BALANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Yesterday I spoke about Pentecost and the blaring absence it has when it comes to the things that the Church remembers or celebrates. The more I think about it the more alarming it is that there is such a deep divide over the Holy Spirit and His power. it's no wonder that we don't celebrate the birthday of the Church because I dare say that most of the world has a warped and misguided view of the Holy Spirit.

You see on one side of the spectrum you have a denomination that teaches its people that the gifts and the power of the Spirit is dead and ceased at the completion of the Word....they get this from a scripture taken out of context in Corinthians. They may also say things that would make you think that if you did happen to speak in tongues or prophecy that you were controlled by a demon. Garbage!

One the other hand you have a denomination that teaches that you aren't even saved unless you specifically speak in tongues which is clearly NOT Biblical because God's gives out different spiritual gifts to different people...not the one gift of tongues (not prayer language, but tongues for intrepreation) to all people. Again...GARBAGE!

Is it any wonder that we're scared of the Holy Spirit? Is it any wonder that some people just as soon not even talk about Him, acknowledge Him? Is it any wonder we would rather just write off that third of the Trinity? I dare say that Satan's greatest victory in this age is that he has managed to confuse and divide the Church over this crucial part of God. Only over the past 109 years have we really seen the Church begin to embrace and seek to understand the Holy Spirit. Should it have taken 200 years for that to happen? NO! Should we be arguing over it? NO NO NO!

You see the world was divided and God's own people, the Jews, had a hard time seeing who Jesus really was. Jesus proved His divinity when among the many miracles He defeated death and rose again! Since that time, the Holy Spirit has been given to all who believe. The Holy Spirit dwells on the inside of us and He cannot nor will not depart from us. So we have this well of gushing, living water deep inside of us and most believers can agree on that.

We seem to get lost in what the gushing, living water can and will do through us as we allow this well to be tapped and overflow out of us for the furtherment of God's Kingdom. Some of us are just happy to go through life being "good" and doing "good works" for the Lord. Some of us are so obsessed with the Holy Spirit that we can't focus on anything else except the gifts and we end up in very shallow spiritual waters. There is a balance I assure you.

The GOSPEL is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is given so that when we are OBEDIENT to share the GOSPEL we do so with the power of God's very nature and Spirit behind us and working within us so that we are effective! Every time Peter preached in the New Testament there was a call to repent and people repented. WHY? Was it because of the great words and catchy phrases that he typed out on his sermon notes? Maybe it was those corny illustrations he cited or those jokes he told? NO NO NO! Peter was only effective because the Holy Spirit overflowed out of him and his words. They cut the Jews to the bone and many were saved and repented and were baptized. The Holy Spirit worked THROUGH Peter and the Holy Spirit convicted the hearts of the lost listeners.

Stop wasting your time on vain and silly arguments about the power of the Spirit. Some of us need to utilize the power of the Spirit and some of us need to stopping worshipping the Spirit alone and do what the Lord has called us to do....make disciples!

Go into the mission field, whether it's your office building or in Africa and ask God to use you to be a part of His plan of salvation for someone in your path. Then listen long enough for Him to speak and direct your heart and then be amazed when His Spirit gushes out of you and you see this person's life change because of the power of the Spirit working in him or her, through you..as you teach on the truth of the Saviour!

I assure you the Spirit of the Living God is working and alive and well and He isn't defined by the nonsense that our denominations "put out." He is able to manifest Himself how He pleases and He will use His power to bring about signs and wonders that will indeed follow YOU if you allow yourself to be used BY Him.