Our Need Of The Holy Spirit

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

OUR OWN INTERESTS AND ATTITUDES FALL WAY SHORT:
—Jeremiah 10:23  “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
—Proverbs 16:25  “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
—Romans 3:10-12  “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
—Romans 7:18  “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

We know what this means for an unsaved person. They must become convicted of their sin condition unto the point of repentance = having a complete change of mind about themselves before God, unto turning from what they are unto God, to be saved by the power of His grace.

But also after we are saved, we still must have the conviction of our personal sin condition to override everything about ourselves, as Paul said in Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

WE NEED THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO DO GOD’S WORK:
—Acts 1:8  “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
—John 16:13  “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
—Galatians 5:22-23  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
—Acts 4:31,33  “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”

“Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

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Spiritual Direction Needed In The Home

(Adapted from an article by Pastor Troy Calvert)

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6

The emphasis is on starting when God gives us the child, and not waiting until they are older. Children learn the way they live, thus they must be trained in the way they should go.

Giving discipline and direction is all important. The Bible teaches that all (our children included) inherit a sinful nature from Adam. Thus, discipline or structure in the home, in the form of rules, must be enforced if our children are to learn the life-lessons they need. “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Proverbs 29:15  Parents must not fail their children’s need of proper training by parental inconsistencies in this area of structure and discipline. The right demands must be placed upon the child to achieve the right conduct on their part. A child’s development is according to what is being required of them on a consistent basis. This is what training is all about.

Teaching a child to meet your requirements (obedience) is the key to their understanding the need to be obedient to God’s Word. As we put into practice the principles that we find in God’s Word, we can find the direction that is needed for living.

Are you training your children to use God’s Word in order to make wise decisions? This training provides your children with the needed spiritual offense. Ephesians 6:10-18 teaches us that our defensive and offensive weapon is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. If you want your children to be able to resist the devil, to deny their own flesh, to fight off the world, and to fight the good fight of faith in laying hold on eternal life, impart to them the training according to God’s Word. Help them to see there is only one way in which they should go and it is God’s way.

Children have to be taught the scriptures and trained to live according to the ways of God’s Word, for the wisdom of God’s Word to be their focus. When children have been taught and trained unto knowing and understanding the wisdom of God’s Word, this will enable them to relate to parental guidance that is according to Biblical reasoning. “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” Psalm 78:7

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Higher Ground

James 2:13 “…and mercy rejoiceth against judgment”

Christian causes and accomplishments are properly advanced through actions of wisdom being chosen over actions of judgment.

To have perfect judgment, there must be a perfect judge with perfect knowledge, insight, authority, and motives. Thus, we do not qualify to be the judge of other men.

When a person is having a problem, they should only be burdened with the task of finding the right answer for their problem. Wisdom shed abroad by another will greatly aid this. But imperfect judgments passed by imperfect judges against them, leaves them in the impossible position of coming up with the many answers required to satisfy all the suspicions, doubts, accusations, rumors, and bad feelings that the judgments of others have raised against them. Thus they have no peace or opportunity to find the one answer they really need. The best way is to shed light abroad for others to be able to see.

Once we pass judgment on someone, we develop a mindset toward them based on our judgment of them. This mindset limits our actions towards them to that which satisfies our feelings of judgment concerning them. So this shifts our response toward them from really doing what could be a help to them, unto an action based on what is pleasing to our judgment of them, no matter how imperfect that may be.

Such is the case in the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37.) The priest (Luke 10:31) and the Levite (Luke 10:32) both passed by the victim because of what their own judgment of his situation was. But the Samaritan, without limiting his response to any judgments he would make as to why the victim was naked and wounded on the wayside, chose to use wisdom to see what was needed and to choose the wisest course of action to meet that need. The Lord credited him as being the only one of the three men who rightfully fulfilled his neighborly duties.

Christ’s command is to love one another as He has loved us – John 13:34. We will miss the mark here if we give ourselves unto the responses that our imperfect judgment of others would call for. Rather, we need to exercise mercy instead of judgment, so that we remain free to prescribe the unsearchable riches of the wisdom of God’s Word and to have no dictates, other than seeking and finding more wisdom from God.

We should require of ourselves to exercise mercy, rather than judgment when we think we have seen fault and failure in our brethren. Thus, resisting doing the things that the feelings of our judgment would cry out for, we purpose to do only those things that will shed abroad greater light and understanding from the Lord to enable our brother to see and act in faith and hope.

Judgment will incline us to fixate on the problem. Mercy will wisely employ us in striving for the right solution for deliverance.

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Is There Any Scripture Which Says That Believers Will Be Raptured Before The Tribulation Period?

By Austin Fields

Yes. There are many verses of Scripture which teach us that the rapture of the believers, both dead and alive, will take place before the tribulation.

“Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:30)

To me this parable declares in no uncertain terms that the rapture must take place before the tribulation period starts. The sower is Jesus Christ, the seed that He sows are the elect, which is referred to as wheat (See Luke 22:31). The wheat was sown in the sower’s field (world). Satan sowed his followers in the same field that belonged to the sower of the good seed; therefore Satan and his followers are “squatters,” having no legal right in the field.

Now the sower (Jesus Christ) is going to clean up His field, but ere He starts to burn the tares, He gives the command to gather His wheat (elect) into His barn. The barn is a place where the wheat is taken so that no harm can come to it. Surely then the barn can only represent heaven. Thus we have the owner of the field, gathering the wheat into a safe place ere He burns His field and rids it of every undesirable thing. To me nothing can be clearer than that the rapture must take place before the tribulation, for the tribulation as described in the book of Revelation is a time of burning, but the wheat is safely housed in the barn (heaven) before the burning starts.

John, in Revelation 4 and 5, saw the enthroned elders, which denotes the church, ready to reign with Jesus Christ, but they could not reign until the Lamb had taken the book from out of the hand of God. This book contains the requirements that must be met ere the field (world) could be redeemed, which Satan had corrupted with tares. From these two chapters we learn that the saints were in heaven before the first seal was broken, and the breaking of the first seal is the beginning of the tribulation. Therefore, the saints must be raptured before the tribulation starts.

There are many verses of Scripture which warn the saint, and exhort him to watch for the coming of the Lord, but if the saints are not to be raptured before the tribulation, but are to go through it, then the warnings and the exhortations would be out of place, and they should instead watch for the Antichrist, false prophet and the terrible day of the Lord. Nowhere is the saint exhorted to watch for the tribulation, but for the second coming of the Lord. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to meet the Lord in the air, not on the earth.

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (dead in Christ) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

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God’s Infalliable Word

“But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” 1 Corinthians 14:38

God is the reason His Word is infallible and shall remain so. It is foolish to argue this because of what man is, is not, does, or does not. Man is not the power that made God’s Word infallible, and man is neither the power to preserve nor destroy it’s infallibility. To know God is to know that His Word is infallible, now and forever.

Some may quip, “Then how do you explain all the versions of the Bible?” The same way we understand that everything God has ever authored has been counterfeited by the Devil, whether it be God’s plan of salvation, baptism, New Testament Church, or whatever.

Let us examine what saith the scriptures:

Psalm 119:89 – God’s Word is forever settled in heaven. It is established permanently and not subject to revision. Those who revise the Bible are illegally tampering, and all they produce is an illegal product that will be condemned and thrown out of God’s court.

Deuteronomy 4:2 – Not to add to God’s Word, nor diminish ought from it. To do so is a direct act of disobedience, a willful sin. Be not deceived! No one is for the keeping of God’s Word, who is authoring disobedience to it.

Proverbs 30:5-6 – All of God’s Word is pure. It is to be honored as sacred. To violate this sanctity, is to defile that which is pure. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us that the value of the scripture is in it’s inspired form. To violate this is to oppose the power and purpose of God’s Word.

How do we know we are not the victim of a bad translation? God has used the King James Version for centuries in behalf of English speaking peoples.

Isaiah 40:8 – God is the enforcer of His Word standing, not man.

Matthew 5:18 – The Sovereignty of God prevents any of God’s Word from passing away. Therefore, it wasn’t lost in the shuffle for centuries.

Luke 16:17 – It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of God’s law to fail. This is God’s answer to those who argue how easy it is for the Word to be lost in translations. God made the languages. He holds the power to bridge them. The accuracy of God’s Word through translations is not the problem. But the perverting of the Word through revisions is.

God takes His stand and declares the folly of those who are taking it upon themselves to change the Bible. He declares that it is not by His decree, nor of His kingdom that is doing so – Revelation 22:18-19. Thus we then know that it is a work of the Devil, by those who are of the Devil.

If any have ears to hear, let them hear what the scripture saith.

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