| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net One of the most debated topics over the last several hundred years in the Christian community, is that of the Holy Spirit. Even now, some of you have turned the page. Not because He (the Holy Spirit) isn’t fascinating, but because He scares most of us. It has rightly been said that we are afraid of what we don’t understand. Combine with that some misconceptions and even perversions on the subject, and most of us just walk away. Don’t believe me? Next time you are walking down town and you meet someone you know, raise your right hand and holler “The Holy Ghost wants to talk to you”. (sometimes I do this for fun.) What or Who is the Holy Spirit? What Godly properties does He possess, and to what degree? Can He occupy the same time and space as Jesus - or did God the Son have to “tag out” in order for the Holy Spirit to come? Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Or do we do with Him what most of professing Christianity has done, which is to push Him to the back burner, acknowledging His presence in Scripture and so in us, but relegating Him to a “lesser god”? Something or someone to be dealt with later, but not immediately necessary. Unfortunately, this is what has happened over the last few generations, and the lion’s share of the blame falls to us behind the pulpit. We have done a poor job of introducing new converts to the Holy Spirit, and then helping to cultivate a relationship with Him. The reason for this, is that most of us don’t really have a handle on the subject. There are a couple of things we have to establish before we go on. First is this. It is impossible to live a victorious Christ-like life, without the Holy Spirit. Think about it. Do you think all the teachings of Christ are just unattainable guidelines for us to attempt but never accomplish? Can you forgive your enemy? Love your enemy? Turn the other cheek (over and over again)? Pray for those who despitefully abuse you? We hear these things from the pulpits all across America, on any given Sunday, but rationalize that they don’t apply to us, or that “I can only obey to a point. That’s just the way I am”. You’re right. You can’t, but the Holy Spirit can. God wants to do supernatural things through you. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” - Col. 1:27. Remember from last week; “it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me”. You can scoff and say this is impossible but in your heart of hearts, you know somebody like this. There are many among us in this town who on a regular basis, act or rather react differently than the world, and we ponder it. How do they do it? The answer is found in one word that we have been studying for about two months now. Submission. The reciprocal of this principal is also true, and found in John 15: “apart from me, you can do nothing.” We’ll look at this more clearly in the weeks to come. God Bless. |
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