Historian James Truslow Adams coined that phrase “the American dream.” He defined it as “a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank.”
On a day like today, when the Florida Court voted to throw out Healthcare Reform as unconstitutional, I wonder what has happened to the American Dream. As far back as the Civil War, we have been fighting with each other over whether the American dream is for all Americans or for something less than everybody. It could be said that for first Americans the dream was primarily for white male-Americans. Constitutional law and male voting rights made it that way.
Abolition and women’s suffrage (white women) later pushed their way into being included in that dream. In the early 1900s that dream was primarily for the economic barons and men of wealth and social standing. Still later, economic and social-political pressures gradually expanded that dream to first one minority then another, until today we think of it including everybody who is an American citizen.
In his book Aftershock, Robert Reich describes how “Public support for government’s new role had been founded in the Great Depression and World War II, in whose wake Americans shared a larger sense of common purpose. We were all in it together, rising or falling together, connected to one another in ways we had barely noticed before the Depression. None of us could prosper unless prosperity was widely shared.
Today, most of us recognize that a society governed by purely capitalistic greed (the profit margin, the bottom line) cannot not survive except by force because of its major concern for the welfare of the minority (in this case the wealthy). America is neither purely socialistic nor purely capitalistic. Socialism and Capitalism, in their purest forms, are the extreme limits going either way.
To return to the capitalism of earlier generations degenerates too easily into that monarchial mindset (divine right of kings) that we threw off with the Magna Charta in 1215. It was later expressed in the corporate feudalism (as with the Vanderbilts, DuPonts, Rockefellers, et al at the beginning of the 20th century).During this period of our history, the wealthy lived in mansions and Main Street lived mostly impoverished. Otherwise, it conforms to some form of fascist control (dictatorship) where the minority manipulates and rules the majority (as in Communist China today).
I find Robert Reich helpful in thinking through what he calls A NEW DEAL FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS, or what I consider A BETTER DEAL FOR EVERYBODY. Reich writes, “I could have grounded my argument in morality: It is simply unfair for a handful of Americans to take home such a large share of total income when so many others are struggling to make ends meet. Or I could have based it on traditional American values. Such a lopsided distribution is at odds with the nation’s history and its ideal of equal opportunity--especially when the deck seems stacked in favor of those at the top. I could have talked about how this degree of inequality undermines the nation’s moral authority and its standing in the world.
“I have chosen,” Reich continues, “instead to base my argument on two tangible threats that such inequality poses to everyone--including even the wealthiest and most influential among us. One is economic: Unless America’s middle class receives a fair share, it cannot consume nearly what the nation is capable of producing, at least without going deeply into debt. And debt on this scale is unsustainable, as we have seen. The inevitable result is slower economic growth and an economy increasingly susceptible to great booms and terrible busts.
“The other threat” says Reich, “is political: Widening inequality coupled with a growing perception that big business and Wall Street are in cahoots with big government for the purpose of making the rich even richer, gives fodder to demagogues on the extreme right and the extreme left. They gain power by turning the public’s economic anxieties into resentments against particular people and groups. Isolationist and nativist, often racist, and willing to sacrifice overall prosperity for the sake of achieving their ends, such demagogues and the movements they inspire can cause great harm.
“As I’ve shown, the Great Recession has accelerated both troubling trends. With the bursting of the housing bubble, many middle-class homeowners who can no longer use their homes as piggy banks must face the reality of flat or declining wages. The downturn also has forced--or given a ready excuse for--firms to increase profits by shrinking their payrolls, laying off millions of workers and reducing the pay of millions more. It has simultaneously induced firms to ratchet up the pay of their “talent”--the executives and traders who drive the profits. At the same time, the Great Recession has starkly revealed the political power of big business and of Wall Street. Both have been able to enhance their profits by exacting money and other favors from government--even from one under the nominal control of the Democratic Party.
“Unless these trends are reversed, the financially stressed middle class will not have the purchasing power to keep the economy growing (italics added). This will hurt even those who are well-off. A political backlash could generate a similar result, or worse. Margaret Jones and her Independence Party are fictional, but the anger on which she bases her appeal is not (127-28 Aftershock/Alfred Knopf/NY/2010/Robert Reich).
However you respond to his argument, Reich provides a very readable book. It is well documented and worthy of more serious and thoughtful dialogue, on both sides of the political aisle.
The one thing I take away from the book, more than any other thought is this: Those who own industry and mass production will not profit long unless they see to it that the worker is able to buy the product s/he makes. In general, the better the economic condition enjoyed by the middle-class, the more profitable it will be for the upper economic echelons. One cannot survive without the other.
From Warner’s World,
we are walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Present Reality or Pre-millennial Expectation?
I recently spent a year rediscovering the writings of Dr. H. C. Heffren, a longtime Canadian leader in our church life, and a prolific writer of biblical subjects, more commonly called "doctrine". One of Dr. Heffren’s favorite subjects was writing and teaching on the Kingdom of God as a present spiritual reality rather than a pre-millennial expectation.
In one of his pamphlet, I found Heffren following John’s report of Jesus that claimed Jesus is the light of the world and “he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). John goes on to report Jesus claiming “as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5, emphasis added).
I, too, find John’s words of sufficient import to repeat John 1:7-9: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all Men might through him believe. He, John the Baptist, was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of the Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
These verses suggest we see that the true Light of the world came “In that Day” which was the evening time of the Jewish dispensation, so that at evening time it was light, the true light being Jesus the Messiah. In John 12:46 John further records Jesus saying, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
That Christ is the Light of the world, and that He came In that Day to fulfill prophecy in the evening time of the Jewish dispensation, is attested and verified by innumerable Scriptures. It was the end of the law covenant (Old Testament) and the inauguration of the new covenant(New Testament)as seen by Hebrews 10:9,16-17.
“Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second . . . This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
Dr. Heffren’s point is well taken as he writes his small volume on Zecharia. Contrary to the thinking of many today, the Kingdom of God came to fruition with the mission and ministry of Jesus. The Bible consistently teaches the Kingdom of God as a personal submission to the sovereignty of God, and submitting to his Lordship by the individual believer. It has little or nothing to do with any future restoration of the political aspirations of the nation of Israel or the affairs of the Middle East today.
It may well be true that we need to wait (patiently) for the “fullness” of God’s Kingdom to be realized; but, it is a Biblical fact that we do not need to await the return of Jesus (2nd Advent) to establish His Kingdom. Since He came in that first appearance, millions have become His dedicated and loyal followers, walking diligently and daily with Him, and knowing that even in our worst of times, the God of Heaven is still in ultimate control of the affairs of the universe.
From Warner’s World,
we are walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
In one of his pamphlet, I found Heffren following John’s report of Jesus that claimed Jesus is the light of the world and “he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). John goes on to report Jesus claiming “as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5, emphasis added).
I, too, find John’s words of sufficient import to repeat John 1:7-9: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all Men might through him believe. He, John the Baptist, was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of the Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
These verses suggest we see that the true Light of the world came “In that Day” which was the evening time of the Jewish dispensation, so that at evening time it was light, the true light being Jesus the Messiah. In John 12:46 John further records Jesus saying, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
That Christ is the Light of the world, and that He came In that Day to fulfill prophecy in the evening time of the Jewish dispensation, is attested and verified by innumerable Scriptures. It was the end of the law covenant (Old Testament) and the inauguration of the new covenant(New Testament)as seen by Hebrews 10:9,16-17.
“Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second . . . This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
Dr. Heffren’s point is well taken as he writes his small volume on Zecharia. Contrary to the thinking of many today, the Kingdom of God came to fruition with the mission and ministry of Jesus. The Bible consistently teaches the Kingdom of God as a personal submission to the sovereignty of God, and submitting to his Lordship by the individual believer. It has little or nothing to do with any future restoration of the political aspirations of the nation of Israel or the affairs of the Middle East today.
It may well be true that we need to wait (patiently) for the “fullness” of God’s Kingdom to be realized; but, it is a Biblical fact that we do not need to await the return of Jesus (2nd Advent) to establish His Kingdom. Since He came in that first appearance, millions have become His dedicated and loyal followers, walking diligently and daily with Him, and knowing that even in our worst of times, the God of Heaven is still in ultimate control of the affairs of the universe.
From Warner’s World,
we are walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Anti-Icky Pooh
I found it hilarious to hear Chuck Swindoll tell of his family returning home from a midsummer vacation and finding their house filled with that indescribable aroma of dead possum in the attic over the bed-room. Racing to find the best solution in the shortest time, Chuck found a product guaranteed to rid their house of that offensive odor of decaying flesh---”Anti-Icky Pooh.”
Like the Swindoll family, the church sometimes faces offensive odors. Decadent TV ministries leave a bad smell. Churches that tolerate unacceptable beliefs, congregations that allow members to live in Sodom while hobnobbing with the city elders, hierarchies that protect predatory priests all leave a poor witness.
Paul described such behaviors as holding to a form of godliness, while denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5). The antidote for this anemic spirituality is the Holy Spirit, a true Anti-Icky-Pooh product guaranteed to fulfill true righteousness.
There is power beyond the norm practiced by much of today’s church. There is life under the administration of the Holy Spirit, but this truth frequently finds itself wedged between ineffective teaching, misunderstood practice, and misappropriated authority.
From the age of Genesis, Judaism taught the unity of God within one-God (monotheism): Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (1:26 NASV, italics added).
The Old Testament consistently shows God (the Father) at the center of all moral authority---the prime mover toward the human rescue. Yet, penetrating the fog ever so dimly, we see the mission of The Son manifesting the visible God to human eyes, instructing the world, and finally atoning for mankind’s sin through His own death.
It is the Holy Spirit who administers God’s Department of Grace; applying and distributing what originated through the joint High Command. He revives recollection of Jesus. He quickens the conscience, He renews the mind, and attests acceptance with God in practical living.
He sanctifies one’s whole being by taking possession of a purified temple. He makes the human heart His home and converts it into a sanctuary of unending comfort. He expands and transforms that person into a fruit-bearing garden producing love, peace, and joy.
Pentecost simply served as the Installation Service that brought about the transfer of power in the command. While people become drunk on the sensual and sensational, thus void of reality and power, God’s people throughout the ages have enjoyed the Holy Spirit’s power and presence in several ways.
First, the office of the Holy Spirit is to awaken and arrest one’s attention, to excite the feelings, and produce the conviction for sin (cf. John 16:8). Lacking power to rouse themselves, and shake off their stupor, people left to their own devises pass through life, meeting death, and entering eternity with their sleep uninterrupted.
Second, the work of the Holy Spirit is to renew (cf. Titus; John 3:5). Chaos, corruption, and death begin in the carnal mind. Carnality estranges the soul from God and dismantles the divine in humanity.
Third, the Holy Spirit restores and enlightens spiritual perception; penetrating the soul, repairing vision, revealing truth. He renews vision with perspective. Sin obscures vision and leaves us drifting on an ocean of error in a moral fog, void of true relationships.
Fourth, the Holy Spirit implants and nourishes the seeds of character-producing grace. Regeneration clears the soil of the soul of poisonous weeds and the bitter root of sin. It enables God’s Spirit of Truth to become the foundation of right principles, true virtues, and correct practices.
The Holy Spirit acts upon these plantings, like the quickening rays of warm sun invigorating spring flowers. He conditions the greenhouse of our heart, producing lovely bedding plants for beautifying the yards of our lives.
Fifth, the Holy Spirit assures us of our acceptance by God, reaffirming our justified relationship to Him (cf. Romans 8:6; Galatians 4:6). Although greater things were reserved for the gospel era, these functions are normal to the Holy Spirit.
Immersed in clouds of worldliness, today’s church sometimes finds itself debilitated and sickly, in spite of John the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, (Matthew 3:11 NASV, italics added).
By introducing Jesus as the King, John also introduced God’s (Spiritual) Kingdom. John proclaimed the arrival of the Promised Child, whose Presence brought the Power of the Savior-Sanctifier. John further called for fruit worthy of repentance and declared Israel already axed, rather than resurrected (cf. Matthew 3:10). He proclaimed the cleansing baptism of the Holy Spirit, rather than legalizing water baptism.
Believing in Jesus requires us to accept a Trinitarian view of God. Thereby, it acknowledges the era of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, we learn there is more to life than mere human discipline.
Without explicit preaching and solid testimony we may fail to comprehend this truth, but it is the fulcrum on which the lever of the Spirit rests.Faith provides the conveyor belt carrying salvation. The Holy Spirit provides the power that creates the cleansing, quickening, and beautifying we all need.
When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about His coming kingdom, He told them it is neither here nor there; it is within you (cf. Luke 17:21). Here, we have discovery beyond discipline, power beyond practiced norm.
There is a Sanctifier beyond the Savior, and Jesus convincingly concluded by telling His disciples, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word (John 14:23a NASV)
From Warner’s World …
a hymn written by C. W. Naylor and sung by Christians worldwide puts it into song:
“SPIRIT HOLY“
Spirit holy in me dwelling,
Ever work as thou shalt choose;
All my ransomed pow’rs and talents
For thy purpose thou shalt use.
O how sweet is thy abiding!
O how tender is the love
Thou dost shed abroad with-in me
From the Father-heart above!
Thou hast cleansed me for thy temple,
Garnished with thy graces rare;
All my soul thou art enriching
By thy fullness dwelling there.
In me now reveal thy glory,
Let thy might be ever shown;
Keep me from the world’s defilement,
Sacred for thyself alone.
Spirit holy, Spirit holy,
All my being now possess;
Lead me, rule me, work within me,
Through my life thy will express.
Amen
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Like the Swindoll family, the church sometimes faces offensive odors. Decadent TV ministries leave a bad smell. Churches that tolerate unacceptable beliefs, congregations that allow members to live in Sodom while hobnobbing with the city elders, hierarchies that protect predatory priests all leave a poor witness.
Paul described such behaviors as holding to a form of godliness, while denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5). The antidote for this anemic spirituality is the Holy Spirit, a true Anti-Icky-Pooh product guaranteed to fulfill true righteousness.
There is power beyond the norm practiced by much of today’s church. There is life under the administration of the Holy Spirit, but this truth frequently finds itself wedged between ineffective teaching, misunderstood practice, and misappropriated authority.
From the age of Genesis, Judaism taught the unity of God within one-God (monotheism): Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (1:26 NASV, italics added).
The Old Testament consistently shows God (the Father) at the center of all moral authority---the prime mover toward the human rescue. Yet, penetrating the fog ever so dimly, we see the mission of The Son manifesting the visible God to human eyes, instructing the world, and finally atoning for mankind’s sin through His own death.
It is the Holy Spirit who administers God’s Department of Grace; applying and distributing what originated through the joint High Command. He revives recollection of Jesus. He quickens the conscience, He renews the mind, and attests acceptance with God in practical living.
He sanctifies one’s whole being by taking possession of a purified temple. He makes the human heart His home and converts it into a sanctuary of unending comfort. He expands and transforms that person into a fruit-bearing garden producing love, peace, and joy.
Pentecost simply served as the Installation Service that brought about the transfer of power in the command. While people become drunk on the sensual and sensational, thus void of reality and power, God’s people throughout the ages have enjoyed the Holy Spirit’s power and presence in several ways.
First, the office of the Holy Spirit is to awaken and arrest one’s attention, to excite the feelings, and produce the conviction for sin (cf. John 16:8). Lacking power to rouse themselves, and shake off their stupor, people left to their own devises pass through life, meeting death, and entering eternity with their sleep uninterrupted.
Second, the work of the Holy Spirit is to renew (cf. Titus; John 3:5). Chaos, corruption, and death begin in the carnal mind. Carnality estranges the soul from God and dismantles the divine in humanity.
Third, the Holy Spirit restores and enlightens spiritual perception; penetrating the soul, repairing vision, revealing truth. He renews vision with perspective. Sin obscures vision and leaves us drifting on an ocean of error in a moral fog, void of true relationships.
Fourth, the Holy Spirit implants and nourishes the seeds of character-producing grace. Regeneration clears the soil of the soul of poisonous weeds and the bitter root of sin. It enables God’s Spirit of Truth to become the foundation of right principles, true virtues, and correct practices.
The Holy Spirit acts upon these plantings, like the quickening rays of warm sun invigorating spring flowers. He conditions the greenhouse of our heart, producing lovely bedding plants for beautifying the yards of our lives.
Fifth, the Holy Spirit assures us of our acceptance by God, reaffirming our justified relationship to Him (cf. Romans 8:6; Galatians 4:6). Although greater things were reserved for the gospel era, these functions are normal to the Holy Spirit.
Immersed in clouds of worldliness, today’s church sometimes finds itself debilitated and sickly, in spite of John the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, (Matthew 3:11 NASV, italics added).
By introducing Jesus as the King, John also introduced God’s (Spiritual) Kingdom. John proclaimed the arrival of the Promised Child, whose Presence brought the Power of the Savior-Sanctifier. John further called for fruit worthy of repentance and declared Israel already axed, rather than resurrected (cf. Matthew 3:10). He proclaimed the cleansing baptism of the Holy Spirit, rather than legalizing water baptism.
Believing in Jesus requires us to accept a Trinitarian view of God. Thereby, it acknowledges the era of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, we learn there is more to life than mere human discipline.
Without explicit preaching and solid testimony we may fail to comprehend this truth, but it is the fulcrum on which the lever of the Spirit rests.Faith provides the conveyor belt carrying salvation. The Holy Spirit provides the power that creates the cleansing, quickening, and beautifying we all need.
When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about His coming kingdom, He told them it is neither here nor there; it is within you (cf. Luke 17:21). Here, we have discovery beyond discipline, power beyond practiced norm.
There is a Sanctifier beyond the Savior, and Jesus convincingly concluded by telling His disciples, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word (John 14:23a NASV)
From Warner’s World …
a hymn written by C. W. Naylor and sung by Christians worldwide puts it into song:
“SPIRIT HOLY“
Spirit holy in me dwelling,
Ever work as thou shalt choose;
All my ransomed pow’rs and talents
For thy purpose thou shalt use.
O how sweet is thy abiding!
O how tender is the love
Thou dost shed abroad with-in me
From the Father-heart above!
Thou hast cleansed me for thy temple,
Garnished with thy graces rare;
All my soul thou art enriching
By thy fullness dwelling there.
In me now reveal thy glory,
Let thy might be ever shown;
Keep me from the world’s defilement,
Sacred for thyself alone.
Spirit holy, Spirit holy,
All my being now possess;
Lead me, rule me, work within me,
Through my life thy will express.
Amen
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Friday, January 28, 2011
Enhanced Discipleship
Have you heard of that California Valley Farmer who was shingling his roof during a Tule Fog? If you have ever lived in California, you can understand how this farmer shingled his way six feet out in space before suddenly realizing he was off the roof.
Much of our teaching about the person and presence of the Holy Spirit leaves Christians in a fogbank as thick as those Tulle fogs that regularly rolled into California’s valleys and waterways from the Pacific. Confusion about the third person of the Trinity leaves many living off the roof in a dense fog.
The Church of God defines itself as Trinitarian, because we believe in The Creator God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we accept Jesus as part of the Godhead, we arbitrarily fall into the camp of those who believe in the Trinity. Those who reject the third person of the Trinity we call Unitarians.
As Trinitarians, we differ among ourselves regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. The Protestant Reformers generally called for positive scriptural authority. They believed everything must be filtered through biblical lenses.
Scholarly preachers like James Arminius and John Wesley found great value in a personal experience that emphasized the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. They believed in a definite biblical authority, while also recognizing the importance of the relational aspects of our faith.
They insisted belief and behavior maintain a balanced relationship. They believed Christianity is at least as much about one’s relationship with God as in believing the correct creed. Some of the conflict between Wesleyan Holiness Christians and Pentecostal Christians comes in properly defining the right balance between Scriptural authority and personal experience.
The Church of God, Anderson, has always taught the ultimate authority of Scripture, while also emphasizing the importance of personal experience (the experiential) vs private interpretation.
When Don Neace issued his called for A Challenge For Clarity, he asked for a renewed emphasis on biblical truth about the Holy Spirit. He called for believers to hold to basic biblical principles and doctrines, and urged us to avoid over-emphasing the experiential as distinguished from personal and private phenomenon such as speaking in tongues and being slain in the Spirit (Neace/A Challenge For Clarity/Reformation Publishers/2004).
Visiting one of the New Testament’s strongest churches, we find the Apostle Paul working to build a solid foundation in Ephesus for three years We remember the Ephesian church for its good works, patience, sound doctrine, church discipline, and its hatred of evil. Ephesus reflects that upward call of discipleship that Paul continually stressed.
When reading stories of individual believers, we discover a disciple-ship that enhances every believer, a devotion every disciple will find fulfilling. The rest of the story depends on how we interpret those events at Ephesus and how we personally respond to the question Paul asked the believers in Ephesus: “what baptism did you receive?”
An obvious need (Acts 10:1-7; 19:1-3).
As Paul prepared to leave Corinth, he collected the offering he was gathering while en route to the impoverished believers in Jerusalem. He journeyed by way of Ephesus, with Ephesus being his likely objective from early on. As a result of his visit, Paul seeded the soil of this East-coast center by reasoning daily in the synagogue and promising to return if and when possible.
Archaeological digs reveal a great city in Ephesus. Several miles of walls surrounded the shops, colonnades, and commercial buildings. One outstanding architectural feature of Ephesus was the Temple of Artemis, measuring 163 by 342 feet; sitting on a slab 234 feet by 418 feet. A Shopping Center surrounded the city’s 360-foot rectangular market place. Paul later made his way into the 24,000 seat theater where Demetrius incited a riot. (Acts 18:18-21).
Apollos relocated from Ephesus and further pursued his vision elsewhere, but only after Priscilla and Aquila more fully discipled him (18:24-28). In the meantime, Paul recognized an obvious need; thus, his inquiry: “What baptism did you receive?”
The Ephesians knew of the baptism of John but candidly confessed they knew nothing of this alleged third person of the Trinity. For Paul, this pointed to an obvious need.
An enhancing discipleship (Acts 19:4-7).
The limited teachings of Apollos left the church at Ephesus with a partial and incomplete gospel. The spiritually perceptive Paul diagnosed their need and promptly proclaimed the fullness of the gospel to them. In giving them the whole gospel, Paul reminds us that we cannot follow Jesus very far relationally without moving from belief to behavior, from proclamation to practice.
The Gospel, at some point, always calls us to move beyond merely saying we’re sorry, and challenges us to go on to spiritual maturity. It beckons us beyond our creeds and calls us to an experiential-experimental companionship in which we begin behaving as we say we believe (cf. Hebrews 6:1; John 14:12, 22-23; 15:26-27; 16:7-11).
When we repent, but lack spiritual anointing, it may be because we lack adequate knowledge of Jesus. Insufficient knowledge of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who transforms followers into prescriptions of peace and joy for a troubled world, often fails to recognize the Jesus who anoints worshippers with joy, guides the hurting, and empowers learners with effective witness.
When we fail to recognize-and-serve this Jesus who transforms “takers” into “givers,” we fail to experience changed (transformed) lives. Through the Holy Spirit, God reorganizes believers’ lives and converts the passive mode of non-involvement into a relational and responsible accountability.
When enhanced by the Holy Spirit, the individual believer experiences wholeness, a full consecration and moral cleansing (cf. Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:25-26). Entered experientially by faith, this enhance-ment grows progressively as
God
Redeems
Our
Worth
Through
Himself.
A devotion to fulfill
Spiritual enhancement allowed and enabled the church at Ephesus to become a gospel center for the province of Asia. The gospel went forth from Ephesus in spite of adversity (I Corinthians 16:9). When opposition increased, evangelism multiplied (I Corinthians 19:8-9). While the people heard something new, God did something extra-ordinary (19:10-11).
False witnesses failed to disrupt church ministries (19:13-17). Passive believers became practicing believers and positive participants. The church filled with “discipled-believers” as converts were taught and learners became doers. False practices were relinquished, allowing the people to become the true church, the Body of Christ (19:18-20).
In time, Paul moved on, compelled by the Holy Spirit. First, however, the church had to become the church. No longer was the church simply Paul’s mission and ministry. Now properly administered by spiritual leaders, the church at Ephesus dieted properly, adequately fed by God’s word. The church exercised properly, utilizing faithful saints who took the gospel everywhere to everyone within reach (Ephesians 1:1, 15-19a).
The Holy Spirit transforms and assimilates groups of disciples into Christ’s Body, without leaving spare limbs and unusable parts to exist outside the body. As God’s church in Ephesus, Timothy and John gave spiritual leadership. The people absorbed the gospel as a result and Ephesus became an exemplary stronghold.
Later in his life, John saw Ephesus still orthodox and persistent in service, and strong in discipline although somewhat abated in love (Revelation 2:1-7). As Paul Harvey loved to say, “Now you know the rest of the story!”
But, what will our story reveal? Will the Church of God be strong because we repented of our shortfalls and pushed forward in the maturity of The Holy Spirit? Will we the part of God’s church we should be? Will non-believers find faith as the Holy Spirit enhances our lives with his sanctifying presence?
How will your story read? Or mine? Have you confessed your sins and accepted Jesus? Have you placed yourself on the altar and let The Sanctifier cleanse you of spiritual impurities and sanctify you for His service?
Life launches from Calvary. Only through the baptizing presence of the Holy Spirit does life deliver its fullest expression of God’s spiritual abundance.
From Warner’s World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Much of our teaching about the person and presence of the Holy Spirit leaves Christians in a fogbank as thick as those Tulle fogs that regularly rolled into California’s valleys and waterways from the Pacific. Confusion about the third person of the Trinity leaves many living off the roof in a dense fog.
The Church of God defines itself as Trinitarian, because we believe in The Creator God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we accept Jesus as part of the Godhead, we arbitrarily fall into the camp of those who believe in the Trinity. Those who reject the third person of the Trinity we call Unitarians.
As Trinitarians, we differ among ourselves regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. The Protestant Reformers generally called for positive scriptural authority. They believed everything must be filtered through biblical lenses.
Scholarly preachers like James Arminius and John Wesley found great value in a personal experience that emphasized the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. They believed in a definite biblical authority, while also recognizing the importance of the relational aspects of our faith.
They insisted belief and behavior maintain a balanced relationship. They believed Christianity is at least as much about one’s relationship with God as in believing the correct creed. Some of the conflict between Wesleyan Holiness Christians and Pentecostal Christians comes in properly defining the right balance between Scriptural authority and personal experience.
The Church of God, Anderson, has always taught the ultimate authority of Scripture, while also emphasizing the importance of personal experience (the experiential) vs private interpretation.
When Don Neace issued his called for A Challenge For Clarity, he asked for a renewed emphasis on biblical truth about the Holy Spirit. He called for believers to hold to basic biblical principles and doctrines, and urged us to avoid over-emphasing the experiential as distinguished from personal and private phenomenon such as speaking in tongues and being slain in the Spirit (Neace/A Challenge For Clarity/Reformation Publishers/2004).
Visiting one of the New Testament’s strongest churches, we find the Apostle Paul working to build a solid foundation in Ephesus for three years We remember the Ephesian church for its good works, patience, sound doctrine, church discipline, and its hatred of evil. Ephesus reflects that upward call of discipleship that Paul continually stressed.
When reading stories of individual believers, we discover a disciple-ship that enhances every believer, a devotion every disciple will find fulfilling. The rest of the story depends on how we interpret those events at Ephesus and how we personally respond to the question Paul asked the believers in Ephesus: “what baptism did you receive?”
An obvious need (Acts 10:1-7; 19:1-3).
As Paul prepared to leave Corinth, he collected the offering he was gathering while en route to the impoverished believers in Jerusalem. He journeyed by way of Ephesus, with Ephesus being his likely objective from early on. As a result of his visit, Paul seeded the soil of this East-coast center by reasoning daily in the synagogue and promising to return if and when possible.
Archaeological digs reveal a great city in Ephesus. Several miles of walls surrounded the shops, colonnades, and commercial buildings. One outstanding architectural feature of Ephesus was the Temple of Artemis, measuring 163 by 342 feet; sitting on a slab 234 feet by 418 feet. A Shopping Center surrounded the city’s 360-foot rectangular market place. Paul later made his way into the 24,000 seat theater where Demetrius incited a riot. (Acts 18:18-21).
Apollos relocated from Ephesus and further pursued his vision elsewhere, but only after Priscilla and Aquila more fully discipled him (18:24-28). In the meantime, Paul recognized an obvious need; thus, his inquiry: “What baptism did you receive?”
The Ephesians knew of the baptism of John but candidly confessed they knew nothing of this alleged third person of the Trinity. For Paul, this pointed to an obvious need.
An enhancing discipleship (Acts 19:4-7).
The limited teachings of Apollos left the church at Ephesus with a partial and incomplete gospel. The spiritually perceptive Paul diagnosed their need and promptly proclaimed the fullness of the gospel to them. In giving them the whole gospel, Paul reminds us that we cannot follow Jesus very far relationally without moving from belief to behavior, from proclamation to practice.
The Gospel, at some point, always calls us to move beyond merely saying we’re sorry, and challenges us to go on to spiritual maturity. It beckons us beyond our creeds and calls us to an experiential-experimental companionship in which we begin behaving as we say we believe (cf. Hebrews 6:1; John 14:12, 22-23; 15:26-27; 16:7-11).
When we repent, but lack spiritual anointing, it may be because we lack adequate knowledge of Jesus. Insufficient knowledge of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who transforms followers into prescriptions of peace and joy for a troubled world, often fails to recognize the Jesus who anoints worshippers with joy, guides the hurting, and empowers learners with effective witness.
When we fail to recognize-and-serve this Jesus who transforms “takers” into “givers,” we fail to experience changed (transformed) lives. Through the Holy Spirit, God reorganizes believers’ lives and converts the passive mode of non-involvement into a relational and responsible accountability.
When enhanced by the Holy Spirit, the individual believer experiences wholeness, a full consecration and moral cleansing (cf. Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:25-26). Entered experientially by faith, this enhance-ment grows progressively as
God
Redeems
Our
Worth
Through
Himself.
A devotion to fulfill
Spiritual enhancement allowed and enabled the church at Ephesus to become a gospel center for the province of Asia. The gospel went forth from Ephesus in spite of adversity (I Corinthians 16:9). When opposition increased, evangelism multiplied (I Corinthians 19:8-9). While the people heard something new, God did something extra-ordinary (19:10-11).
False witnesses failed to disrupt church ministries (19:13-17). Passive believers became practicing believers and positive participants. The church filled with “discipled-believers” as converts were taught and learners became doers. False practices were relinquished, allowing the people to become the true church, the Body of Christ (19:18-20).
In time, Paul moved on, compelled by the Holy Spirit. First, however, the church had to become the church. No longer was the church simply Paul’s mission and ministry. Now properly administered by spiritual leaders, the church at Ephesus dieted properly, adequately fed by God’s word. The church exercised properly, utilizing faithful saints who took the gospel everywhere to everyone within reach (Ephesians 1:1, 15-19a).
The Holy Spirit transforms and assimilates groups of disciples into Christ’s Body, without leaving spare limbs and unusable parts to exist outside the body. As God’s church in Ephesus, Timothy and John gave spiritual leadership. The people absorbed the gospel as a result and Ephesus became an exemplary stronghold.
Later in his life, John saw Ephesus still orthodox and persistent in service, and strong in discipline although somewhat abated in love (Revelation 2:1-7). As Paul Harvey loved to say, “Now you know the rest of the story!”
But, what will our story reveal? Will the Church of God be strong because we repented of our shortfalls and pushed forward in the maturity of The Holy Spirit? Will we the part of God’s church we should be? Will non-believers find faith as the Holy Spirit enhances our lives with his sanctifying presence?
How will your story read? Or mine? Have you confessed your sins and accepted Jesus? Have you placed yourself on the altar and let The Sanctifier cleanse you of spiritual impurities and sanctify you for His service?
Life launches from Calvary. Only through the baptizing presence of the Holy Spirit does life deliver its fullest expression of God’s spiritual abundance.
From Warner’s World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Charles V. Weber, Lecture 3 (last)
This is the third and last of Charles Weber's lecture series,“Living Out of the Overflow” - CHAPTER THREE
The most common inquiry coming from the discussion about living out of the overflow is “how can I live it?” There is no doubt that “how” is an important word, and it ought to be repeated by a minister over and over as he prepares to preach. As I look back on my ministry, I can see that I spent much time telling people what they ought to do. I really didn’t help them much because they already knew what they ought to do.
What they really wanted was to be told how to do it. Telling people what they ought to do when they already know is like clubbing a person. It is a form of nagging. I want to put some techniques into your hands, which will show you how to live abundantly.
Frequently people tell how they have struggled to live victoriously. If trying should be the measure by which they lived, they would rate high, but they feel defeated and know that they don’t rate very far up the scale.
It will help us to remember that we never can succeed by struggle. We can’t lift ourselves by our bootstraps. Some people try. They see a higher level of life and they begin to struggle to lift themselves to that higher level.
Paul wrote, “God . . . hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are ye saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6, emphasis added). We do not raise ourselves; we are raised by the grace of God.
We must forget this idea of struggle in connection with religious experience. Some people have the idea that if they can do perfectly enough in time, they may become the children of God. This is putting the cart ahead of the horse. We become by the gift of God and not by doing. We do according to the nature of a Son of God. It all sums up to this: We must put action as the expression of Christian stewardship instead of a struggle to be God-like. We are not God-like because of struggle, but because of the divine gift of God.
For years I tried to be holy. I carefully watched every act of my life and struggled a great deal with my thoughts. I never experienced any lasting satisfaction from the results I obtained. I struggled and strained but usually sensed defeat. One day I realized that if I could be holy by the process of effort it would be a humanistic holiness. It would be my own righteousness, which, at the best, would be the filthy rags of self-righteousness.
Religion is not my own self-righteousness, but the righteousness of God in me. It is His gift to me. Holiness does not come out of effort, but through a divine endowment.
Instead of struggling and straining to be good, then, we should surrender and give up to God to receive His goodness. Surrender is the word that will lead us to abundance through God. Usually that is the hardest thing we have to do. The world lives by the rule of “preserve self” not “surrender self.” Automatically, people flee to save self whenever anything occurs to disturb the status quo and there is an instinctive basis for it. However, such a course of action leads to a false security and will cheat them of life.
Jesus spoke an important truth after He rebuked Peter for insisting that they would not let Him die. He said, “Thou savourest (understandeth) not the things that be of God, but those that be of men . . . If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-24, emphasis added).
Peter understood the way of men. It was to save self, so he quickly insisted the Master should save Himself. But Jesus knew the secret that brings life, and it was the way of God. The secret was the way of surrender. He that will “save his life shall lose it” and he that will “lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
It is hard for the worldly-minded to see this secret. It is too paradoxical to seem reasonable. It is foolish to believe the way to have a thing is to give it up. The whole world believes that to have a thing you must get it in your possession and hold on to it. They believe the way to get is to grab. But that is the worldly-minded idea of possession. It is false.
The only things which are really yours are those which will be yours forever. You may hold some things in your possession now or hold legal title to them, but some day you will relinquish them because they are not really yours. The things that are really yours are those that you give up.
For many years I used the Promise “Ask and it shall be given you” as the law by which to receive the things I desired. But now I have found a higher law of receiving. It is “give and it shall be given unto you.”
It is a purging law because when you give up a thing you are cleansed from selfishness. It is the law of the overflow because He said, “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom” (Luke 6:38, emphasis added). You receive more than you give.
Despite the superficial conclusion of the worldly-minded, the way to abundant life is by the surrender of self and all of the things of life. “He that will lose his life for my sake shall find life.”
Jesus clearly teaches this, and we find it in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” blessed are they that mourn” and “blessed are the meek” are three, which will illustrate what I mean.
The “poor in spirit” refers to those who have surrendered the material things of life. Stanley Jones suggests the “renounced in spirit” and another writer puts it in the “detached in spirit.” It doesn’t mean you have sold your home and business. You may have them in your possession, but you are detached from them.
You are not enslaved by them. Some people are slaves to their homes. Some are slaves to their business or their jobs. Jesus said those who have surrender-ed the material things to God are happy.
“They that mourn” does not refer to a sad faced religious experience as some have thought because Jesus teaches us that the Gospel is good news. It refers to those who are living for others--they that are carrying the burdens of others. They have a soul-burden that is a type of heavy foreboding.
The meek are those who are detached from self. They do not consider themselves very important. They no doubt have rights but they do not consider them important enough to make an issue be-cause of them. They have surrendered self.
Jesus said those who surrendered things, self, and lived for others, would receive. What? “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” They shall be comforted.” “They shall inherit the earth.” In other words, when we make a complete unconditional surrender to God we receive the realm above (Kingdom of Heaven) the realm within (comforted) and the realm without (inherit the earth.”)
The richest people on earth are not those who have the most money but those who have received this secret of life. “All things are yours . . .and ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (I Corinthians 3:21, 23).
When you are frustrated, beaten, discouraged, and hungry, you will find complete release in full surrender to God.
When you give up to God and all struggle ceases, the surrender makes you receptive for the gift of God. The first thing that comes then is a sense of relief, and the second thing is a feeling of wholeness.
Suddenly you feel an abundance as if a dam has gone out and the water is rushing over you. Usually in such an experience God becomes very real to you.
OBEDIENCE
Most every one has had experiences of abundance when they realized wholeness, which they knew, was the gift of God. Then in their thinking they have wished that life could be like that all the time. Frequently, however, these experiences have been far apart and the gaps between have been filled with spiritual dryness and a feeling of inadequacy. The question is how can we narrow these gaps so abundant living can be a continuous experience in our lives.
I think obedience is the word that will help us on that point. When we surrender, the next step is obedience. The analogy of the vine and the branch in the fifteenth chapter of John indicates the fact that the nature of God will be in us if we “abide in Him.” He said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (emphasis added).
We receive living water by surrender but we find a continuous stream of it by obedience. Our obedience to God keeps the stream flowing. If there were immedi-ate obedience in every instance the flow would hardly be interrupted. Usually our lives are made up of one struggle after another over this matter of obedience.
There is a thing we need to do but it seems difficult so we seek a way of escape from it. After a prolonged period of struggling to escape, we see we cannot find a way out so we rather grudgingly sur-render and obey. The trouble is the period of resistance served to choke the channel until even our obedience failed to renew our abundance.
Instant obedience to God becomes an important factor in living out of the overflow.
PRACTICING THE PRESENCE
The man who is conscious of the presence of God will always feel adequate. It is when we lose the “presence” that we are forced to fall back on human re-sources. Actually living out of the overflow means to live in God’s presence.
Practice taking God with you wherever you go.
Think of Him helping you decide every question.
Thank Him for His help.
Seek Him for guidance.
Turn to Him when you are tempted or weak.
Seek Him when you stumble or sin.
Live as if God is your very breath of life.
If you will do this, you will be living out of the overflow. Life will be lifted to a higher level and you will find a marvelous victory. You can live abundantly. You can be victorious despite handicaps.
From Warner’s World …
I always admired Charles V. Weber. He stood tall when I was a young pastor beginning in 1951. I first heard his series in 1945 and ever after admired the man. I thought only to include the third lecture, but decided “so what if it is long, go for it.”
I apologize for the length and will hereafter try to better contain my own writings :-)
A compilation of Weber and Warner entitled Life Beyond Discipline is in stock at Reformation Publishers, 1-800-765-2464. It has Weber’s three lectures and two of my sermons on the work of the Holy Spirit
… walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
The most common inquiry coming from the discussion about living out of the overflow is “how can I live it?” There is no doubt that “how” is an important word, and it ought to be repeated by a minister over and over as he prepares to preach. As I look back on my ministry, I can see that I spent much time telling people what they ought to do. I really didn’t help them much because they already knew what they ought to do.
What they really wanted was to be told how to do it. Telling people what they ought to do when they already know is like clubbing a person. It is a form of nagging. I want to put some techniques into your hands, which will show you how to live abundantly.
Frequently people tell how they have struggled to live victoriously. If trying should be the measure by which they lived, they would rate high, but they feel defeated and know that they don’t rate very far up the scale.
It will help us to remember that we never can succeed by struggle. We can’t lift ourselves by our bootstraps. Some people try. They see a higher level of life and they begin to struggle to lift themselves to that higher level.
Paul wrote, “God . . . hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are ye saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6, emphasis added). We do not raise ourselves; we are raised by the grace of God.
We must forget this idea of struggle in connection with religious experience. Some people have the idea that if they can do perfectly enough in time, they may become the children of God. This is putting the cart ahead of the horse. We become by the gift of God and not by doing. We do according to the nature of a Son of God. It all sums up to this: We must put action as the expression of Christian stewardship instead of a struggle to be God-like. We are not God-like because of struggle, but because of the divine gift of God.
For years I tried to be holy. I carefully watched every act of my life and struggled a great deal with my thoughts. I never experienced any lasting satisfaction from the results I obtained. I struggled and strained but usually sensed defeat. One day I realized that if I could be holy by the process of effort it would be a humanistic holiness. It would be my own righteousness, which, at the best, would be the filthy rags of self-righteousness.
Religion is not my own self-righteousness, but the righteousness of God in me. It is His gift to me. Holiness does not come out of effort, but through a divine endowment.
Instead of struggling and straining to be good, then, we should surrender and give up to God to receive His goodness. Surrender is the word that will lead us to abundance through God. Usually that is the hardest thing we have to do. The world lives by the rule of “preserve self” not “surrender self.” Automatically, people flee to save self whenever anything occurs to disturb the status quo and there is an instinctive basis for it. However, such a course of action leads to a false security and will cheat them of life.
Jesus spoke an important truth after He rebuked Peter for insisting that they would not let Him die. He said, “Thou savourest (understandeth) not the things that be of God, but those that be of men . . . If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-24, emphasis added).
Peter understood the way of men. It was to save self, so he quickly insisted the Master should save Himself. But Jesus knew the secret that brings life, and it was the way of God. The secret was the way of surrender. He that will “save his life shall lose it” and he that will “lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
It is hard for the worldly-minded to see this secret. It is too paradoxical to seem reasonable. It is foolish to believe the way to have a thing is to give it up. The whole world believes that to have a thing you must get it in your possession and hold on to it. They believe the way to get is to grab. But that is the worldly-minded idea of possession. It is false.
The only things which are really yours are those which will be yours forever. You may hold some things in your possession now or hold legal title to them, but some day you will relinquish them because they are not really yours. The things that are really yours are those that you give up.
For many years I used the Promise “Ask and it shall be given you” as the law by which to receive the things I desired. But now I have found a higher law of receiving. It is “give and it shall be given unto you.”
It is a purging law because when you give up a thing you are cleansed from selfishness. It is the law of the overflow because He said, “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom” (Luke 6:38, emphasis added). You receive more than you give.
Despite the superficial conclusion of the worldly-minded, the way to abundant life is by the surrender of self and all of the things of life. “He that will lose his life for my sake shall find life.”
Jesus clearly teaches this, and we find it in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” blessed are they that mourn” and “blessed are the meek” are three, which will illustrate what I mean.
The “poor in spirit” refers to those who have surrendered the material things of life. Stanley Jones suggests the “renounced in spirit” and another writer puts it in the “detached in spirit.” It doesn’t mean you have sold your home and business. You may have them in your possession, but you are detached from them.
You are not enslaved by them. Some people are slaves to their homes. Some are slaves to their business or their jobs. Jesus said those who have surrender-ed the material things to God are happy.
“They that mourn” does not refer to a sad faced religious experience as some have thought because Jesus teaches us that the Gospel is good news. It refers to those who are living for others--they that are carrying the burdens of others. They have a soul-burden that is a type of heavy foreboding.
The meek are those who are detached from self. They do not consider themselves very important. They no doubt have rights but they do not consider them important enough to make an issue be-cause of them. They have surrendered self.
Jesus said those who surrendered things, self, and lived for others, would receive. What? “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” They shall be comforted.” “They shall inherit the earth.” In other words, when we make a complete unconditional surrender to God we receive the realm above (Kingdom of Heaven) the realm within (comforted) and the realm without (inherit the earth.”)
The richest people on earth are not those who have the most money but those who have received this secret of life. “All things are yours . . .and ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (I Corinthians 3:21, 23).
When you are frustrated, beaten, discouraged, and hungry, you will find complete release in full surrender to God.
When you give up to God and all struggle ceases, the surrender makes you receptive for the gift of God. The first thing that comes then is a sense of relief, and the second thing is a feeling of wholeness.
Suddenly you feel an abundance as if a dam has gone out and the water is rushing over you. Usually in such an experience God becomes very real to you.
OBEDIENCE
Most every one has had experiences of abundance when they realized wholeness, which they knew, was the gift of God. Then in their thinking they have wished that life could be like that all the time. Frequently, however, these experiences have been far apart and the gaps between have been filled with spiritual dryness and a feeling of inadequacy. The question is how can we narrow these gaps so abundant living can be a continuous experience in our lives.
I think obedience is the word that will help us on that point. When we surrender, the next step is obedience. The analogy of the vine and the branch in the fifteenth chapter of John indicates the fact that the nature of God will be in us if we “abide in Him.” He said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (emphasis added).
We receive living water by surrender but we find a continuous stream of it by obedience. Our obedience to God keeps the stream flowing. If there were immedi-ate obedience in every instance the flow would hardly be interrupted. Usually our lives are made up of one struggle after another over this matter of obedience.
There is a thing we need to do but it seems difficult so we seek a way of escape from it. After a prolonged period of struggling to escape, we see we cannot find a way out so we rather grudgingly sur-render and obey. The trouble is the period of resistance served to choke the channel until even our obedience failed to renew our abundance.
Instant obedience to God becomes an important factor in living out of the overflow.
PRACTICING THE PRESENCE
The man who is conscious of the presence of God will always feel adequate. It is when we lose the “presence” that we are forced to fall back on human re-sources. Actually living out of the overflow means to live in God’s presence.
Practice taking God with you wherever you go.
Think of Him helping you decide every question.
Thank Him for His help.
Seek Him for guidance.
Turn to Him when you are tempted or weak.
Seek Him when you stumble or sin.
Live as if God is your very breath of life.
If you will do this, you will be living out of the overflow. Life will be lifted to a higher level and you will find a marvelous victory. You can live abundantly. You can be victorious despite handicaps.
From Warner’s World …
I always admired Charles V. Weber. He stood tall when I was a young pastor beginning in 1951. I first heard his series in 1945 and ever after admired the man. I thought only to include the third lecture, but decided “so what if it is long, go for it.”
I apologize for the length and will hereafter try to better contain my own writings :-)
A compilation of Weber and Warner entitled Life Beyond Discipline is in stock at Reformation Publishers, 1-800-765-2464. It has Weber’s three lectures and two of my sermons on the work of the Holy Spirit
… walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Weber, Lecture 2, Part 2
I am continuing with Charles Weber"s "Overflow Series" beginning with
THREE KINDS OF PROFESSORS as part 2:
Out in Southern California near my home is found one of the largest oil fields in the world. This great cluster of wells and derricks is situated just south of Whittier and is known as the Sante Fe Oil Fields. They tell me there are three kinds of wells there.
In some instances they drilled down several thousand feet and didn’t find a trace of oil. They pulled their machinery, capped the casing, and moved on be-cause it was what they called a “dry hole.” In other instances they drilled down several hundred feet and struck sand, which contains oil, and by the installation of pumping machinery they pumped the oil to the surface from which it was piped to the storage tank.
In still other instances they drilled down until they struck shale or stone. When they broke through the thickness of it the pressure of gas and oil was so great that it gushed up to the surface and flooded the ground. It was another “gusher.”
I think these kinds of wells illustrate the kinds of professors of religion that we find in the world. There are those who profess to be Christians but there cannot be found a trace of the grace of God. Their lives are empty professions.
There are others who profess to be Christians and they have some of the grace of God in their lives, but it has to be primed and pumped to be seen. Then there are others who have found a “gusher” experience. They are living out of the overflow of God’s abundance.
I am convinced that abundant living is the kind of life God has planned for us. The scriptures bear this out. The twenty-third Psalm is a picture of the “overflow life.” The Lord is My Shepherd I shall not want,” is an expression which indicates God has satisfied our needs.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” indicates that the sheep ate until he was full and there was more green pasture left. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemy’s” shows that the man of God prospers despite ill wishes of those who hate him. “My cup runneth over is a picture of overflow.”
Malachi gives us the picture also, “Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now here-with, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that here shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10, emphasis added).
The indication here is that we’ll receive a blessing that there shall not be enough (room) to receive which simply means some will spill, over the top. There will be an overflow.
Then Jesus makes it plain when he said, “He that believeth on me as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water “ John 7:3, emphasis added).
This clinches the fact. Flowing out of the heart of God and into the life of man is God’s stream of living water.
Man is the channel and the river of living water flows out to bless and bring life to others. We live out of the overflow.
We need the experience first of all for personal victory. The temptations, battles, problems of life are so great that the only way we can be sure of personal victory is through the grace of God. The way to face all of these difficulties is by the grace that God has so freely given us.’
Actually Jesus met temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit. “And Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1, emphasis added). There you remember Satan tempted him.
After going through a series of tests he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” The temptations could not choke the flow of power through the Spirit.
Most of us, after a series of trials like that, would murmur and complain about the terrible time we had been having. The reason is because we have not learned the secret of the overflow. Our lives are like cisterns that hold a certain measure and when that is gone we are stranded. Our lives are channels and the more we need the more we can have as long as we keep the stream flowing.
An old brother testified, saying, “I want religion like a Malley engine. A Malley engine can pull a long loaded freight train up a hard grade and still have enough steam left to blow its whistle. I want religion like that. I want to be able to go through the hardest trial and still have enough grace left after its over to shout “Praise God!”
That is what God plans to do for us. He wants to give us enough for victory and some to spare. Paul said, “That is, we have the grace to conquer but we have more grace than that. We have some to spare. The overflow life is needed for our personal victory. It guarantees sufficient grace for any need that arises.
But we need the overflow for another reason. It takes the overflow to win souls. Only that which we can spare will be a blessing to others. When we face a test we use a portion of God’s grace to conquer it. That portion will never do good to anyone else. It has benefited us and us alone. If that is all the grace we have we’ll never be able to help others.
It takes the overflow to provide a surplus to share with others. That is what living out of the overflow means. It means, ‘receiving the Grace of God and sharing with others.’ “Freely have ye received freely give.”
When Peter and John went to the temple to pray, they were stopped by a beggar and asked for alms. Peter didn’t have any money, but he was full of the Holy Ghost so he gave what he had and the man was made whole. Peter had an overflow.
The Malley engine that was mentioned before is a very heavy piece of machinery. I think it weighs over four hundred tons. It takes a lot of power to turn its own wheels and propel its own weight. Suppose it had steam capacity enough to move its own weight but no more.
If that were true, it wouldn’t be worth any more than its weight in scrap iron. But because it has a great surplus of power capacity, it is one of the important aids in the commerce and transportation facilities of our nation. It is the overflow that gives it value.
Religion is an overflow of the redemptive grace of God into our lives. But we must keep it flowing or we lose its benefit. Jesus speaks of going the second mile. Religion is the ability to go beyond that which is required. It is required that we live clean lives, and that we be exemplary in all our conduct. But Christ gives us grace to go beyond that. He helps us to love our enemies, pray for them who persecute us, and do good to them who despitefully treat us. That type of conduct becomes the strongest appeal of the Christian’s religious life.
God is calling us to live out of the overflow of the abundance of His love, grace, joy, and happiness. He is calling us to live an abundant life.
A STRANGE CONDITION
The surprising thing about the whole religious world is the strange absence of the abundant life. Individuals here and there have found the secret, but few groups are living it. Many churches are formal, cold, dry, lifeless, and loveless. Instead of being a place of warm nurture to develop radiant Christians who know how to live victorious lives, the average congregation is like a storage plant designed to keep life in the form of a traditional standard.
The cold. formal churches of today can neither produce nor develop life. It takes a warm incubator to produce growth and development of babies. A refrigerator is used to preserve dead things. It has to be cold to prevent them from spoiling.
This spiritual condition in the churches has cheated many fine people from living the way God planned for them to live. People have had the idea that religion is something you get and keep. They have put the most of their life into trying to keep their experience of religion. They think of it as something, which must be carefully guarded, or it may be lost. Their “grace of God” is measured out carefully lest they run out. Their religion is almost as bad as wartime rationing.
The prophet said He would turn into your hearts “the abundance of the sea.” The picture there is that of an unlimited supply coming like a roaring breaker against the beach. Most of us have lived as if we had to skimp or we would not get by. Actually, we have been just getting by and we have minimized the greatness of the grace of God.
A friend of mine, when he was a boy of twelve went with his family to the seashore in Southern California for the first time. He walked down to the water’s edge and looked across to Catalina Island. After a long minute he turned to his folks and said, “well, it’s pretty big, but it ain’t as big as I thought it was!”
A lot of us have thought of God’s grace like that. We know God is great. We know He has much power, but we are afraid it might run out before the end so we are very careful. The fact my friend overlooked was that a few miles across Catalina Island was some more of the Pacific Ocean.
You can go a thousand miles, another thousand, another thousand and another thousand and you will be getting near to the Hawaii Islands. Then you can go several thousand more and it is still ocean. The Pacific Ocean is much bigger than you might think. So is the love of God. It is an unlimited supply.
One of the sons in the story of the prodigals said, “You never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.’ A lot of our experiences are similar to this elder son. We have served the Lord many years, but we have never received the sense of son-ship. We have lived with less than God has planned for us. We have fretted against the feeling of frustration and the thought that we are being cheated of something.
We don’t need to be that way, and the answer of the Father to his son reveals why He said, “Son, - - - all that I have is thine.” He could have had a kid any time he wanted it. And we can have the fullness of God any time we want it. Through the abundance of God we can live out of the overflow.
From Warner’s World,
this is walkingwithwarner,blogspot.com
THREE KINDS OF PROFESSORS as part 2:
Out in Southern California near my home is found one of the largest oil fields in the world. This great cluster of wells and derricks is situated just south of Whittier and is known as the Sante Fe Oil Fields. They tell me there are three kinds of wells there.
In some instances they drilled down several thousand feet and didn’t find a trace of oil. They pulled their machinery, capped the casing, and moved on be-cause it was what they called a “dry hole.” In other instances they drilled down several hundred feet and struck sand, which contains oil, and by the installation of pumping machinery they pumped the oil to the surface from which it was piped to the storage tank.
In still other instances they drilled down until they struck shale or stone. When they broke through the thickness of it the pressure of gas and oil was so great that it gushed up to the surface and flooded the ground. It was another “gusher.”
I think these kinds of wells illustrate the kinds of professors of religion that we find in the world. There are those who profess to be Christians but there cannot be found a trace of the grace of God. Their lives are empty professions.
There are others who profess to be Christians and they have some of the grace of God in their lives, but it has to be primed and pumped to be seen. Then there are others who have found a “gusher” experience. They are living out of the overflow of God’s abundance.
I am convinced that abundant living is the kind of life God has planned for us. The scriptures bear this out. The twenty-third Psalm is a picture of the “overflow life.” The Lord is My Shepherd I shall not want,” is an expression which indicates God has satisfied our needs.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” indicates that the sheep ate until he was full and there was more green pasture left. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemy’s” shows that the man of God prospers despite ill wishes of those who hate him. “My cup runneth over is a picture of overflow.”
Malachi gives us the picture also, “Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now here-with, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that here shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10, emphasis added).
The indication here is that we’ll receive a blessing that there shall not be enough (room) to receive which simply means some will spill, over the top. There will be an overflow.
Then Jesus makes it plain when he said, “He that believeth on me as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water “ John 7:3, emphasis added).
This clinches the fact. Flowing out of the heart of God and into the life of man is God’s stream of living water.
Man is the channel and the river of living water flows out to bless and bring life to others. We live out of the overflow.
We need the experience first of all for personal victory. The temptations, battles, problems of life are so great that the only way we can be sure of personal victory is through the grace of God. The way to face all of these difficulties is by the grace that God has so freely given us.’
Actually Jesus met temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit. “And Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1, emphasis added). There you remember Satan tempted him.
After going through a series of tests he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” The temptations could not choke the flow of power through the Spirit.
Most of us, after a series of trials like that, would murmur and complain about the terrible time we had been having. The reason is because we have not learned the secret of the overflow. Our lives are like cisterns that hold a certain measure and when that is gone we are stranded. Our lives are channels and the more we need the more we can have as long as we keep the stream flowing.
An old brother testified, saying, “I want religion like a Malley engine. A Malley engine can pull a long loaded freight train up a hard grade and still have enough steam left to blow its whistle. I want religion like that. I want to be able to go through the hardest trial and still have enough grace left after its over to shout “Praise God!”
That is what God plans to do for us. He wants to give us enough for victory and some to spare. Paul said, “That is, we have the grace to conquer but we have more grace than that. We have some to spare. The overflow life is needed for our personal victory. It guarantees sufficient grace for any need that arises.
But we need the overflow for another reason. It takes the overflow to win souls. Only that which we can spare will be a blessing to others. When we face a test we use a portion of God’s grace to conquer it. That portion will never do good to anyone else. It has benefited us and us alone. If that is all the grace we have we’ll never be able to help others.
It takes the overflow to provide a surplus to share with others. That is what living out of the overflow means. It means, ‘receiving the Grace of God and sharing with others.’ “Freely have ye received freely give.”
When Peter and John went to the temple to pray, they were stopped by a beggar and asked for alms. Peter didn’t have any money, but he was full of the Holy Ghost so he gave what he had and the man was made whole. Peter had an overflow.
The Malley engine that was mentioned before is a very heavy piece of machinery. I think it weighs over four hundred tons. It takes a lot of power to turn its own wheels and propel its own weight. Suppose it had steam capacity enough to move its own weight but no more.
If that were true, it wouldn’t be worth any more than its weight in scrap iron. But because it has a great surplus of power capacity, it is one of the important aids in the commerce and transportation facilities of our nation. It is the overflow that gives it value.
Religion is an overflow of the redemptive grace of God into our lives. But we must keep it flowing or we lose its benefit. Jesus speaks of going the second mile. Religion is the ability to go beyond that which is required. It is required that we live clean lives, and that we be exemplary in all our conduct. But Christ gives us grace to go beyond that. He helps us to love our enemies, pray for them who persecute us, and do good to them who despitefully treat us. That type of conduct becomes the strongest appeal of the Christian’s religious life.
God is calling us to live out of the overflow of the abundance of His love, grace, joy, and happiness. He is calling us to live an abundant life.
A STRANGE CONDITION
The surprising thing about the whole religious world is the strange absence of the abundant life. Individuals here and there have found the secret, but few groups are living it. Many churches are formal, cold, dry, lifeless, and loveless. Instead of being a place of warm nurture to develop radiant Christians who know how to live victorious lives, the average congregation is like a storage plant designed to keep life in the form of a traditional standard.
The cold. formal churches of today can neither produce nor develop life. It takes a warm incubator to produce growth and development of babies. A refrigerator is used to preserve dead things. It has to be cold to prevent them from spoiling.
This spiritual condition in the churches has cheated many fine people from living the way God planned for them to live. People have had the idea that religion is something you get and keep. They have put the most of their life into trying to keep their experience of religion. They think of it as something, which must be carefully guarded, or it may be lost. Their “grace of God” is measured out carefully lest they run out. Their religion is almost as bad as wartime rationing.
The prophet said He would turn into your hearts “the abundance of the sea.” The picture there is that of an unlimited supply coming like a roaring breaker against the beach. Most of us have lived as if we had to skimp or we would not get by. Actually, we have been just getting by and we have minimized the greatness of the grace of God.
A friend of mine, when he was a boy of twelve went with his family to the seashore in Southern California for the first time. He walked down to the water’s edge and looked across to Catalina Island. After a long minute he turned to his folks and said, “well, it’s pretty big, but it ain’t as big as I thought it was!”
A lot of us have thought of God’s grace like that. We know God is great. We know He has much power, but we are afraid it might run out before the end so we are very careful. The fact my friend overlooked was that a few miles across Catalina Island was some more of the Pacific Ocean.
You can go a thousand miles, another thousand, another thousand and another thousand and you will be getting near to the Hawaii Islands. Then you can go several thousand more and it is still ocean. The Pacific Ocean is much bigger than you might think. So is the love of God. It is an unlimited supply.
One of the sons in the story of the prodigals said, “You never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.’ A lot of our experiences are similar to this elder son. We have served the Lord many years, but we have never received the sense of son-ship. We have lived with less than God has planned for us. We have fretted against the feeling of frustration and the thought that we are being cheated of something.
We don’t need to be that way, and the answer of the Father to his son reveals why He said, “Son, - - - all that I have is thine.” He could have had a kid any time he wanted it. And we can have the fullness of God any time we want it. Through the abundance of God we can live out of the overflow.
From Warner’s World,
this is walkingwithwarner,blogspot.com
Weber_...Overflow_Ch. 2, Part 1
I divided Weber's Lecture Two into two parts.Following is
Chapter 2, RELIGION IS AN OVERFLOW, part 1.
We will need to change our thought patterns from the form that religion is something we “get and keep” to religion is something we “receive and share” before we’ll learn the secret of living out of the overflow.
Of course, there is a process of cleansing and endowing, which must take place in our lives if we are to be partakers of the divine nature of God. I am not talking about an experience that takes place in the air and has no foundation. Abundant life comes from God and every fundamental event, which was necessary for its accessibility, must not be ignored.
Actually, two things happen to us in the divine process of redemption. We get rid of the man-made image of sin and we put on the image of God. It is a double-action process. One is a cleansing, purging experience; the other is a divine endowment or impartation.
I think you can see that before we can be filled with the fullness of God we must be cleansed of all impurity. Suppose you should ask me to bring you a glass of water and I hold up two glasses to you--one is clean and polished, the other is dirty with grease marks and debris in it. I say to you, “Which glass shall I put the water in?”
You would answer, "The clean glass of course.” When God fills us He will choose the cleansed vessel every time. The first action in the divine process is cleansing, the emptying out of everything which is foreign to God.
But cleansing is not enough. There must be an infilling. After we are cleansed, unless we invite the person of the Holy Spirit to possess our whole being we become subjects of deception. I think I can illustrate this from the teachings of Christ in Matthew 12:43-45: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Emphasis added).
Here is the picture of a man who has quit his sin business and been converted. He doesn’t swear any more, he has left off his vices; he has broken loose from the old ties and associations, which ensnared him. But he doesn’t permit the full process of divine action to take place.
After a time the old spirit that has gone out of him comes back and finds him cleansed-but-empty so, he goes and gets other spirits. One spirit whispers in his ear like this: “You remember how extravagant you were in sin. You never considered the value of a dollar. You wasted your money for sinful things. Now that you’ve got religion you ought to be different. You should hold on to every dollar. Don’t spend any unless you have to.” So a covetous devil moves in and this fellow becomes miserly, covetous and stingy.
Then another spirit whispers in his ear and says; “you remember how it was when you were in sin how frivolous you were. You never had a serious moment. you joked and laughed and were always teasing. Now that you’ve got religion you ought to be different. You should be sober and serious. You should act very holy and religious.” So a self-pious devil moves in, and this fellow begins to feel very righteous, much holier even than all the rest.
Another spirit speaks to him and says: “You remember how it was when you were in sin. You patted everybody on the back and told them they were good fellows. You never saw anything wrong with anybody. Now that you’ve got religion you should be different. You should pick out the flaws and weaknesses of people. Find their weak spots. Look for everything that you thing ought to be different.” A criticizing devil moves in and this fellow begins to criticize everybody.
Still another spirit whispers in his ear and says: “When you were in sin, not only did you insist that everybody was a good fellow, but you felt it was none of your business what other people did and it was not for you to judge. Since you’ve got religion you should be different. You should not only look for the flaws in people but you should tell them about them. So a judging devil moves in and this fellow feels he is in a position to decide the right and wrong of every issue. He becomes judge of his church.
One by one these spirits take up their abode within this man until seven other spirits, more wicked than the first, has come in. The scripture says the last state is worse than the first. Why? Because in the first state the man was a lost sinner and he knew it. Now he has a profession of religion, thinks he is more righteous than all the rest, but is deceived by all these unclean spirits.
It is much worse to be lost and not know it than to be lost and know it. In one, the sins are in the conscious and we know of them, but in the other the sins are in the unconscious and we do not acknowledge them because we are unaware of them.
Every person who is cleansed from his old sins but who is not filled with all the fullness of God becomes liable to deception. We need to be filled with all the fullness of God. We are going to be filled with something, either good or evil. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45,emphasis added).
This whole idea of religion is built around the experience of receiving the gift of God’s righteousness, which becomes a stream or spring flowing out of our lives. We are channels of the redemptive stream of God.
This channel must not be dammed or choked. If it is the stream stops flowing and we lose the freshness of religion. Out in the Great Utah Basin is the Great Salt Lake. For centuries the melting snows in the surrounding mountains have formed rivers which have plunged down the canyons into this basin to form the lake.
There is no outlet so the water has a strong concentrate of minerals, particularly salt. The minerals are picked up in the canyons and carried in solution by the water. Evaporation keeps removing the water, and the mineral content continues to increase. It is not a fresh water lake because there is no outlet.
We cannot continue to have an experience of abundant life if the channel is closed and we have no outlet. It takes the overflow to keep the current moving and fresh supplies coming in.
Homer Rodeheaver tells the story of a union prayer meeting that he attended in Kentucky. They were having a testimony meeting. A Holiness sister stood up to speak and told about her experience. She said, “Thirty-five years ago I was saved and sanctified and God filled my cup full and running over” and jumped and shout-ed praises to God. “Thank God through the years he has kept me, and tonight my cup‘s full and running over.”
When she sat down a good old Methodist brother stood up and said, “Thank the Lord, thirty years ago God saved me. And like it was with the sister my cup was full and ran over. I shouted praises to God. Since then sometimes my cup has been half full and sometimes it’s been empty and I’ve been backslidden, but thank God tonight my cup’s full.” And he sat down.
A Presbyterian brother stood up and said, “The Lord saved me thirty-five years ago and when he did he filled my cup two-thirds full. It’s been two-thirds full ever since and it’s two-thirds full tonight.” And he sat down. An old backslider in the back of the building stood up, pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket and said, “I betcha a dollar bill that cup of yours has wiggle-tails in it.”
There is one thing sure if our religious experience doesn’t have an outlet it will soon lose its freshness and there will be creeping things in our life of which we’ll be ashamed. We won’t dare look inside. We need an overflowing experience to keep the freshness and radiance of God’s presence in our lives. Some people’s experience went stale on them twenty years ago. They are sour and critical! They are also unfruitful and unhappy.
Part 2, Chapter 2 continues tomorrow with “THREE KINDS OF PROFESSORS” ...
From Warner's World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Chapter 2, RELIGION IS AN OVERFLOW, part 1.
We will need to change our thought patterns from the form that religion is something we “get and keep” to religion is something we “receive and share” before we’ll learn the secret of living out of the overflow.
Of course, there is a process of cleansing and endowing, which must take place in our lives if we are to be partakers of the divine nature of God. I am not talking about an experience that takes place in the air and has no foundation. Abundant life comes from God and every fundamental event, which was necessary for its accessibility, must not be ignored.
Actually, two things happen to us in the divine process of redemption. We get rid of the man-made image of sin and we put on the image of God. It is a double-action process. One is a cleansing, purging experience; the other is a divine endowment or impartation.
I think you can see that before we can be filled with the fullness of God we must be cleansed of all impurity. Suppose you should ask me to bring you a glass of water and I hold up two glasses to you--one is clean and polished, the other is dirty with grease marks and debris in it. I say to you, “Which glass shall I put the water in?”
You would answer, "The clean glass of course.” When God fills us He will choose the cleansed vessel every time. The first action in the divine process is cleansing, the emptying out of everything which is foreign to God.
But cleansing is not enough. There must be an infilling. After we are cleansed, unless we invite the person of the Holy Spirit to possess our whole being we become subjects of deception. I think I can illustrate this from the teachings of Christ in Matthew 12:43-45: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Emphasis added).
Here is the picture of a man who has quit his sin business and been converted. He doesn’t swear any more, he has left off his vices; he has broken loose from the old ties and associations, which ensnared him. But he doesn’t permit the full process of divine action to take place.
After a time the old spirit that has gone out of him comes back and finds him cleansed-but-empty so, he goes and gets other spirits. One spirit whispers in his ear like this: “You remember how extravagant you were in sin. You never considered the value of a dollar. You wasted your money for sinful things. Now that you’ve got religion you ought to be different. You should hold on to every dollar. Don’t spend any unless you have to.” So a covetous devil moves in and this fellow becomes miserly, covetous and stingy.
Then another spirit whispers in his ear and says; “you remember how it was when you were in sin how frivolous you were. You never had a serious moment. you joked and laughed and were always teasing. Now that you’ve got religion you ought to be different. You should be sober and serious. You should act very holy and religious.” So a self-pious devil moves in, and this fellow begins to feel very righteous, much holier even than all the rest.
Another spirit speaks to him and says: “You remember how it was when you were in sin. You patted everybody on the back and told them they were good fellows. You never saw anything wrong with anybody. Now that you’ve got religion you should be different. You should pick out the flaws and weaknesses of people. Find their weak spots. Look for everything that you thing ought to be different.” A criticizing devil moves in and this fellow begins to criticize everybody.
Still another spirit whispers in his ear and says: “When you were in sin, not only did you insist that everybody was a good fellow, but you felt it was none of your business what other people did and it was not for you to judge. Since you’ve got religion you should be different. You should not only look for the flaws in people but you should tell them about them. So a judging devil moves in and this fellow feels he is in a position to decide the right and wrong of every issue. He becomes judge of his church.
One by one these spirits take up their abode within this man until seven other spirits, more wicked than the first, has come in. The scripture says the last state is worse than the first. Why? Because in the first state the man was a lost sinner and he knew it. Now he has a profession of religion, thinks he is more righteous than all the rest, but is deceived by all these unclean spirits.
It is much worse to be lost and not know it than to be lost and know it. In one, the sins are in the conscious and we know of them, but in the other the sins are in the unconscious and we do not acknowledge them because we are unaware of them.
Every person who is cleansed from his old sins but who is not filled with all the fullness of God becomes liable to deception. We need to be filled with all the fullness of God. We are going to be filled with something, either good or evil. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45,emphasis added).
This whole idea of religion is built around the experience of receiving the gift of God’s righteousness, which becomes a stream or spring flowing out of our lives. We are channels of the redemptive stream of God.
This channel must not be dammed or choked. If it is the stream stops flowing and we lose the freshness of religion. Out in the Great Utah Basin is the Great Salt Lake. For centuries the melting snows in the surrounding mountains have formed rivers which have plunged down the canyons into this basin to form the lake.
There is no outlet so the water has a strong concentrate of minerals, particularly salt. The minerals are picked up in the canyons and carried in solution by the water. Evaporation keeps removing the water, and the mineral content continues to increase. It is not a fresh water lake because there is no outlet.
We cannot continue to have an experience of abundant life if the channel is closed and we have no outlet. It takes the overflow to keep the current moving and fresh supplies coming in.
Homer Rodeheaver tells the story of a union prayer meeting that he attended in Kentucky. They were having a testimony meeting. A Holiness sister stood up to speak and told about her experience. She said, “Thirty-five years ago I was saved and sanctified and God filled my cup full and running over” and jumped and shout-ed praises to God. “Thank God through the years he has kept me, and tonight my cup‘s full and running over.”
When she sat down a good old Methodist brother stood up and said, “Thank the Lord, thirty years ago God saved me. And like it was with the sister my cup was full and ran over. I shouted praises to God. Since then sometimes my cup has been half full and sometimes it’s been empty and I’ve been backslidden, but thank God tonight my cup’s full.” And he sat down.
A Presbyterian brother stood up and said, “The Lord saved me thirty-five years ago and when he did he filled my cup two-thirds full. It’s been two-thirds full ever since and it’s two-thirds full tonight.” And he sat down. An old backslider in the back of the building stood up, pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket and said, “I betcha a dollar bill that cup of yours has wiggle-tails in it.”
There is one thing sure if our religious experience doesn’t have an outlet it will soon lose its freshness and there will be creeping things in our life of which we’ll be ashamed. We won’t dare look inside. We need an overflowing experience to keep the freshness and radiance of God’s presence in our lives. Some people’s experience went stale on them twenty years ago. They are sour and critical! They are also unfruitful and unhappy.
Part 2, Chapter 2 continues tomorrow with “THREE KINDS OF PROFESSORS” ...
From Warner's World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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