(Because of the targeting nature of the next few blogs, the first two paragraphs will be a copy of those in Pt. 1. The new material will begin in the third paragraph for the next few weeks.)
Good Morning, Unbelievers (and faithful Readers): Welcome! Let me introduce myself: My name is Dan. You might not know me, but I know you. “How do you know me”, you might be wondering? Because I was an unbeliever myself for most of my life. I was a very proud Atheist; I was an intellectual. In fact, I even had the title, Professor, to prove it. Therefore, I could not possibly accept that trivial drivel the church is selling. I mean, “Come on…smart people like me and you can’t fall for gibberish that makes no rational sense.” That was my excuse. What is your excuse? You don’t believe in God, or you believe in god, but not Jesus? You don’t believe in organized religion, or you’ve been scared by organized religion? You don’t believe there is only one way to an after-life; you don’t believe in heaven or hell; you don’t believe the Bible can be true; you’ve seen church leaders that you once followed fall from their pedestals; you know hypocrites who claim to be Christians, but who continue to live as heathens; you see no way you could have fun if you’re expected to follow all of those confining “dos” and “don’ts”, or… you believe you are a “good person”, in fact, better than most, and you know that God, because He is a good God, will welcome you into heaven. Those are many of the classic reasons for remaining an unbeliever. I get that! The truth is, all of those thoughts were stumbling blocks for me as I continued to live in bondage to my arrogance.
So, you may be asking yourself, “What is Dan’s deal? Why does he care about what I believe, or what happens to me? My honest answer to that question is this: There was certainly a time when I could not have cared less about you, your belief or your destiny. But during that period of my life, I was totally consumed with “me”, my agenda and my career. As smart as I thought I was, in reality…I was totally ignorant of The Truth. I had a lot of knowledge and common sense, but I was ignorant of what I now know to be THE TRUTH. (I want to be perfectly clear here; I am not referring to worldly truth, worldly philosophy, or situational truth. I am referring to God’s Word (or God’s Truth, which is collected and codified in the Holy Bible). Today, it breaks my heart to know that people will perish just because they do not know THE TRUTH. I want to do everything possible to give unbelievers the same opportunity I had for redemption. I hope you will take five minutes to read each of these blogs. If you have questions, or criticisms, please respond to me at drpresgr@gmail.com , or you can call me at 314-799-7075. What have you got to lose?
(The new material for this lesson starts here). Last week we talked about God’s incredible love for us, and how He equipped us for a victorious life in this fallen world. For those of you who are unbelievers, if this sounds crazy to you, I get that! It makes no logical sense, and that stumbling block was one of my reasons for remaining an unbeliever for 55 years. But as you will see, the power that a Christian has is supernatural power (please don’t stop reading; the best is yet to come, and it’s nothing like Casper the Friendly Ghost, Superman or Batman). Simply put, the Holy Spirit is the essence of Jesus Christ (God) living in us.
Last week, I used Scripture from John 15:17 that was Jesus’ own words defining the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and He will give YOU another Advocate who will never leave YOU. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him, and doesn’t recognize Him. But YOU know Him, because He lives with YOU now (meaning it is ME, Jesus!), and later will be IN YOU! So, the logical question at this point should be, “What does it mean when it says, “later will be IN YOU?”
The pivotal point in our life comes when we make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this process: “We are a new creation in Christ: the old is gone; the new has come.” What that means in plain English is this: When we choose to follow Jesus, we are immediately “justified” in God’s eyes, meaning we are now worthy and acceptable in His eyes because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. “The old is gone” means we are no longer slaves to our sin-nature (or as our culture calls it, our “human nature”). Prior to being in Christ, we made choices that pleasured us, or exalted us, rather than choices that honored God. “The new has come” means that prior to being in Christ, we were spiritually separated from God. In a previous blog, I explained that when sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, the original spiritual connection between Mankind and God was severed. Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior reinstates that connection, and the Holy Spirit takes residence in the very core of our existence, our heart. (Not the physical heart that pumps our blood, but the spiritual center that processes the interaction between our new spirit (Holy Spirit), our soul (mind, emotions, and will) and our flesh, referring to carnal activity.
As an unbeliever, I’m sure you guided your life in a way that allowed you to do what you wanted to do, completely oblivious to the fact that you were residing in the domain of darkness, satan’s territory. Therefore, when you heard Christians talking about satan, you were convinced they were nuts. I certainly thought that! But then I learned this truth: When you are a resident in the dark domain, satan already has you right where he wants you. You don’t experience the “father of lies” and his schemes until you make the decision to transfer from the domain of darkness into the domain of light. Then you find out very quickly that he, and his minions, are out to steal, kill, or destroy you. Now, think about this truth. He is a master at his craft, and quite frankly, we are no match for him. But thank God, He knew that too!
God gave us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our circumstances and our feelings. The Spirit doesn’t change our circumstances or our feelings; He empowers us to deal with both in a way that brings honor and glory to God. 2 Peter 1:3-4 explains the process this way: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, His divine nature gives us EVERYTHING for living a Godly life. And by that same mighty power (the Holy Spirit), He has given us ALL of His rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires, and that you will share in His divine nature.” (Holy Tomolly…does that really say we will be more Christ-like? The answer is yes! The more we grow in the truth of God’s Word, the more Christ-like we will become!)
Let me explain this truth very specifically. The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is given to us so we can overcome the world by bringing honor and glory to God through our choices, OR… so we can become the person He created us to be. The Holy Spirit will not participate in any personal desire for self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, or self-pleasure. The Holy Spirit is the supernatural power that allows us to further His Kingdom on this earth right here, right now. That is why Apostle Paul exclaimed in Galatians 5:16-17, 22, “So, I advise you to live a new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when the Holy Spirit directs your life, you will produce a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
So, here is what you have been wondering: “How do I live “in the Spirit?” It’s actually as simple as getting out of the way, and here’s what I mean. Our old sinful nature (or our human nature) wants to solve life’s conflicts and issues through our own best effort. That is not God’s plan for your life; It never has been. His preference is for you to call on the Holy Spirit so you can tap into His supernatural power. Remember, the Spirit that is in you is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, that helped David slay Goliath, and parted the Red Sea for Moses. That, my Friends, is POWER!
Even though the Holy Spirit resides in your heart, He doesn’t control you. Remember, God gave YOU free will. Therefore, each one of us has to call Him into action. (And remember again, when we say “Holy Spirit”, we have just opened the door to the supernatural) Here is the process: “Holy Spirit, give me your wisdom, your courage, your strength, patience, perseverance, eyes to see, ears to hear, words to speak…whatever it is we need to make choices that bring honor and glory to Him. Every promise in the Bible says He Will answer that request. James 4:10 supports that statement: “When we come humbly before the Lord and admit our dependence on Him, He WILL lift us up and give us honor.” To reiterate, when we begin by saying “Holy Spirit”, we are admitting our dependence on Him, and we are opening the door to obtain supernatural empowerment.
OK, Believers… it is time for us to partner in this effort of sharing The Truth with unbelievers. All I ask of you is to either copy, or send via email, these messages week by week to any unbelievers you know. It will be most impactful if you send them in sequence, 1,2,3 etc. With our partnership, we can save souls that will otherwise be condemned. Thank you for supporting this endeavor.
May God Bless you abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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