PRECIOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR A PRECIOUS GIFT

Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 13:1-14:29, Acts 18:23-19:12, Psalm 146:1-10, & Proverbs 18:2-3

Acts 19:1-3

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. ² “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.

“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.

And they replied, “The baptism of John.”

Here we see Paul dealing with an issue that is not that unfamiliar to us today. He had to address people who loved God & wanted to follow God, but they knew nothing about the Holy Spirit. In fact, when they were asked if they had received the Holy Spirit they said they had never even heard about the Holy Spirit.

This is happening all over the world today. The Holy Spirit is talked about as a Person, but His baptism is being pushed to the back of the shelf. It is becoming less & less important in churches today. Many times, it is because churches are more concerned about numbers than they are the teaching the doctrine of Spirit baptism. They don’t want to scare people off. This leads to less of a focus on the Holy Spirit & the role that He plays in a believer’s life.

I want to make a very strong statement:  “God never intended for you to do ministry without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.” He told the early church:

 

Luke 24:49

⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Jesus was getting ready to send out His church but before He could send them He desired to fill them & endue them with the power that they would need to fulfill the mission that He was giving them. He referred to this as “the gift my Father has promised.”

Many times people hear about the baptism of the Holy Spirit & they begin to seek it out. This is a great thing. It will truly change a person’s life. I used to be a drug addict before I came to know Jesus. I have found favor in the area of helping people who have struggled with the same thing. I have seen a lot of people come & go.

Undoubtedly, the people that come & get free from drugs & STAY free from drugs for the rest of their lives are the one who get baptized in the Holy Spirit. Many times, other people spend their lives on a roller coaster ride of getting free & then falling back into the old behaviors. They never really experience true & lasting freedom.

This goes to prove that there is something to be said about being filled with the Holy Spirit. It really does give power to the one filled. I want to share some reasons why a person should be filled with the Holy Spirit.

1.      Jesus wants you filled.

It was Jesus who told the church to wait until they were filled. It was Jesus who spoke to them about this throughout the NT. It was Jesus who told them that they would receive & need the power that the baptism would bring. It is a gift from God that we all should receive.

2.      It will add supernatural power to your life.

I have one question to ask you. How many people do you know, or have ever heard of, who has been used of God in the supernatural who was NOT filled with the Holy Spirit? How many churches have you ever heard about that had miracles occurring in them that did not embrace the Spirit baptism? There is a direct connection with the supernatural & the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

3.      It will open your mind to the deep truths of God’s Word.

Another question for you to consider: “How people do you know that are preaching revelation knowledge & are not baptized in the Holy Spirit? The greatest revelations from the Word are coming from men & women who are Spirit-filled, tongue talkers. This is not a generalization. It is reality. People who are filled with the Spirit & use the gift regularly have a greater insight to the Word. The Spirit seems to illuminate things to us.

4.      It will open you up to gifts from the Spirit.

In our text in Acts, we see that after they were filled with the Holy Spirit they also began to prophesy. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. He manifests His gifts in us for the glory of Christ. This is not the only gift that the Holy Spirit gives. There are 8 other gifts that come directly from Him. They are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. These are power gifts, revelatory gifts, & utterance gifts that change our world. It also convinces others of the reality of a holy, awesome God.

In the future, we will be talking about what to do when we receive the Holy Spirit. What are the next steps to take, what we use the gift for, how it affects our daily life, etc…  God has given you a precious opportunity to receive a precious gift the will change your life for the better. Receive it & use it!

Pastor Richard Schlotter

WHO I REALLY AM

 

Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 10:32-12:21, Acts 18:1-22, Psalm 145:1:21, & Proverbs 18:1

Psalm 145:8-9

⁸ The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. ⁹ The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.

Religion & the enemy have done such a disservice to people. Many have come to believe that God is an angry being in a faraway place that is waiting for you & me to mess up so He can strike us with a lightning bolt to punish us for our wrong doings. When most people think about God, this is the image that they get.

This is one of the main things that Jesus came to correct. He wanted to show us who God really is. Listen to what He declared to the people that He came to save:

 

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Jesus was speaking to religious people. He was speaking to people who were trying to follow & obey the Law in order to find favor with God. They were trying to earn God’s love. They were trying to work their way into right standing with Him. This left them feeling more empty & more alone. They soon found out what every person who lives a works based life discovers—“I can never be good enough.”

Works based religion always leaves us feeling “not good enough”. We realize our failures & we focus on our efforts to please God. Of course, when we fail to reach the standard we have been told that God is there to punish. It leaves us feeling like we are failures. It leaves us thinking that God is mad at us & we are deserving of punishment.  NOT THE CASE!!!

God declares to us what His true nature is.

1.      He is merciful. 

This means that He is full of mercy. We seem to magnify a false nature of God. We think that He is full of wrath. This is not accurate. God poured out ALL of His wrath on Jesus at the cross. He has no wrath left to pour out on you. The wrath of God has been COMPLETELY satisfied in Christ.

Isaiah 53:10-11 (KJV)

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

¹¹ He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

God DOES NOT want to punish you when you fail. WHY??? Because He is FULL OF MERCY!!!

1.      He wants to heal you.

2.      He wants to forgive you.

3.      He wants to cleanse you.

4.      He wants to bless you.

5.      He wants to speak to you.

6.      He wants to walk with you.

7.      He wants to prosper you.

2. God is patient & slow to anger.

We are impatient. God is patient. He is not like men that blow up at the slightest little things. He doesn’t disown you just because you don’t get it right the first few times. He doesn’t right you off just because you made another mistake. He is patient & slow to anger.

2 Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

We need to magnify this characteristic of our Father. He is patient with us & patient with sinners. We send the message that God showers down punishment, when in reality He says that He showers down His loving kindness. Let’s get it right for a change.

               3. God is good to all.

 Stop & let that sink deep into your heart & mind. God is good. He wants to show goodness to you. He is not the one trying to harm you. That is your enemy. You should resist your enemy & embrace your good God. We get that backwards when we don’t recognize the true nature of God. We blame God & resist Him. He is not the reason bad things happen. He is the answer when they do! He is not the source of pain & hurt. He is the way out.

Let’s work at transforming our minds by speaking these things regularly about our Father. Speak out loud that He is merciful, patient, & good. Let this cleanse your mind & break the stronghold that the enemy has built. This is the way to experience God in His true nature. This is how we find an easy & light yoke.

Pastor Richard Schlotter

 

TRUE & FEW

 

Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 9:14-10:31, Acts 17:1-34, Psalm 144:1-5, & Proverbs 17:27-28

Proverbs 17:27-28

²⁷ A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. ²⁸ Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

Have you ever said something that got you into trouble? I think that is something that all of us have experienced. Our tongue is not an easy thing to hold, but it proves to be wise if we learn to discipline ourselves in this way.

James 3:5-6

⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

I know what it is to have my tongue set things on fire. I have said things in the heat of the moment that weren’t said the best way. There have been other times that I have said things that I probably should have kept to myself. Then, there have been times when I have said things in anger that only made things worse. These are all ways that we can send tiny sparks setting fire to things & others around us.

I like how we are told that it is wise to keep quiet. There is a lot of talk that is meaningless & not needed. Here is what James has to say on the matter:

 

James 1:19

¹⁹ Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

What I am learning is that it is twice as important to listen as it is to speak. It is also twice as important to keep my mouth closed in certain situations as it is to speak & say something that will bring death & destruction with it.

James 3:1-2

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

This is really saying that if we can’t learn to control our tongue then we will never be able to control other areas of our lives. We want to be perfect & grow toward perfection. This is going to require us to tame our tongues. Spend time thinking before you speak & be a person of true wisdom. Let your words be few & true!

Pastor Richard Schlotter

WHAT TO DO IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 8:1-9:13, Acts 16:16-40, Psalm 143:1-12, & Proverbs 17:26

 

Acts 16:25-26

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

What do you do when moments get tough in your life? What is your first reaction when you get in a pinch? If you are like most people it is something like one of these:

1.      Cuss

2.      Throw a temper tantrum

3.      Blame somebody else

4.      Give up & quit

5.      Lash out with words

6.      Lash out with physical violence

I have learned that what the bible says is true.

James 1:20

²⁰ Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

If you want to get the things that God desires in your life then you have to respond in every situation the way that Jesus does. When we respond the way Jesus does it will produce righteous things, or another way of saying it is “the right things”, in our lives.

What do you want to be produced in your life? That is the question that we need to consider. If you want discouragement, bondage, anger, resent, shame, unforgiveness, bitterness to be produced in your life then keep doing what you’re doing. We know how to get these things. But if you are tired of these things in your life then start doing things different.

God did not want Paul & Silas to be locked up in jail. He wanted them to be free. That was the righteousness that God desired in that situation. But the way they respond to the situation is what gave Him the access to bring those righteous things into their lives. They responded to the pressure in the right way & received the right things!!!

What would happen if the next time that you were in a pinch you chose to sing to the Lord & praise Him instead of question & complain to Him? What would be different the next time you were in a tough, unfair place if you chose to worship instead of whine?

I think that the answer is that we would see chains fall off of our feet just like they did for Paul & Silas. What you do in your midnight hour determines what you will receive in your midnight hour. I want you to receive the good things that God has in store for you. I know that is what you want as well.

Your breakthrough is going to come if you keep your heart right & stay positioned to receive. That is as certain as the sun rising in the east & setting in the west. With this in mind, let you heart be moved to praise & worship when trouble comes. We have a faithful Father who desire to do right things in us. Know this makes our heart sing.

 

Pastor Richard Schlotter