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Alexander the Great startled a dozing soldier on guard duty and learned that his name was also Alexander. Clearly, this soldier’s conduct was not representative of his leader who had the same name.
Brennan Manning astutely noted: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
Whenever I am confronted by the Holy Spirit with something I have read or heard from God’s Word, I need to stop to ask, “Do I need to change my conduct or do I need to change my name?”
If I call myself a CHRISTian, I want to make sure that people see Christ in me.
You can check out the full sermon from which this clip came by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
My podcast cohost, Greg Heeres, and I just finished our first co-authored book in our seriesBusiness by the Book. This book is both biblical wisdom and practical insight into how a CEO casts vision for themselves and the organization they lead.
We write about the God-honoring way to cast vision, but there is another way—the human way. In their book Spiritual Leadership, Henry and Richard Blackaby describe it like this:
“The Gospel of Luke provides a graphic contrast between peoples’ agendas and God’s [Luke 9:28-36]. Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up a mountain to experience a divine encounter. God the Father was unfolding His specific will for His Son. The Father brought Moses and Elijah to encourage Jesus for the enormous work of redemption He was about to accomplish. So sacred was that moment that Jesus radiated the glory of His divinity. Peter and his companions, however, had been sleeping. When they awoke and saw the magnificent scene unfolding, Peter spoke up: ‘Master, it’s good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’ (v. 33). Peter’s first thought was to build something tangible to institutionalize the divine encounter. Peter, a natural leader, could already envision the ongoing ministry he and his friends would administer as a result of that encounter. However, the instant Peter began talking, the vision was removed, and only Jesus remained visible. Clearly Peter’s plan was not God’s agenda. The heavenly Father immediately rebuked Peter, saying, ‘This is My Son, the Chosen One; listen to Him!’ (v. 35). Peter, because he was human, instinctively thought in temporal terms. He envisioned something he could control and manage. He wanted to move Jesus, Moses, Elijah, James, and John on to his agenda instead of seeking to understand God’s will and adjusting his own life accordingly. Peter’s ignorance of spiritual ways is all too prevalent among today’s spiritual leaders. Too often people assume that along with their role of leader comes the responsibility of determining what should be done. They develop aggressive goals. They imagine grandiose dreams. They cast grand visions. Then they pray and ask God to join them in their agenda and bless their efforts. That’s not the spiritual leader’s role. Spiritual leaders seek God’s will, whether it is for their church, family, or corporation, and then they mobilize their people to pursue God’s plan. …
“We must emphasize that planning or goal setting is not wrong. Organizations must have direction and order. The key is the source of those plans. Spiritual leaders seek God’s guidance in discerning God’s purposes for their organization. Then they mobilize their organizations to effectively accomplish what God assigns.”
One final thought from the Blackabys: “God has the vision of what He wants to do. God does not ask leaders to dream big dreams for Him or to solve the problems confronting them with their own best thinking. He asks leaders to walk with Him so intimately that when He reveals His agenda they immediately adjust their lives and their organizations to His will and the results bring glory to God.”
For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NLT)
God’s Son became flesh and blood so that we could have the ultimate Gift of life forever in His presence.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14 NLT)
Being freed from sin, God calls us His children!
See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NLT)
As our Father, He knows all that His children need before we even ask Him in prayer.
Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. (Matthew 6:8-9 NLT)
“Let this be the one thing our heart desires—that in everything the will of God be done in us and by us, as it is done in heaven.” —Andrew Murray
Our Father’s good gifts provide all that we need to do His will.
Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood—may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21 NLT)
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Is it really true that practice makes perfect? And if so, what exactly does perfection look like?
“On the one hand, God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures. Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection. On the other hand, you must realise from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal.”
You may also want to check out a couple of related blog posts:
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Charles Spurgeon, the man called the Prince of Preachers, knew how important it was for his congregation to be praying for him. He said,
“It is for your own benefit to remember in your prayers those who preach the Word of God to you, for what can they do without divine assistance and how can you be profited by them unless they are first blessed of God?”
If you love your pastor, please check out my book Amen Indeed. This is a book for prayers for pastors to pray for themselves, and you can also learn how to pray for your shepherd along the way.
Amen Indeed has topical prayers, weekly prayers for each Sunday morning, and some classic quotes about the important link between prayer and effective pastoring.
Praying for your pastor has huge benefits for you too!
Spurgeon went on to say, “The man who comes up to God’s house, having prayed for God to bless the preacher, is not likely to go away unprofited.”
Order a copy of Amen Indeed today for your favorite pastor.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit brings an empowerment that nothing else can—You will receive POWER to be My witnesses (Acts 1:8).
I remember sitting with a group of leaders who were discussing personnel issues that was slowly becoming nothing more than a gripe session. I shared a story from the Book of Acts about some disagreements between some saints, and then made an application that caused all of these leaders to look at me in wonder. One said, “I had no idea that was in the Bible,” and another added, “I knew that story was there, but I never thought of applying that to this situation.” That wasn’t me, but the Holy Spirit who opened up His Word to that situation.
My friend Greg and I are writing a series of books for the business community called Business by the Book, where we are applying biblical insights to every “box” of a typical corporate flowchart. People who have already reviewed sections of our book are having a similar response: “I had no idea these examples and applications were there!”
We are surrounded by messages right now—messages we cannot hear. There are some persuasive arguments, some angry rants, some happy tunes, and some special sporting events. But we cannot tune into those messages with having a radio receiver set to the precise frequency. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for Christians.
Check out David talking about the speech of Creation in Psalm 19:1-4.
Jesus used Creation too—telling us to look at the birds and flowers (Matthew 6:26, 28) or to consider the farmer sowing seeds (Matthew 13:3-9).
In Romans, Paul tells us that Creation is enough (1:19-20) but that God also gave us His Law (2:12) and a conscience (2:15). When men rejected these things, God sent prophets and then His One and Only Son.
Those without the Holy Spirit are deaf to this speech, unable to understand it nor apply it to their lives, as Jesus goes on to tell His audience in Matthew 13:10-12.
We have already talked about the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth (John 16:7-15), but notice that one of the first things He does is convict us of sin (v. 8). Without this conviction, we are unable to repent of the things which are keeping us spiritual blind and deaf (Ezekiel 12:1-2).
Oswald Chambers noted, “Spiritual insight is in accordance with the development of heart purity.” How true! And that’s exactly what Jesus went on to say in Matthew 13:13-15. Paul echoes this—
But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. (1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT).
One of the prophecies about Jesus included His reliance on the Holy Spirit—not His natural mind—to discern what God was doing and how Jesus would fulfill Scripture (Isaiah 11:1-5).
This Spirit-empowered insight was anticipated by Solomon: If you will turn (repent) and give heed to My reproof, behold, I Wisdom will pour out My Spirit upon you, I will make My words known to you. (Proverbs 1:23 AMPC)
We can then know the sayings of the wise and be able to understand and apply these truths (Proverbs 24:23, 32). See how Peter did this in Acts 10:17, 28.
Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding—drawing it forth from God’s Word and life’s experiences.(Proverbs 3:13 AMPC)
The Spirit-baptized Christian is empowered to understand God’s speech through His Word, His Creation, and their life experiences, and then to make Christ-honoring applications of that understanding!
Why would we settle for anything less than this?! So don’t stop at salvation, but press on to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
I’m not sure that any other aspect of the Christian faith generates as much discussion as the role of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, I would say “nuanced discussion.” By that I mean, people carefully choosing their words to remain biblically accurate but not sound weird. “After all,” they might say, “we don’t want people looking at us strangely because we’re talking about signs, wonders, and speaking in unknown languages. Yet at the same time, we don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit.”
I believe there is a better way to handle this: Let Scripture speak for itself.
Let me share one recent example with you that will address this point. A rather well-known Christian apologist, who happens to be quite skilled in ancient biblical languages, was recently asked in an interview, “Can you explain the gift of speaking in tongues?”
Here are some of the main things he said in reply: “I think there is something going on in the New Testament that is different. … There is a uniqueness to that time period. It’s normative in a way that it is not now” because, he says, we don’t see today what we see in the New Testament, “because the disciples are building the foundation of the Church. … Now we have the books of Scripture where God speaks to us in a different way. … Speaking in tongues, prophesying happen; I just don’t think they’re normative in the way we see them happening in the New Testament.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, but I want to focus on a word he repeated: normative.
The dictionary defines that word: implying, creating, or prescribing a norm or standard; especially an assumed norm regarded as the standard of correctness in behavior, speech, writing, etc.
So I guess we need to ask, “What is normal?”
Let’s begin with this question: What did the pre-Ascension followers of Jesus consider normal?
First, Jesus was with them bodily form, and He regularly explained Scripture to them. Jesus healed people and so did His followers. Jesus told them He was leaving in bodily form, but that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them (John 14:16-17).
The next question is: What did the post-Ascension followers of Jesus consider normal?
There was a joy of anticipating the Holy Spirit’s outpouring (Luke 24:50-53). Jesus was no longer with them bodily, but they still operated in His name and authority. They understood Scripture without Jesus in bodily form explaining it to them. They wrote the books of the New Testament, which are really a commentary on Scripture (the Old Testament) in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They healed people.
Our final question should be: What should we consider normal?
Let’s go back to John 14:16-17 where Jesus promised the arrival of the Counselor. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is empowerment in a wholly different level. At salvation, He is “with” us; at baptism, He is “in” us. Jesus is still not with us in bodily form, but we can still operate in His name, we understand Scripture without Jesus in bodily form explaining it to us, and we can operate in a realm of power that seems extra-ordinary to others!
Listen to a couple of key phrases from Peter’s Pentecost Sunday sermon. He says this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of a promise made by Jesus, and it is proof of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus (Acts 2:33, 38-39).
Nowhere is this implied that this is a one-time empowerment, nor an exclusive empowerment for those living in that time, nor is it exclusively for those called apostles. The saints lived this out as their normal daily life. See just a few examples in Acts 4:20, 30-31; 6:3, 8-10; 8:4-8, 14-17.
“The secret of our strength is the living testimony that Jesus Christ is every moment with us, inspiring, directing and strengthening us. This is what made the disciples so bold in preaching Him as the Crucified One in the midst of His enemies. They never for a moment regretted His bodily absence, for they had Him with them, and in them, in the divine power of the Holy Spirit.” —Andrew Murray
I think we have accepted sub-normal as normative for so long, that we now call that normal. Instead our normal should be a lifestyle, a language, a power that is called extraordinary by others.
Spirit-baptized Christians should live in the normalcy of extraordinary power!
Please check out the other messages we have covered in this series called We Are: Pentecostalby clicking here.
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Last week I reminded you about the greeting in the early church. One saint would say to another, “He is risen!” and the other person would respond, “He is risen indeed!”
That word “indeed” is important. In Greek, the word is ontōs—in point of fact, as opposed to what is pretended or fictitious. Our English dictionary says something similar, but adds something I think is memorable: in fact; in reality; in truth—used for emphasis, to confirm and amplify a previous statement.
The word ontōs is only used a few times in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah, God speaks to His people, calling them to return to Him. The people respond, “We will come to You. Indeed the world is deception; indeed You are our salvation” (see Jeremiah 3:22-23).
In the New Testament, Paul said that if the law could have saved us, there would have been no reason for Jesus to die on a Cross and be resurrected back to life—Galatians 3:21-22. When He died for our sins, the Roman centurion overseeing His crucifixion recognized that Jesus was indeed the righteous Savior (Luke 23:47; Matthew 27:54). Jesus said of Himself that He came to give freedom indeed (John 8:36).
When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are indeed saved from the death penalty that our sins deserve. We are justified through our faith in our crucified and risen Savior. We are now free indeed to participate in the eternal life Jesus gave us!
The Bible uses three pictures of the life we are now free to enjoy. Since we camped out in the Book of Ephesians last week, let’s return there to see these three pictures—
(1) The Building of the Lord—Ephesians 2:19-22
We have to stay on the foundation of Jesus, if we want to build something lasting (Matthew 7:24, 26). This means we have to submit to sanctification process of the Holy Spirit (or as I like to say this word: “saint-ification”). When guests come over, you dust and vacuum. If you don’t clean again, dust will accumulate. Jesus isn’t a one-time or occasional Guest, but He wants to abide in us (Revelation 3:20).
(2) The Body of Christ—Ephesians 4:3-6, 12-13, 16
Look a the phrases “…make every effort … works of service … become mature….” These are all ongoing processes which we need for healthy growth (Hebrews 5:12-13). As our physical bodies age, we lose 3-5% of our body’s muscle mass every year unless we are actively working to add muscle. Body building requires (a) protein intake, (b) exercise, (c) rest and recovery—God’s Word applied and resting in the work of the Holy Spirit.
(3) The Bride of Jesus—Ephesians 5:25-28, 33
We don’t want to be like this out-of-touch husband, whose wife said to him on their 40th anniversary, “I remember on our wedding day how you told me you loved me. How come you never say that any more.” The husband replied: “If anything changed, I would have let you know.” We need to be continually falling in love with our Bridegroom! Listen to how Jesus addressed these saints at Ephesus. He tells them they have persevered through the difficult times (Revelation 2:1-3), yet they have forsaken the most important thing: their first love (v. 4). If we’ve done this, we need to remember, repent, and return to Jesus (v. 5).
If we’re not maturing, we’re declining.
If we are only going through the motions, where is the satisfaction? Where is the freedom indeed?
Listen to these tough—but needed—words from John Piper:
“The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half enjoying and repairing what they spend it on. It is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.”
Continuing to mature in our faith makes the Building more beautiful, the the Body healthier, and the Marriage more fulfilling! Let’s keep maturing so that we honor Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
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A lot of people have offered a lot of opinions on Jesus of Nazareth—He was a good Man, a moral teacher, a great Example. All of those are true, and yet all of them have hidden in them an unspoken belief: Jesus was a good Man but He was not God.
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said this, “Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. … A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great man or a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell.”
Let’s look at the words Jesus Himself spoke; specifically, what He said about the culmination of His purpose on earth. Quite simply stated, Jesus said He came to die.
Just to keep it simple, let’s confine our evidence to the dialogue of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
In Matthew 17, Matthew records a scene where three of Jesus’ disciples are eyewitnesses to a conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah. They see Jesus shining as brightly as the Sun, and they hear a Voice from Heaven affirming the deity of Jesus that causes these men to collapse to the ground in fear. Immediately following this, Jesus tells them that He is going to be killed (Matthew 17:22-23).
Does Jesus have a martyr’s complex? Psychologists say this is when someone is so self-sacrificial that they hurt themselves to benefit others, but their motive is to seek out the praise or recognition from those they are helping. It’s true that Jesus helped others, but He deflected praise away from Himself. Jesus had a different motivation (Matthew 26:2, 52-56). He was crucified for our benefit (Matthew 27:46, 50; Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Remember that Jesus said He knew that the prophecies were going to be fulfilled. Like the prophecy describing crucifixion before crucifixion was even invented (Isaiah 53:5). He predicted His resurrection too in Matthew 20:17-19!
Not only did Jesus say He would be resurrected, but He said He would return with rewards and punishment (Matthew 25:34, 41).
Lots of people have been madmen. But Jesus doesn’t fit this description.
Lots of people have had a martyr’s complex. But Jesus wasn’t seeking glory for Himself, but glory for His Father and eternal life for us.
Lots of people have made outlandish predictions, and some of them have come true. Lots of people have had a messiah complex. But no one has ever claimed He was sent from God to die, lived a perfect life, died precisely as predicted in centuries-old prophecies, and was raised back to life again! The crucifixion of Jesus on an old rugged Cross is proof positive that He is the Messiah He says He is.
Let’s return to C.S. Lewis: “You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool…or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”
We have a choice: Accept Him as Lord and then follow His words and example, or try to make our own way through life, which is the same thing as calling Jesus “a madman or something worse.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Then I said, “Here I am—it is written about Me in the scroll—I have come to do Your will, My God.” (Hebrews 10:7)
“How lowly did Jesus become to purge away our sins and that by Himself, too, using His own body to be the means, by His sufferings, of taking away our guilt. Not by proxy did He serve us, but by Himself. Oh, this is wondrous love!” —Charles Spurgeon
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
Craig T. Owens 