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The Lord is always ready—for your salvation... |
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I rest in the assurance that He is within. My only responsibility—perfect submission. |
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The Word of God makes it clear that life is not only by or through Christ, but Christ is life, itself. |
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The very name of Christ at His birth, "Immanuel," is a revelation from God to man of that which is the most basic and central theme of Christianity—"God with us." |
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The expanding of this ministry has never come through promotion but rather by the quiet working of the Lord, which you who have been participating with us, are well aware of. |
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When even the leaders of the world are openly confused and troubled, it is time for the Christians to respond with clear-sighted realism and confidence knowing that they have the answer. |
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We are saved to be members of God's family. We are His children, and not His charges, or merely His servants. We serve Him out of a heart of love for Him. |
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Tis time for prophets to talk of peace. |
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The essential nature of the believer is different than the essential nature of the non-believer as the nature of a tree is different than the nature of a rock. An intrinsic change has taken place. |
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Suffering seems to be an essential part of our earthly pilgrimage--of our oneness with Christ. |
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Prayer is the most profitable, and the most perplexing thing we do |
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Christ occupies our spirits, but not our flesh. |
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If prayer is the most puzzling part of our relationship to Christ, guidance is probably the most problematical. |
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...the nature of our being dictates that guidance be consistent with our ultimate spiritual destiny. |
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Like a father, presiding over his children, so the Lord presides over the "cosmic sandbox." |
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Ultimately, what we all seek is a meaningful, workable relationship with Christ. |
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Part IV - Not Practicing Christianity, but Living with Christ |
...the Church has been monstrously savaged and divided by the pursuit of Christianity, instead of being primarily involved in the personal experience of life with Christ |
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Given the realities of our earthly circumstance, we need each other. We are none of us complete within ourselves. |
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There is far more to the matter of guidance than the manipulation of circumstances, or the "handwriting on the wall." |
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It is one thing to know that God fashioned man and the universe. It is another thing to know that He has communicated with the humans He made. |
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...Christ was the instrument of creation. He was part of the Elohim of Genesis 1:1--the multifaceted Godhead. |
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It is quite likely that every spirit that comes into the world has a purpose in the mind of God. |
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Human beings can offer forgiveness, but only God can offer life. |
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"At the right hand of God," means exercising authority as the representative of the Eternal Godhead, in carrying out His will in the universe. Jesus Christ, the Son, is thus the "Grand Executor. |
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But now, in Christ, we are an integral part of the Deity. |
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Happy the subject whose king is wise enough to provide inerrant guidance in the course of life. |
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Christ existed with God before time began, in the eternal infinite. |
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We have an enemy. God has an enemy. Who is he? Whence did he come? Why is he here? What is his ultimate end? How do we cope with him on the earth? |
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Christ is the Great Equalizer in our struggle with Satan. |
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The truth of the matter is that the complexities of the present world are beyond the capacity of the human mind to solve. |
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In all cultures, for all time, there has been some form of deity - a "great spirit," or animistic object of fear or reverence - and a real or supposed link between the deity and the people, or the flesh and the spirit. |
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In this respect His death was not merely a moment of crucifixion, but a lifetime of humiliation in His self-imposed cloak of human personality. |
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We have a Priest; a High Priest; a Great High Priest. |
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The priesthood of Christ is forever. |
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Jesus Christ is our High Priest; our Great High Priest; our Eternal High Priest. |
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We are heirs together, sufferers together and glorified together with Christ. |
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Glorified with Christ! How can it be? Is He not the radiance of the glory of the Infinite Godhead? Was He not in the beginning with God? Did He not create the world, yea the universe - the sun, the moon, the stars? Is he not in fact God, the very God manifested in the flesh? So how can it be that we "mere" humans should be glorified together with Him? |
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Life is a struggle; the Christian life is a struggle. |
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We have been saved by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
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Fruit bearing is a sign of life. |
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The idea of fruit bearing is at the heart of Christian consciousness. |
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The Holy Spirit of God could not be present in us without affecting us, anymore than a seed could be planted in fertile soil without producing after its kind. |
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As in the matter of love, Paul says that joy is, not shall be the fruit of the Spirit. |
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Everyone wants peace, but where to find it? The whole world is obsessed with peace, peace at any price. |
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Longsuffering is one of those fruits of the Spirit that are intrinsically within us as Christ is within us. |
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What is goodness? The word in English has been so broadly applied as to mean everything and nothing. |
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Faith is one of the most often used words in the English language, but, like love, it is one of the most misunderstood. |
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The word "meekness" has, in the English language a negative flavor. |
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The last of the fruits of the Spirit is a word translated into English as "temperance" or "self control." |
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Are we members of God family, or merely part of His constituency? Is Christianity something to join - like a service club or political party? Are we Christians, as a religious affiliation, or are we an essential part of God as in a family relationship? Perhaps the name is misleading. |
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Faith lies at the heart of all that we have in Christ and from Christ and through Christ. |
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And so it goes - the endless frustrations of human inadequacy. |
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Prayer is talking to God. It is not a religious ritual or exercise. |
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The plain teaching of Scripture is that all believers are energized by the Holy Spirit. |
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In the constant struggle to maintain a workable and satisfactory relationship to Christ, we are often confronted with the problem of perfection. |
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Never before in human history has there been such a focus on "humanism" and it's consequent humanitarianism. |
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God promises His people the everlasting security of the priceless cornerstone--Jesus Christ. |
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Whatever may be the ultimate purposes of God for His universe, we may be sure that they will be inexorably executed. |
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The universe is in the grip of God; the world is in His grip; and so is the lot and destiny of each believer. |
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The demonic "mischief" in the world is just as real as the angelic benevolence. |
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There are many things about Satan and his work that are still uncertain, but Paul has given some very clear teaching on the subject. |
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Coping with the Enemy III. Demon Possession vs. Demon Affliction |
Satan is not able to possess the spirit of one who is possessed by Christ. |
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Coping with the Enemy IV. Demon Possession and the Power of God |
...How do we humans tap into the power of God over Satan? What are the guidelines and the limitations? What are the terms and conditions? Why does God allow Satan to afflict His people? |
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The subject of Satan is of crucial importance to every believer. |
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The most crucial problem in the church today is not worldliness or immorality or lack of spirituality--it is division |
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We have had much to say about what cannot be guaranteed in our relationship to Christ. |
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But whence comes the power to appropriate the Spirit of God? How can we mortals ever attain such an astounding might? Paul says - "By the power of God Himself" and that is "according to the riches of His glory." |
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Here is the greatest mystery of all time–the God of the universe extending Himself as Christ, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, occupying the very spirit of His human creatures. |
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IV. To be Able to Lay Hold or All That God has Intended for You |
The magnitude of these passages defies human articulation. |
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How can you know something that cannot be known? Paul says that when we are filled with the presence of Christ, we are able to know the unknowable love. |
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The enormity of this thought tends to put it in the realm of the unreal. |
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Uneasy feelings, which are normal expressions of the human brain, do not of themselves hinder God's work through us and for us. |
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There are many things about Satan and his work that are still uncertain, but Paul has given some very clear teaching on the subject. |
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...Thus the redemptive process through which Jesus became our High Priest, forever identifying Himself with the human race and at the same time retaining the Deity of the Eternal Godhead. |
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Uncertainty is germane to the human condition, since God expelled His creatures from the "womb" of Eden. |
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The great thing about our High Priest is that He wants us to come. |
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Christians everywhere suffer today, as Paul suffered, in weakness and distress; in devastating experiences that are the lot of all who dwell upon this bastion of satanic evil - the earth. |
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Perhaps the most important single reality in the redemptive process of God is the Priesthood of Christ. |
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Whatever may be the ultimate purposes of God for His universe, we may be sure that they will be inexorably executed. |
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There is no more pivotal idea in all the Bible than the expression - "Let us come near." |
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The new and living way which came to us through the sacrifice and energizing power of Christ, has brought vitality to the people of God, both in their relationship to Him as well as to one another. |
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Meanwhile, the entire thrust of Scripture is the total weakness of humans and their inability to accomplish anything of significance apart from the direct power and energy of God. |
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The single most significant aspect of the true shepherd is the caring. |
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The following article was written in August of 1982 shortly after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel. |
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The tragic beginning of God's creatures on the earth is desolation. The grand ending is glorification. |
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The Great Shepherd is a multifaceted Shepherd. |
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One of the most tragic misconceptions in Christendom is the assumption that everyone who is really following Christ and in His will should be delivered from every earthly problem. |
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The race is on. One of the universal truisms of life is that it is a struggle or contest or race. Paul often uses this figure in describing the ongoing realities of life. |
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In view of the crisis in the Middle East, we have decided to make some comments here that may be helpful in assessing the situation. |
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It is tempting for Church leadership, in searching for leverage, to so focus on the negative aspects of the faith, that the vitality of the relationship to Christ is all but overwhelmed. |
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The truth is that we are set apart for God at the moment of salvation and rescued from the power of Satan. |
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Jesus had just given His disciples some very disquieting news about Himself; about them, about the world and in the course of it, urged them not to be troubled or fearful. |
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What Paul is saying here is that the believer should let the circumstances of one’s life be acceptable and sufficient for one’s own satisfaction |
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To understand this text is essential to the understanding of the nature of God in relationship to man; the nature of man in relationship to God; and the nature of man in relationship to man. |
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Christ is the essence of the universe. |
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Christ is the Fashioner of the universe, as the expression of the Eternal Godhead. |
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We have discussed the nature of Christ as the ultimate source of all things - all life and light and energy. |
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We humans have a difficult time understanding why it is that God wanted to make us in the first place. |
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We have been considering the "mind-boggling" impact of the reality of the human place in the universe, as the possessors of the very energy of God, who created it. |
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To speak of fulfillment in Christ is all well and good, but how do we humans really accomplish that? |
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Whatever will happen to this earth of ours? What will happen to its people? What is God doing? What is He going to do? What can we know for sure? |
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The ultimate essence of the entire universe is the Spirit of God, its Creator. |
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It is much easier to be strong than to be weak. |
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In the midst of the constant pursuit of Christian excellence--doctrines and creeds; religious exercises and rituals--we tend to forget that we are members of a family and not of a religious sect. |
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To say that these are troubled times is to say nothing that has not been said since the world began. |
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The most penetrating question that a human being can ever ask, "Who am I?" And part of the same question is, "What is it all about." Here, in a few sweeping thoughts, the apostle provides some far reaching insights. |
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It is commonly known that we are God's building; though not so commonly known how intricate that building is. |
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In the last issue we discussed the individual temple. |
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The believers have been identified throughout Scripture in many different types and symbols and analogies. |
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Whether body or building or temple or city, the ultimate reality of life is that humans are designed to be eternal abiding places of God. |
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So what does the presence of Christ within mean to us? Paul outlines it thoroughly in the above text. |
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It is all well and good to talk about the Holy Spirit dwelling within our spirits. |
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Believers are forever trying to experience in the flesh what can only be experienced in the spirit. |
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The most crucial issue of our identity with God and His universe is that our essential nature has been transformed through Christ into a Spirit being. |
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It is germane to the human race to expect to be compensated for performance. |
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We have been reborn unto a living expectation. As such we are joint heirs with Christ of all that God is and has and are partakers of His very nature. |
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"Manifold testings" is the lot of believers as long as they are on the earth. |
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However the Church may try to press the point that for believers (especially those who "have enough faith") "life can be beautiful." The reality is that for the most part life is troublesome, if not tragic. |
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The normal state of the believer, contrary to irresponsible teaching from some quarters, is to pass their lives on the earth without visual or auditory experiences of Christ. |
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It is a great hope, but seems as unreachable as the heights to which the eagle soars. Would you believe that you have already attained it? If you are a child of God you have been doing just that from the moment of your salvation. |
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These verses are at the very heart of the Biblical revelation. When God created man, it says that he breathed into him the "breath of life" (nishmath chayah). This expression in the Hebrew text has to do with the special breath which was the Spirit of God. |
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In discussing the meaning of the Spirit we have observed the carelessness with which the word and the concept and the Person of the Spirit have been bandied about. |
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There is much confusion about what the Holy Spirit is supposed to do for human beings. |
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Believers go through a constant struggle over the question of the degree to which their lives should change when they have accepted Christ. |
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The theologians have succeeded in making prayer so complex that believers are left in a great deal of uncertainty as to their capacity to really touch God. |
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There are many sections in the Old Testament that have specific references to circumstances that were under the old covenant. But there are a great many passages that are of universal application and may be used by the New Testament believer. |
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Believers are inclined to think of their life on the earth as one long focus on religious experience and activities. |
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There is a common expression for the subject matter of this article–"The practice of Christianity." This phrase is common, but needs to be examined. |
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If our response to the presence of Christ within is merely a causal connection in which we attempt to work on our spirits, because we belong to Christ, we are then functioning in the flesh. |
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The Believer and the Holy Spirit X. Inner Working of the Spirit |
It is not too difficult to grasp the idea that the coming of the Holy Spirit changes our human and mortal natures into something of the Divine and eternal. |
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The promise of Galatians 5:22 is that joy would be a fruit of the Spirit. But what is joy? How many believers can really say that they have joy in their lives? |
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The peace of God is not something believers hope for or receive as the prize of perfection. It is the right and possession of all who have received the Spirit of Christ in salvation. |
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The Greek word makrothumia is a complex word, and is not so easily handled with the simple definition "longsuffering." |
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Faith is at the heart of our relationship to God and all that implies. |
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One of the common problems of believers is a sense of guilt and unworthiness. |
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I give the following as something of a summation of the things that we have been talking about relative to the Holy Spirit. |
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It is generally assumed (by those who care) that God’s dealings with the people of the Old Testament were different than His dealings with the people of the New Testament era. |
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Jacob is a primary example of God’s compassion toward the people of earth. |
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One of the most important questions in the universe that we humans have to ask is–Why are we here? Why did the Lord make us in the first place? And the second question is akin to it–What is our place in this vast universe? |
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We have seen that the nature of man is intrinsically tied up with the nature of Christ. He became what humans are in order that He may lift humans to become what He became in His glorification. |
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In the vastness of the universe God chose to pick out a small group of people to be the focal point of His dealings with the race of mankind. It began with Jacob and his twelve sons. |
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The children of Israel had been oppressed by their perennial enemies, the Midianites, for seven long years. |
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The children of Israel had sinned, again and again. Each time, when they sought forgiveness, they received it from God, but often paid a considerable price. |
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The ravages of sin were brought to the full in David and dispelled by the touch of the Spirit of God forever. In Adam and Eve you had the immediate beginnings of sin as murder in all of its ugliness appears on the scene. |
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Dear friends, My father, David Morsey, finished his course on Thursday, January 18,1996. |
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