He began with the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the valley of dry bones. Most of you reading this know the story. If you don't, find a Bible and look it up in Ezekiel chapter 37. Matt spoke of how the breath of God was a "violent wind" that made a dramatic, instantaneous change. Now, the word violent did not have a bad connotation. Simply that it was not a gentle change... it was a forceful change. Then he went on to take us on a journey back to the days of Creation... when God created Adam, the first man. He had us imagine what it was like when God blew His own breath into the lump of clay and it came instantaneously to life... breath that penetrated the blood and in a single moment gave life to every cell... dirt came to life! That is not a gentle change... that is AMAZING and POWERFUL!!!
He did a word study on the Hebrew word for breath, and every time the breath of God was spoken of, it was the same word. Then he went to Joel 2:28 where Joel prophesied about God pouring out His SPIRIT on all flesh... and it was the same word... when God pours out His SPIRIT on us, he is breathing His eternal breath into us again so that we can instantaneously come to life spiritually! The only way to have eternal life is to be filled with that breath of God... His Holy Spirit.
Now, there are a lot of people who will immediately put up their defenses and say, "You are narrow-minded and intolerant... just because YOU think being filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues is the only way doesn't mean you're right! There are millions of GOOD PEOPLE all over the world that are going to heaven."
Well, the problem with that line of thinking is that it goes directly against the word of God. Let me share some passages from GOD'S word. You can think about them, and then argue with God about it, because He said it, not me.
Romans 8:9 (NLT) But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.
Isaiah 64:6 (KJV) All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
Here is the scoop... ALL good people would go to heaven IF anyone could be good enough. The problem is, NO ONE could ever be good enough... even if they were good their entire life!! The problem is the flesh we live in, and the sinful nature of that flesh. Even in all your goodness, you still need the blood of Jesus to cover your sins and His Spirit to make you "righteous" in God's eyes.
When we compare our lives to God’s holy standards, all our good works—our morality, religion, charity, pleasing personality—fall far short of His absolute righteousness. The truth is: “There is none righteous, no, not one…” (Romans 3:10). We stand condemned by a holy God who must judge our sin. We are sinners in need of a Savior. The only way to know for sure that you are going to live eternally in heaven is to get alone with God and lay down your "good life" in surrender to Him, and be filled with this BREATH of God, His Holy Spirit, which is still evidenced by speaking in other tongues, just like on the day of Pentecost over 2000 years ago! Don't let anyone sell you short! Don't let them tell you that speaking in tongues doesn't happen anymore (it does... all over the world!!!). A gentleman in our church started coming and initially thought the same way. Then he began to hear my pastor preaching the Word of God about the infilling of the Spirit of God. He wanted to experience it for himself, but was leary about it. So one day in November, he went hunting up at deer camp, and told God, "I'd like to have this Holy Ghost." And he was suddenly speaking in tongues in his deepcamp! All by himself!!! Don't let them tell you it's a cult thing, of the devil. It is straight from God. You can read in the book of Acts chapter 2 to find out how it all started. In John 3, Jesus himself... God in flesh... told a prominent religious leader, "You MUST be born again of the water and the Spirit, or you will NOT see the kingdom of God." Hear that? You MUST receive His Spirit!
4 comments:
Great message. Thanks for sharing.
Love Sandy
What I don't understand is why other church denominations have people who have not spoken in tongues. Please don't feel as though I'm attacking you (now if you have homemade chocolate chip cookies then I may just attack you, it's only for the cookies though,lol). I attend a southern baptist church and to my knowledge nobody upon nobody has spoken in tongues. Fill me in sister! ☺
Hey Beth, for your information, I make AWESOME chocolate chip cookies, and you don't even have to attack me.. I'll willingly share! LOL!
As for speaking in tongues, people all over the world are having this experience today... millions!! Here's my suggestion... read the book of Acts for yourself, and pay particular attention to all the instances where people received the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)... I'll think you'll see something intriguing. Let me know if it answers your questions, or raises more. There are lots of people who love the Lord with all their heart, who just don't know that this experience is real and available to them! Happy reading!! (and have a cookie while you read!) ; )
I'm going to read the book of Acts...slowly...if I have any questions I'll be sure to pick your brain,lol.
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