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A NOTE:
This is a 6,700-word sermon; you may want to print it out and study it--
approximately 14-pages.
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The Word of Truth Ministries
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Apollos was Fervent in Spirit, |
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There are many "Christians" today--too many for the well being of Christianity! You see them in coffee houses, in politics, churches, etc., and many of them are very fervent in spirit--eager, zealous, ardent, etc. Many claim to be against abortion and for life; against gay marriage, and for family values; against liberals and for Bush and his Republican conservative values, etc. These are the modern-day American "Christians" who greatly need saving in Christ according to God's prescription, and not their own. I hear them in Starbucks with their Bibles open, chatting loudly so all can over-hear their fervent preaching. Their chatter reminds me that for the many years I have tried to teach young saints that this gospel is too precious to force on those who do not want it, and that it is ill-mannered and dishonest to get into an elevator or some captured environment and pretend to be talking to one person but really broadcasting to everyone therein. Christians should have no aspect of dishonesty. These religious activists [I did not say, Christian activists] are like the young, unrefined lawyers who are so lifted up in their pride and joy that they have graduated from law school or passed the Bar, that now the whole world must know about them. And to make themselves known, they often chose a restaurant or coffee house venue to blare their pride in the hearing of all therein, while, of course, talking to their companion sitting at the same table with them. That is coarse behavior; the tact of a crude and unrefined soul begging for recognition of his/her person. This unseemly behavior does not become a Christian, [1Cor. 13] but we see many supposed "Christians" displaying it anyway. Often, these are 1.) the fervent in spirit Christians who are untutored in the things of God, or 2.) "non-Christians" who actually think they are Christians and doing a service to God by blaring out the things of God to a non-appreciative audience. This second category is the category of "Christians" I want to discuss in this sermon. Some years ago, when I was a student at U. C. Berkeley, I was trying to fix my car that was parked near my apartment. I was merely fixing my car (an innocent act that had no negative or positive signs of my being a Christian or not being a Christian) when a young hippy-looking man who had signs possibly indicating that he may not have been a Christian introduced himself to me. His approach to me was like this, as I recall:
From that discussion, I recognized the young man was fervent in spirit, but he did not have the Spirit of God within him--he was unsaved, while trying to tutor me in the way of salvation. His bastardized gospel could not get him or me into the kingdom of God, but he was preaching it with a certain fervency I have seen in other Evangelicals. Indeed, when the discussion was summarized to its common denominator, I needed to show him the way of God more perfectly, which, no doubt, was God's intent for that chance meeting. [Rom. 8:28] The point I make is this: much of what I hear in the local coffee houses, in many churches, of the vast Evangelical movement, and just lone, would-be prophets is little more than the preaching of fervency. And that fervency represents little more than untutored teachers who are not sharing the way of Christ, but their own way or some church-tradition; such preaching cannot get them or anyone else into the kingdom of God. Many of the fervency preachers who are in churches attempt to add philosophy, vain deceit, and often great affectations of oratory to their preaching, but without the true substance of the gospel and a clear understanding of how to implement that gospel into a saving methodology, oratory, philosophy, etc., are useless. To further clarify this point, allow me this analogy. At Berkeley, my undergraduate major was English Literature. As a student of English, all majors in that course of study know that without something to write about--something of importance and substance--the brilliance of one's writing forum, regardless of genre, was of no real importance. However, the one poor soul who offered most of the classroom chatter, attempting to convince the professor and other students of his lofty brilliance, forgot that most important principle when writing his term paper, the final major work that had to be handed in. After the course was over, I asked him at our chance meeting, "What grade did you make in Professor***class?" His response was that he focused too much on his style but not enough on the substance. Of course, he admitted. "That was a mistake." He was reduced to hoping for a "C" from the course. At Berkeley a "C" does not speak well of a student's chances for getting into graduate school. In spite of that poor showing, he actually thought himself brilliant and used a convoluted logic to justify his poor showing. His explanation/excuse [weak logic] for that low showing was that the professor was too brilliant for him and that he was taking too many units and working too many hours. But when I told him of my unit load [twice as many as his] and my 'A' in the course, plus my 40-hours a week job, his justification was removed. And being unable to applaud my academic achievement, he verbally attacked me as a fool, asserting that he cared more for his education than me. He had done the wrong thing, even though he fervently offered his opinions and reasoning in class: He was as Apollos and many supposed Christians, fervent in spirit but without the Holy Spirit of God! Of course, the above statement is shocking and offensive to some, but it is still true. Let me be even more shocking: most modern-day American Christianity preachers veer greatly from the Bible that American Christians supposedly teach from and believe in. And their blindness is especially true when it comes to the most essential aspect of Christianity--being born again. Furthermore, most of the evangelical movement is far more political than they are Christian, and the teaching I have heard from them--and I hear as many of these preachers as I can to see if anything of value is being preached--leads me to conclude that most of their eyes are blind concerning the things of God's word. Yet they are very fervent in spirit; that is, they are very enthusiastic, energetic, and eager to preach what they know. That is good, but the downside for them and many Christians is that they reject additional knowledge or truth that conflicts with their poor version of God's word; therefore they do not know enough to correctly guide sinners, including themselves, into the kingdom of God. What good is fervency, if one does not have enough of the truth to get souls saved? That was the case of the young man who was trying to convince me to accept an untutored rendition of God's word--instead, he needed help, as many of those preachers who are preaching in many American churches. "They run," says God, "but I have not sent them." And as I tell God's truth, taking away false rationales, flawed logic, and wrong interpretations, I will be attacked by many because they are in a frame of mind, a mental perspective, that is not godly. Also, no one likes to be told that he/she is wrong. But knowing the truth is how anyone is freed, for only knowing the truth can make you free. But many American Christians are being set free by ministers who do not know the truth. They need to be made free! And only God's word rightly divided is the truth that will make you free. In Acts 18, we see Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in scriptures; he had passed through Ephesus preaching the word of God with great fervency. But Apollos, although eloquent and mighty in scriptures, was limited in his knowledge of the way of God. And being limited, he could not therefore give the most significant aspect of God's word to the saving of souls as God dictates and prescribes. But when Aquila and his wife Priscilla heard Apollos, they knew he needed a greater light/understanding of the way of God. They took him unto them and expounded the way of the God more perfectly. Assumed in their expounding the way of God more perfectly to Apollos was the fact that he received their greater light/teaching--that he had to be baptized in Jesus name and receive the Holy Spirit of God, as we will examine below. [Acts 19:1-3] We know from scripture that he became a mighty minister of God. Before Aquila and Priscilla took him aside, Apollos was a man who only knew the baptism of John the Baptist. But John pointed all who came to him to Jesus Christ. John openly said that he was not the one to come; that he was only a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. And when Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist said plainly: "Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." At that announcement, some of John's disciples ceased following him and started following Jesus. [John 1:20-31] That was the very purpose for John's coming into the world, to announce the Christ, the mighty God who took on the clothing of human flesh and walked among us. A person having only the baptism of John can only be fervent in spirit, as Apollos was. That person can be little more than that because he/she does not have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And without the Spirit, he/she cannot be born again--Jesus said water and spirit. [John 3:3-5] In Acts 19, Paul expounds this truth to other disciples of John the Baptist who did not know that there was a Holy Spirit and they were to receive its baptism. [It should be noted that Aquila and Priscilla were probably taught the gospel of Christ by the Apostle Paul; [Acts 18:1-18] so that which they taught Apollos was what they had been taught by Paul.] In Acts 19, we find that Paul meets certain of John the Baptist's disciples in Ephesus, and he asks them a suggestive question; a question it would be wise to ask many modern-day "Christians" who are diluting the truth of God's word with their vain fervency, their lack of obedience to God's word, their backslidden condition, their misinterpretations of God's word, and their lack of the Holy Spirit baptism: "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" Their response was that they did not know there was such a thing as the Holy Spirit. Notice Paul's reasoning in his next question: "Unto what, then, were you baptized?" Paul's first question implies that all Christians/believers must have the Holy Ghost baptism; or why would he ask it? [John 3:3-5] His second question implies/suggests that he knew, as Peter said, that one who is a believer and wants to access the new birth and the things of God, must be baptized in Jesus name for the removal of sins and with that baptism is the promise of God as a first step. Indeed Peter announced God's promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost to every believer the first day the church door was open: "Repent..., be baptized in Jesus name..., and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit of God...." [Acts 2:38] That promise is still the same to every sinner! [Acts 2:39-40] Paul was fully aware of this promise of God and therefore knew that were one to repent and be baptized in Jesus name, God promises that such a person would receive his spirit. So when examining whether they had received the Holy Spirit, he was actually examining their baptism method, which is an examination of whether they were born again. To Paul, seemingly, the new birth was of utmost importance. Notice that he cut to the chase and immediately ask them about the water and spirit requirement Jesus stated to Nicodemus. [John 3:5] Everyone should feel that this new birth is of utmost importance, but whether everyone feels that it is or not, it still is of utmost importance for their eternal salvation. Furthermore, Paul's question to these disciples of John suggests that if they were correctly informed and enlightened they would have had God's spirit through baptism, and if they didn't have God's spirit he needed to look at what they believed and how they were baptized. That is always a sure starting point for one deciphering a person's sufficiency and correctness in the gospel; it is not, however, as many Jesus name people think, a good stopping point--I have seen a many Jesus name baptized folk who need saving very badly! The disciples of John the Baptist believed, but since their knowledge was imperfect, so was their belief. And since they believed imperfectly, they received imperfectly. You cannot believe the wrong thing and receive the good things of God; that is confusion! Some days ago, I was reasoning with a dear fatherly man about what he believed. It was his contention that if one believed he is saved, he is saved. And he, like so many others, mistakenly took the words spoken by Jesus to two blind men, "According to thy faith, be it unto you" [Matthews 9: 27] and applied them liberally, as to assert that whatever a person believes will save him. But as we saw above, that is not the case; this is a false concept and theology of modernity that has nothing to do with what the word of God really says . The idea that a person has an option of what he will believe and have God honor his optional belief to that person's salvation is a mistake. A person cannot believe anything he/she wants to and be saved by that self-selected belief. Believing requires action, and action is doing--the rhetorical question is asked/declared in Job: Can one bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? Doing the wrong thing usually never brings about the right results. Jesus said that He and He alone is the door and if one comes up any other way, he is a thief and a robber. [John 10:1-10] Second, those who argue, "According to thy faith be it unto you" most often fail to understand the words "faith and belief." Most people have given their own definition to these words as they have given their own definition of what it means to be saved/a believer in Christ. And in so giving one's own definition and meaning, they have denied and rejected God's definition and meaning. [Mark 7:13] This truth and this type of behavior are in epidemic proportions among American Christians. What America does to the rest of the world--define and set its own moral standards and its own way as the right way--cannot be done with God. And American Christians need to recognize this fact. If we are going to come to God, live the life of God, call ourselves Christians and have Christ accept us in his body, we are going to have to do it God's way, not our own way. For God has said, "My ways are not your ways; my thoughts are not your thoughts...." [Isa. 55:8] And he has also said that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rages in his sight. [Isa. 64:6] Only God's way is acceptable to God. Without equivocation, the book of the Lord is a sealed book, and God must open our understanding so that we may read and see what it means. [Luke 24:45] And even when he opens our understanding, individually or by someone who teaches us, we still know only in part. [Isa. 29:11; Acts 8; 1Cor. 13] In our natural state, we do not see things as clearly as we sometimes should; however, God sees things the way they are--the visible and invisible things; things past, present and things to come; the implications, connotations, ramifications and all things appertaining to any matter. He, therefore, demands that we do all things by his precepts and his examples. To do them outside of his parameters is to do them incorrectly and blindly. And there are many precepts and examples in the Old and New Testaments. [Isa. 28:13; Acts 2; 4; 8; 10; 19; 1Cor.1:13] In the often referenced scripture of Matthews 9: 27, Jesus was healing two blind men and the blind men had faith that Jesus could and would heal their blindness; they acted upon that faith, so Jesus touched them and said, according to your faith be it unto you. Notice the specificity of those words: Jesus was talking to two blind men about healing their blindness, not about eternal salvation. Furthermore, their faith was specifically on the issue he was addressing, their blindness. If they believed He would heal them, as they were requesting, Jesus was saying, in fact, so let it be! And his words were with such power, they were healed. To take these words and apply them out of context is a fatal flaw because it is a corruption of what Jesus is saying and the words misapplied have no power. For no amount of misinterpretation of God's word will be accepted as correct by God. We are told to study to rightly divide/interpret the word of truth. [2 Tim. 2:15] And God has also said to do all things according to the pattern shown us. But since much study is needed to get God's truth and much study is a weariness to our flesh, many carnal Christians do not tax their flesh to acquire the things/truths of God. Hence, ignorance becomes their mainstay and call-word. [Exod. 25:9; 29:35; Eccl.12:12; Heb.8:5] Because a person thinks or believes that something is right does not make a wrong belief or thought right; if it did, that would engender madness and chaos, not sanity. Furthermore, to believe a thing, to have faith, means more than having some mental conception/gestalt of that thing. Faith means that one acts on his belief, moves according to that belief. Too many of our modern-day Christians have headaches and call that belief. It is not. Notice that the blind men believed Jesus could and would heal them if they made their petitions heard; so they went to Jesus and made much noise about their request. They acted upon their faith! And notice what they did after being healed. [Mat. 9:27-31] If any self-selected belief that a person has is of saving power, there would have been no need for Aquila and Priscilla to have taken Apollos unto themselves and expounded the way of God more perfectly. These two ministers/servants of God could have concluded and said to him, "According to your faith, Apollos, be it unto you." But that was not God's word or his pattern, and we must do all things according to his pattern. Aquila and Priscilla knew that such wild, unstructured belief was without efficacy in the face of God's word. They saw that Apollos was of limited sight, and they gave him greater vision; they saw that he had not received the Holy Ghost, although he was very fervent in spirit, and they taught him, even as Paul did to other of John the Baptist's disciples. [Acts 19:1-5] It does not matter how eloquent, articulate or inarticulate a person is, how mighty or not mighty one is in the scriptures, the things of God must be done precisely according to the word of God--precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little and there a little until all of the word of God is done as God said it should be done! No amount of rationalizations, justifications, excuses and explanations will subvert the truth of God's word--it may subvert your mind, but not God's word. If God's word is not done correctly, it is incorrect and has no power because it is NOT God's word. And God will allow no excuses for the incorrect interpretation of his word. He has set in the church ministries and men whom he has anointed and opened their understanding for all to hear and learn what He is saying. [Eph. 4:11-12] If you are angered by the truth, that is to your own hurt; you are observing lying vanities that will cause you to forsake your own mercy. [Jonah 2:8] Your anger at truth will cause you to reject God's word, and God rejects you. [Hos.4] To get the things of God, to live in the realm of God's presence, to get to that place in God where he makes you stand (that place where you cannot fall) one must do precisely as God says--without equivocation, without holding on to some church traditions that fly in the face of God's word. [Psa. 91:1; Mark 7:13; Rom. 14:4-5] You cannot be tied to a man or a woman so that God's word can be filtered by them and their weaknesses and prejudices--yours must be a free-fall into the arms of God Almighty, as you trust His word above all things! Because Apollos and the other of John the Baptist's disciples were sincere in God, they accepted the greater vision of Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul and responded to it properly and received the Holy Spirit of God! [Acts 19:15] Yet it is so unlikely that many preachers and their followers today, who eat their bread and drink their own wine, will accept the truth of God that conflicts with the distortions men cling to without merit; for they have itching ears for lies. [Isa 4:1;2 Tim. 4:1-5] Apollos had fervency and not the Holy Spirit, but when he heard the truth, he added that truth to his might in the scriptures--he was born again and became a great minister in God. He did not deceive himself by contesting the further truth given to him, as evidenced by his willingness to accept the word of God more fully. What Aquila and Priscilla showed him and us is that one can be fervent in spirit toward the things of God and not be born again/saved. That is a message that needs shouting throughout this land, because in this nation of comfort and riches, many are deceiving themselves about their Christianity and will not be saved because they are too comfortable in their deception and in the things of this world. The vast Evangelical movement holds sway in the White House and the lavish boardrooms, but how many of them have the baptism of the spirit according to the word of God? How many are willing to accept the truth of God's word that only the name of Jesus can wash away/remit sins? How many of them are even attempting to walk in the light of God's word? Most have a bastardized gospel that is tailored to their own lifestyle and liking. They hip-hop in and out of church; they are doing the high-5's and chants in the church that are common among huge Rock concerts. They have gone so far away from the true preaching, the style, and the truth of God's word, it is almost impossible to distinguish them from the world. And they have fancy but flawed justification for this decline to worldly affectations and habits: "You have to catch a fish before you can scale him." That foolish reasoning sounds reasonable to unreasonable men, as they go into the ditch to get the sinner out of it. Their strategy is all wrong. They suggest by their going-into-the-ditch strategies that God's word has lost its efficacy on today's sinners; so it must be done differently today! God's word is as powerful as it has always been, if it is preached and taught correctly. The word need not be fixed to match the taste of today's crowd. There are vessels to honor and those to dishonor. [Jer. 18; Rom. 9; 2Tim.2:20] Those made to honor will hear his rightly divided and preached word, for God has sent us preaching the gospel; for no man cometh, except he first be drawn. [Isa. 61:1; John 15:16; 1Cor. 1:17] Today, many ministers with titles they should never have had, have ceased learning, and when a minister is not a student, he should never try to teach. All able teachers are able and perpetual students. But many ministers simply reject the word of God because they do not study as God told them to study. [Prov. 4:5-7; 2 Tim.2:15] When they were first saved, they ran to the word of God with great passion and excitement, but as time and the devil have moved them on and the cares of this life have come in, [Song of S. 2:15] the word of God is not a lamp to their feet any longer, and the love of truth they once had has waned. [Psa. 119:105; Lamentations 4:1;Rev. 3:15-16] Now the study of the word of God has become too laborious for them to engage in, and they neglect it. But to that person who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin! [James 4:17] This is the state that many supposed Christians are in today--a state of self-deception, Satan-deceived, and world-deceived confusion and disarray. They think they are saved when they are only fervent in spirit, and God has shown us this pattern in his word long ago. We should be tutored by God's word and allow our own deceptions to vanish away and God's word govern us. In Mark 8, Jesus is confronted with a blind man that he heals of his blindness, indeed, Jesus will heal anyone who is blind of their blindness, unless they want to stay blind. For those who want to stay blind, there is no cure. The blind man came to Jesus, and the Bible tells us that Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town and spit on the man's eyes and touched them. Then he asked the man if he saw anything. The man replied that he saw men as trees, walking. Knowing that this was not correct vision, Jesus took the man and put his hands on his eyes, and the man saw clearly. This is a most interesting situation of Jesus' healing, but since we know that Jesus makes no mistakes, we must ask ourselves what is Jesus showing us with this healing. Jesus had indeed touched the man's eyes, and a man who had seen nothing before now saw something. That something was not a correct picture of how things really are. Many "Christians" are very fervent in spirit, but their vision is distorted and needs to be corrected; they do not see things clearly, although they run with great fervency! They are not even saved according to God's word--they are saved according to some man's concocted method of salvation, but NOT according to God's word.* They may have had a touch from God, but they, like Apollos and the disciples of John the Baptist, they need more; they need to see things clearly. Seeing things clearly will take a greater knowledge and touch from God--they need to be born again according to God's old fashion and never-changing way that was spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus (You must be born again of water and Spirit--John 3:5) and blared out by Peter on the first day the church was established to receive sinners (repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and God will give you the Holy Spirit--Acts 2:38). Without that second touch, they will always see things strangely and contrary to the word of God. Fervency is okay once you have the baptism of the spirit of God, but never confuse fervent in spirit for the baptism of the spirit. God gives us the gift of his spirit, and He literally commands us to be filled with it also. [John 7:0; Eph. 5:18] Furthermore, Paul says that one who does not have the spirit of Christ is none of his--in short, you are not born of God according to the word of God. [John 3:35; Rom. 8:9; Eph.5:18] When God's spirit baptizes you, the Bible says there is initial evidence that you have been baptized with it; brothers, sisters, and friends, let no one deceive you and steal your salvation by telling you the signs given to the early church are not given today. Why not? You have been lied to and deceived long enough; why not get what God has for you and know it according to the rightly divided/interpreted word of God so that you can then go on to perfection? [Acts 2; 10; 19; Eph. 4:11-16; Heb. 6:1-3] I close with two points: I was at a church of a friend. The young pastor was fervent in spirit; he also seemed sincere in his effort to teach the word of God. It, of course, was clear that he had none of God's spirit by way of the baptism of the spirit. And as I listened to the brother speak/teach, God gave me a vision: I saw a train running on the tracks and the young minister was on the other side of the train; he was seemingly going in the direction of the train, but he was not inside the train. Please, do not be confused about this word God gave me about this young man. His position is the position of many who are fervent in spirit but not inside the Spirit. As Paul told those who were in the ship as they were near Mileta, except they abide in the ship they cannot be saved, that young man was fervent in spirit, but the train was moving and he was not in the train. He needed to be inside, not on the outside of the train! [Acts 27:31] The train represents God's spirit in this vision. Second, as a young boy, my family brought me to San Francisco, CA when I was a boy of 14-years old. I remember my mother and I talked late one day about her religion and how she had shouted and gone running wild-like when she "got religion," as she called her experience with God. That talk provoked me to godly jealousy, and I got on my knees one day when at the house alone and asked God to give me religion like my mother had. As I stayed in prayer, the Spirit of God indeed touched my young soul and body; I felt his real and undeniable spiritual presence. I thought that I was then ready for heaven; I was saved as far as I knew and as far as anyone tried to explain to me. I had a touch from God Almighty, but I wasn't really saved; I was much like Apollos--fervent in spirit, but without the Spirit. Years later, the word of God came to me through the mouth of a woman at the Post Office in San Francisco where we both worked. Her words, as we talked and she saw my unsaved condition, were that I needed to repent and be baptized in Jesus name and God would give me his Spirit--and that, she said, was the only way to be born again. She directed me to a small church she did not attend; there they preached the truth, and my Aquila and Priscilla took me unto themselves and showed me a truth I had never seen in God's word. I wondered how I could have missed this all-important truth all the years of my reading the Bible. I repented of my sins, I was baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ, and God filled me with his Holy Spirit, with the same signs that early Christians received when they were baptized with his Spirit. [Acts 2:4;38] As I had prayed in that room alone at the age of 15-years old, I had been touched by God, even as Jesus touched the blind man's eyes the first time. But as he, I did not see things clearly, although I was seeing more than I had ever seen before. Yes, it was God who had touched me years earlier, but I needed more than the fervency of the spirit I received with that touch. In 1964, I received the corrective touch from God, and that was the baptism of his Spirit. Before this baptism, I was just running outside the train; at the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I was placed in the train (a symbol of his body). This is what many Evangelicals and those only fervent in spirit need; to get inside his Spirit. Finally, the scripture shows us that you can be fervent in spirit and not filled with his Spirit, even as Apollos was. Under those circumstances, you are not born again according to God's word. But if you are fervent in spirit and simply do not know the truth because the occasion of truth finding you has not occurred, when that truth finds you, you will accept it. Apollos accepted truth as it came to him from Aquila and Priscilla. He did not resist the truth; the record shows that he became a mighty minister in the faith, not outside the faith. So mighty was he that the poor carnal Corinthians were dividing themselves between Peter, Paul and Apollos. [1Cor 1:12] Likewise, when Paul met the disciples of John the Baptist and saw that they were fatally flawed in their status, he explained the notion of what John was doing and that these disciples, to be disciples of Christ, needed to repent and be baptized in Jesus name and receive his Holy Spirit. There was no fight or resistance to this greater truth; they simply obeyed the word of God. How many of you are fatally flawed with a gospel that cannot get you into the body of Christ, although you think you are there? Once, I was where you are, but when I heard the truth, as you are reading it now, I accepted that greater truth than I had at that time; I was repentant of my sins; I was baptized in Jesus name; and God was faithful to his word, and He filled me with his Holy Spirit. My dear friends, every person must be honest with him/herself. Only honesty will allow a person to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. [2 Pet. 3:18] I am an adjunct professor of English Literature and Critical Thinking, but I did some substitute teaching at a school for special needs children--autistic children. That was a most refreshing and educational experience. The children's needs at those schools were great. Yet their needs were only to do some of the everyday things we normals take for granted--walking, talking, using the restroom, reading, feeding themselves, etc. There was something so excellent and beautiful about these children (10-21 years old): They had no pretenses, they simply accepted a person without all the pretense of one-upmanship or racial prejudice, they accepted truth as it manifested itself to them; they were honest with themselves and those around them. That was so beautiful and refreshing for a change! I learned so much from them and the people who handled them on a regular basis. Although I came in with the big PhD degree, I told the assisting staff, "I am the student here; tell me what must be done." And they taught me things about teaching I needed to know. They had a greater knowledge, and I did not harden myself to learning. How many of us having the full range of our being and mind sit and stand stoutly in resistance to God's holy, precious, and divine word? How shall we escape, the Hebrew writer asked, [the fires of hell] if we reject so great a salvation with our pretenses and foolishness in favor of lies, traditions, and our own righteousness? [Heb. 2:3] My dear friends, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then use your fervency in spirit to help others who are like you to see that one can be fervent in spirit but not be filled with the Holy Spirit. I pray that God will open your eyes to his word, in Jesus name! __________ These types of be-saved concoctions are all over the TV and radio ministries of Evangelical ministers who are very fervent in spirit, BUT THEY ARE TOTALLY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT! They are as Apollos: they need further teaching about what God says so they can get the Holy Spirit of God along with their fervency. These types of near-sighted and virtually blind ministers are the type of blind men who see men as trees, yet vast numbers of people follow them. Can they all be wrong? Yes indeed, because God's word and it alone is true and right; anything that conflicts with it or is not in accord with it, regardless of how sincere-seeming it or the person offering it may be, they and/or it is wrong! The scripture says, "Let God be true but every man a liar." The way of God is not their broad way, but it is his narrow way, and few will find it. [Mat. 7:13-15; Rom. 3:4] But you can! These unchecked and unenlightened ministers cannot guide anyone into the kingdom of God. Oh yes, they generate much popularity of their persons, rather than the person of Christ. God's ministers are the few who preach God's word without compromise. And, yes, they are not much liked by men who want to make God's word conform to their behavior, rather than their behavior conforming to God's word. As was the case of the Prophet Jeremiah, these few are much maligned and assailed. Yet, it is them in which God's word is found.
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2005