about Christ, there is nothing behind it. Most of them deceive themselves. They learn indeed to speak words, as a parrot repeats what people say, but their hearts do not experience them.They remain just as they are, they neither taste nor feel how true and faithful God is.”
It was true in Luther’s day and before, and so in ours. In so many circles, so much talk about Jesus but nothing behind it. The born again life is a supernatural life not a superficial life. The power of God is demonstrated in the transformed lives of men and women, such are trophies of His grace and His workmanship. First and foremost there must be a transformed life. The Kingdom of God must beat in the hearts of His followers. They must be led and guided by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. If men are not being led by the Holy Spirit then they are being led by their own souls and they deceive themselves. They speak, they write, they use words but they, as Luther says, are merely parroting what they have heard other men say. It is a regurgitation and not an impartation. Men without the Holy Spirit leading and guiding them, are like waves tossed upon the sea driven by the wind, unsound and unsettled, never learning only ever following other men. One day they will violently oppose something, and the following week when the wind changes so to will they change their unbridled minds. They are grasping in the darkness and can only parrot what they have heard and desperately try to give the appearance of one led by the Spirit.
I have found in my life that men of God are loyal and faithful and loving and true. Truth above all else drives them. Men of God from every age past were solely and wholly devoted to Truth, in every sense of that word starting with Christ. If the nature of God burns in your bones then you will be a lover of truth unto death, forsaking all things for its cause. This is the thread that runs through the ages. Some have been tested more than others on this in times past, yet the same Spirit and the same passion exists in every genuine saint. Truth, Christ, on Him alone we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. In the times present and a time soon to come, our generation will be tested by this on a scale never seen before.
The Body of Christ will stand in that day. It will be the finest hour for the Church of Christ. Yet faithless men, men who know nothing of divine love and divine loyalty, devoid of the Holy Spirit, will simply twist in the wind as they always do because they are driven and tossed by an earthly wind that makes them unstable in all their ways. They will become the deadliest enemies of the saints, accusers, night and day with a fierce jealousy that burns in their souls and turns to violence. This spirit is already rising. It is an ancient spirit and it is about to have its day. It has had its moments in time, but it is about to have its day. Who will stand in that evil day? God’s Kingdom children with royal blood coursing through their veins will stand by the power of the Holy Spirit that leads and guides and empowers them and magnifies Christ in their hearts. Amen Lord, be glorified.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom 8:1-2)
In Romans chapter 8 we see in the opening verses two distinct ways that we can live our lives and the principle is established. In verse two we see that there is a ” Spirit of Life,” in Christ and there is ” sin and death,” in the law.
How then shall we live? Is it a choice? Yes, indeed a choice. There is life in the Spirit of God when we walk according to His ways. Life, it edifies, it brings grace and mercy, it is the life of Christ, it is the Spirit of Life. The Holy Spirit has many names in the Scripture. We see here He is called the Spirit of Life. In other places He is called the Spirit of Glory. You see when we exalt the Lord Jesus then we release life and glory to those we communicate it to. When we speak together as brothers and sisters and we exalt Jesus to one another then the blessings of life are released and it affects every part of us. Lets suppose you are ill and it has become the focus of your conversation. You will know that there is typically no life in that. In fact, it often simply makes us worse when we constantly talk about the things that ail us. Yet, if we meet someone along the way and choose not to talk about ourselves or our ailments but rather talk about our Lord and His victories, can I tell you brothers and sisters heaven opens up, and down comes the presence of God. For where two or three of His own dear saints are gathered together and they are exalting God, giving praise to Jesus, focusing on Him then there is a unique corporate blessing that is promised and bestowed.
So the question is brothers and sisters, are you being used to impart life? Does your conversation edify and lift up the hearers? You know we are called to this, to walk according to the Spirit. We are called to be light and salt to the world. In Romans 8 the Holy Spirit is also called the ” Spirit of Adoption.” We have been called out to be children of the living God and by His Spirit we receive His nature. When we walk according to His nature, His Spirit, then we are a light unto the world. We bring life and we bring down the glory of God. What a beautiful calling. Make a determination in your spirit to yield to His Spirit in you. Take control of the conversations you are involved in. Yes it is good to listen, but predetermine in your heart that you will be about your Father’s business. Do it every day, I challenge you. See if life does not spring up before your very eyes as you glorify God in your daily walk. If you allow it, it will change everything.
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:12-14)
What a powerful Scripture, it says so much. I want you to notice the word “trusted,” and then the word ” believed.” There is practically no difference between these words. The word believe in the Greek means to entrust, commit to, to have faith in. This word ” believe,” in the English falls way short of the depth of the true meaning of the word in the Greek. How many times have you heard this at an altar call “all you have to do is believe that Christ is the Son of God to be saved.” That is not true and is the genesis of cheap grace that has all but ruined Christianity. You see, Paul is calling himself here one “who first trusted Christ,” then he says ” in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth.” So let me paraphrase what Paul is saying here in the modern venacular and see if you recognize it.
“We who have entrusted our whole lives, mortal and immortal to Christ should bring praise and glory to His name. And not only us, but you guys as well who entrusted your whole lives to Jesus after you heard the truth preached should also bring Him glory. And because you trusted Him he has marked you with the Holy Spirit just as the lintels over the doorpost were marked by the blood of a lamb. This is a guarantee of your inheritance, you are now engaged and betrothed to each other and the day is coming soon when the Bridegroom will come back for His bride, so wear the mark of the Holy Spirit well, by this mark all men will know that you belong to Jesus just as an engagement ring tells the whole world that you are promised to another.”
If you have not entrusted the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole life, mortal and immortal, then the promises do not belong to you, you are not sealed nor promised to the Bridegroom. There is no guarantee for those who have not entrusted their whole lives to Jesus. Perhaps someone once told you “all you have to do to be saved is to believe.” It is very important that you know what the Scriptures was talking about when you read that English word believe. Living vibrant faith that leads to the ” praise of His glory,” does not come through a mental assent to an abstract truth.
Below is an article be T.A.Sparks. It speaks to the traditions of men. God is raising up a generation of believers in these last days that seek to move in the freedom of the Holy Spirit where Jesus is preeminent. Conditions will be such that men will not be able to control and organize yet one more denomination. He will bind us together and He will use circumstances to fulfill His will for unity in the Body and freedom of the Spirit. The walls that have formed denominations have been used to create prisons that seek to confine and restrict the work of the Holy Spirit…………bro Frank
The spiritual man has treasures this world discounts. He has a mystic wisdom of the Holy Spirit, but the world has no way to receive this. Jesus said the world cannot receive Him “because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” (John 14:17) Just as a deaf man has no sensory organ to receive music, and just as a blind man has no organ to receive light, so a worldly man has no organ to receive the treasure of God’s mystic knowledge. by the Holy Spirit. And of course, if the Christian says that he has and is sure of himself, the world is angry with him, even the religious world. They say he is a bigot, he thinks too much of himself. The Christian man has the Holy Spirit, invisible and from God, whom the world cannot receive. The Christian has heard a voice, seen the light and been able to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, while the world is just religious.
have their own Gideon moment/movement. A new wine skin for new wine.
A Call To The Remnant 