Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube:
Many are Called
“So the last will be
first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” Mt.20:16
Do you know your divine
calling or assignment. Pr. Finn use to say that, “the thing that frustrates or
annoys you the most is what God has called you to fix.” In this sense, our
calling rises up in us in the form of a burden. We feel a burden for an injustice
often times caused because of a personal encounter, and so we step out, armed
with experience, to try to bring hope to those suffering in the midst of a
similar situation.
Let’s read the parable in Mt.
20:1-16
This parable starts, in verse 1, with Jesus favorite
subject, “the kingdom”.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good
seed in
his field” Mt. 13:24
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…” Mt.
13:31
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven…” Mt. 13:33
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a
field. Mt. 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls.” Mt. 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet…” Mt. 13:47
“The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings
out of his treasure things new and old,”
Mt. 13:52
We quickly see that the
“landowner” is calling (hiring) laborers to bring in the harvest, (vrs.
1) and they agree on terms.
We recall that Jesus said,
(Mt. 9:37 and Lk. 10:2) “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers
are few.”
The statement is consistent
with the parable because the landowner keeps going to hire more laborers.
At the end we see a very
interesting exchange between the laborers and the landowner. The first laborers
hired “supposed that they would receive more.” yet all were paid an equal
wage.
Principles:
The early laborers combined their calling with works. This
caused to rise up in them a sense of covetousness. Remember the ninth and tenth
commandments (Ex. 20:17) “thou shalt not covet”. Eph. 2:9, “not of
works, lest anyone should boast.”
We know that we are not saved
by works but we sometimes get confused to think that we are sanctified by
works.
Gal. 6:3, “For if anyone
thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But
let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself
alone, and not in another.”
In the Mt. 20:15, the
landowner said, “Or is your eye evil because I am good?”
In Mt. 6:22,23 Jesus says, “The
lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body
will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness.”
In vr. 16 Jesus introduces
this inversion theology which He also uses frequently; “the last shall be
first”
Mt. 18:4, “whoever humbles himself as this little child
is the greatest in the
kingdom.”
Mk. 9:35, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be
first, he shall be last
of all and servant of all.”
Mt. 5, the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are those who morn…”
II Cor. 12:10, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Vr. 16 continues, “For
many are called, but few are chosen.” This verse is repeated in Mt. 22:14
and omitted in may translations from
20:16. Most commentators reference this to salvation, as if to
paraphrase to say, “many are invited but not everyone chooses to show up.” In
the beginning of our study I posed the question, “do you know your divine
calling or assignment?”
Suppose we apply this verse
to the call or assignment of God, and say, many have an assignment but few rise
to the occasion.
We could go further with the
parable and say many rise to the occasion, but in their own strength, looking
for recognition afterwards.
Js. 4:6, “God resists the
proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Js. 4:10, “Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
Mt. 6:3, “But when you do
a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is
doing.”
Jn. 3:30, “He must
increase, but I must decrease”
Talent and giftings may get
you far in church life, but in the kingdom humility seems to be the barometer.
Everyone wants a big ministry and to be held in high regard, but Jesus said, “as
you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
Mt. 25:40
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For those who require the
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or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge
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“The views, opinions, and
commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and
do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers,
artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included
in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of
any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
Today’s photo
comes to us from Celestial Blue Photography’s Rocco Saya who shared this scene
on social media on May 24th describing it as: A man stands at the edge
of Fort Ontario’s field , peering out over our shore and off in the distance is
our lighthouse, for tonight’s sunset.I love
way Rocco captured the sunset over this field featuring a plethora of pollinated
dandelions ready to spread their seeds, but I also love the way he not only “owns
this scene” but shares it by referring to Lake Ontario’s coastline as “our shore”
and Oswego’s lighthouse as “our lighthouse”.It reminds me of the Woody Guthrie song “This Land is Your Land” where even
someone who held what some would say were conflicting political, social, and
religious views proclaimed that all around him a “voice was sounding, This land
was made for you and me” (https://g.co/kgs/CaZZw6) .Guthrie reportedly “placed
little faith in organized religion” but believed in Jesus Christ and the “millennial
return of the working-class carpenter, who would bring peace, equality, and
justice to the world.” (https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/13445#:~:text=Guthrie%20placed%20little%20faith%20in,and%20justice%20to%20the%20world.)
While I don’t
think Guthrie and I would agree on everything politically, (he was associated
with socialist if not communist leanings), I think the small amount of research
I did this morning indicates we both believed in God as the Creator and Christ
as the Savior and that even though we wouldn’t agree on everything – if we both
put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, we might just be
standing next to one another some day singing the Lord’s praises in God’s
eternal kingdom.
The world
was made for you and me, so let’s enjoy it and share it with others, but if we
really want to express our love for others and the God who gave us this
wonderful world, we should also share the good news of Jesus, because even
though this land was made for you and me, and countless others, one day Jesus
will return to reclaim it and reign over it and in order to remain in His
kingdom we need to not only know who Jesus is, we need to make Him our master
and choose to follow where He leads.
Well, it’s
Saturday and I’m not quite sure where the Lord will lead me today but I do have
plans to go to the “Man Up” Event at Starpoint Church tonight where NY baseball
legend, Daryl Strawberry will be speaking on the goodness of God and will
undoubtedly share how His relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ,
pulled him out of the darkness of addiction and brokenness to transform his
life from a cautionary tale of the dangers of fame, wealth, and substance abuse
into a stirring testimony of how the Lord can redeem our lives and change our
hearts to give us meaning, hope, and a future of purpose.I have heard Strawberry speak his testimony
before and I look forward to hearing it again because although we come from
different backgrounds and may not agree on everything, we have a mutual friend,
Lord, and Savior in Jesus.
Our faith –
this faith was made for you, Daryl, and me – gives us a new life! But to
realize and experience the full potential of our new life in Christ, we have to
be real, and we have to really follow Christ with the way we live.When we repent and surrender to God’s will
for our lives, we can look forward to good things – like God’s continual
presence in our lives, the growth of the fruit of the Spirit, and the
consequences of living a simple Christian life of righteous thoughts and
deeds.A life in Christ gives us
something to look forward to, it gives us the ability to anticipate good things
in our lives.
And that brings us to our current series
where I am walking through the 28 Day Joy Challenge, (https://4habits.org/) which is based on Dr. Marcus Warner
& Chris Coursey’s latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People.
You can sign
up for the 28 Day Joy Challenge for free and purchase a variety of books from
Warner and Coursey on topic of Joy, by going to https://4habits.org/.
So let’s
jump into Day 3, which just happens to deal with looking ahead towards good
things on our horizon.
Don’t worry if these exercises do not come naturally to you and
even feel a little clunky. We are building new habits in our brains, and this
takes time! Every day, practicing joy will come more naturally until you can do
it even without the exercise prompt.
Today’s Practice: Exercise 3
Today we will focus on training our brains to expect good things
in life.
- How This Exercise Will Benefit You:
Anticipation of good experiences can help us build joy. It also
trains us to scan the environment for what is good. This practice creates hope
and energy, and our perspective on life becomes more positive!
- Exercise Steps:
As you think about the week ahead, what are you looking forward
to? Is there a person or group of people you hope to see? What do you expect to
do? How do you expect to feel? Share your thoughts about the what and why with
a friend.
Have fun
with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice!
Well, when I
sat down to think about what I am looking forward to this week,I am blessed to confess that my local church
community at Starpoint Church provides me with more than one thing to look
forward to.
Tonight’s “Man
Up” Event provides me with the opportunity to have some fun with the men of my
church as we will be gathering at 6pm to enjoy food, games, and fellowship before
we worship and hear Daryl Strawberry speak, and then have the option of ending
the evening with campfires and S’mores!
Tomorrow,
being Sunday, I can look forward to worship and a message from Pastor Jack
Graham. Graham leads Prestonwood Baptist church in Plano, Texas and has supported our church financially and
spiritually by being a mentor and friend to our senior pastor, Roscoe
Lily.
And as much
as these two events may be enough to look forward to, when I looked at today’s
Joy Practice and was prompted to think of something that I was looking forward
to I immediately thought of the next meeting of Celebrate Freedom – the Recovery/Discipleship
growth group that I facilitate on Wednesday nights.I especially look forward to Celebrate
Freedom because this week the lesson is teaching us Principle 3 of the
Celebrate Recovery’s 8 principles, which directs us to “Consciously choose to
commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.”
I am looking
forward to seeing my Celebrate Freedom friends again as we will meet to
encourage one another in our walks of faith, give thanks and worship to the
Lord, and honestly share from our experience since last week.
So because
of my faith and decision to follow the Lord, I have a lot to look forward to this
week, and I don’t mind sharing my thoughts with you about the “what and whys”
of what I am anticipating to be “good things”.
Today’s Joy
Challenge is prompting us to look ahead to good things in our immediate future
and the great news is that even if you don’t have anything planned, it is never
too late to make plans and to experience the continuous joy available to
Christians by making the decision to “consciously commit all your life and will
to the care of Christ”.
For those who want more evidence for Christianity
than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s
website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from my morning Bible Study as I left “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men” at my place down by the River, but in honor of that
missing resource I am sharing today’s chosen verse from the NLT, even though I
am currently walking through the NASB.
This
morning’s meditation verse is:
Zechariah
2:11 (NLT2) 11 Many nations will join
themselves to the LORD on that
day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know
that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies
sent me to you.
Today’s verse gives us something to look forward to as the
Old Testament prophet was speaking of the future fulfillment of the millennium kingdom,
where many nations will join themselves to the Lord, and Jesus Christ comes
back to rule and reign.
Talk about a future and a
hope! When I think about how the Bible not only reveals the truth of Jesus Christ
and His earthly ministry in the past, but how it reports that “this isn’t over
yet” and that scripture indicates that Jesus will rule on the earth for a
thousand years, BEFORE – there is a “new heaven and a new earth”.my imagination is pushed to its limits over “What
will that be like!”
I mean that idea – that prophecy
– that thing to come – Jesus ruling the earth for 1,000 years should rightfully
fill us with hope, but when I try to imagine it I get one of those “This is too
much LORD!” moments and have to let it go and just trust that whatever happens,
or however that comes to pass, and whatever that means, I can relax and rejoice
that it will mean the Jesus – will physically be with us.Our Immanuel will literally be with us, on the
earth, ruling and reigning!
That’s good news, but
surprisingly that will only be another beginning as there will be another “end
times” as rest of the Revelation promises indicate there will be no more death,
sorrow, tears, or pain as Christ will one day make all things new – as in a new
heaven and earth!
So rejoice, if you have
faith in Jesus – God is with you now and as the Lord’s plans come into
fulfillment, His presence will only increase in our lives, and for all
eternity. That is something to look forward to!
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing fromThe Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.
We are afraid that our treatment of the particular aspect
of this many-sided theme which is now before us is rather too abstruse for some
of our readers to follow, yet we trust they will kindly bear with us as we
endeavor to write for those who are anxious for help on the deeper things of
God.
The Deeper Things of God
As stated before, we are seeking to minister
unto widely different classes, unto those with differing capacities, and
therefore we wish to provide a varied spiritual menu. He who is hungry will not
leave the table in disgust because one dish thereon appeals not to him. We ask
their forbearance while we seek to give something like completeness to our
exposition of the subject as a whole.
“As the humanity of
Christ was assumed into the Hypostatic union, we may fitly say, on the one
hand, that the Person of Christ was
anointed, so far as the call to office
was concerned; while we bear in mind, on the other hand, that it is the humanity that is anointed in as far
as we contemplate the actual supplies of God’s gifts and graces, aids and
endowments, necessary to the execution of His office. But that we may not be
engulfed in onesidedness, it must be also added that the Holy Spirit, according
to the order of the Trinity, interposes His power only to execute the will of
the Son
as to the unction of
the Lord Jesus by the Spirit, it was different according to the three grades successively imparted. The
first grade was at the incarnation; the second coincided with His baptism, the
third and highest grade was at the ascension, when He sat down on His
mediatorial throne, and received from the Father the gift of the Spirit to
bestow upon His Church in abundant measure” (G. Smeaton).[1]
For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ,
I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You
can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).
Today’s photo
of a view “Along the River” that features bright orange flowers in the
foreground, and a mirror like reflection of the green trees and the blue sky
above on the surface of what is presumably the Hiawassee River, somewhere near
Murphy NC, comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this oasis like scene
yesterday on social media.
Well it’s
Friday, thank God, and although I have things to do today. I am appreciating
the oasis like splendor of my last official day of this Memorial Week vacation that
will provide me with the time to get them done.As I have walked through this week that has been a combination of rest,
work, and learning, I have come to the conclusion that “time off” is an
illusion as even in the most laid back circumstances there are inherent needs
and responsibilities that need to be addressed if we seek to maintain any semblance
of balance and peace.
While we are
free to choose to “do nothing”, we are not free of the consequences of “doing
nothing” as the impermanent nature of this world requires that we be diligent
in paying attention to the things and systems that surround us that need regular
maintenance and care to operate as they should. As much as I was rejoicing over
the silence that I found in Nemorod cabin just a few days ago, noting the lack
of the sounds of lawn mowers, I am facing the fact that I will break the
silence around my house down by the River today as I will choose to mow my own
lawn, preferring to keep my lawn short and my chore less taxing but more
frequent, rather then letting the grass grow thick and long making the mowing
more challenging.
I also will
be choosing to get an oil change even though the mileage isn’t quite to the
limit yet because I would rather do it now rather than trying to sneak it in
after work some day next week.
Yeah, time
off is an illusion to some extent because we are called to be good stewards to
what the Lord has provided us with, and we experience negative consequences
when we don’t “do what is right.”This
principle extends to our homes and things, and even our bodies.If we overindulge our flesh with too much
food or too much rest, we begin to suffer under the weight of our own bodies or
from the weakness that results from a lack of physical exercise.So even though it was my “week off” and I
made some compromises on my food choices in the spirit of “vacation”,I have continued my normal exercise routine
and have righted the ship of my food choices knowing that the occasional indulgence
may be allowed, it isn’t wise, and it shouldn’t be repeated for long. So no
more ice cream (why does a half gallon cost less than 2 pints?) and no more
large buckets of popcorn at the movies, for a while anyway.
And
similarly, we don’t really get any time off from our relationships either. When
we avoid people, or take people for granted, there are negative consequences –
we feel alone, the enemy comes in to encourage our isolation by causing us to
think on the negative aspects of other people, and we feel even more anxiety
over reconnecting because we haven’t been exercising our social skills that may
require patience and forgiveness.
So today I
am encouraging myself and whoever gets this far in the message to be grateful
for the other people in our lives.I
know some people right now who are grieving the loss of loved ones. I know some
who are suffering medical problems – some quite sudden and traumatic. I know
some people who are struggling to make ends meet because of a lack of work or a
sudden change of employment status.And
while all of these people’s problems are different and highly personal, I
believe all of them could benefit through the care and concern of others.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NKJV) tells us. 9 Two are better than
one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will
lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he
has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down
together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered
by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We are called to love one another, and
Solomon points out how we greatly benefit from having others walking with us
through life to help us.And so we
should be grateful for the people in our lives and seek to form wholesome and
godly relationships with others in our lives, based on our mutual faith in
Christ, if we find ourselves alone.Easier
said then done I know, but God calls us to be loving, bold, and courageous so
don’t give up hope of finding good relationships and don’t stop giving yourself
to others who may need a friend like you.
Anyway, that brings us to our current
series where I am walking through the 28 Day Joy Challenge, (https://4habits.org/) which is based on Dr. Marcus Warner
& Chris Coursey’s latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People.
You can sign
up for the 28 Day Joy Challenge for free and purchase a variety of books from
Warner and Coursey on topic of Joy, by going to https://4habits.org/.
Just as with practicing a sport or instrument, we don’t start out
as experts. The goal of this journey is not perfection, but rather to gain
awareness and grow over time. If any of these exercises don’t come naturally or
easily to you, that is okay. As you practice, you will grow!
Today’s Practice: Exercise 2
Today we will learn to use gratitude to jumpstart our joy.
- How This Exercise Will Benefit You:
Gratitude jumpstarts our joy and activates the joy switch in our
brains. Spending time remembering the things we are grateful for retrains our
brains to focus on life’s blessings versus life’s problems. The more we
practice gratitude, the more we remember, see, and anticipate good things in
life.
- Exercise Steps:
Identify a person you feel thankful for today and write out
specific reasons and examples of why you appreciate this person. Then, take
this skill to the next level and tell them how much you appreciate them. (If
they are unavailable, practice with someone else.)
Have
fun with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice!
I reviewed
Day 2’s instructions last night to prepare myself for what I would be in for
this morning, because I do intend to actually practice what they instruct and
report on my experiences with them.
I had
thought of a few people that I could be grateful for a variety of reason but
when I sat down to do the practice this morning, I was moved to focus on my wife,
TammyLyn, and to be true to the instructions on actually writing out “specific
reasons and examples” of why I appreciate her.Also by blogging, and podcasting this – I will be faithful in telling
her how much I appreciate her, but if for some reason she doesn’t read or here
this message, I will be seeing her tonight and will have my little notebook of
reason to present to her in person to let her know how much I appreciate
her.
Luckily, we
already “practice appreciation” for one another by letting each know how much
we love one another and how we appreciate the things we do and the people we
are to one another quite regularly. And there seems to be no limit on how much
we each appreciate reporting and hearing these things to one another.
But just
because we do this on the regular doesn’t mean that I am going to neglect doing
today’s Joy Challenge in earnest!
SO this is
straight from my scribbled notes (unedited -mostly)
TammyLyn,
I am
grateful for you because (this was actually added as I more or less wrote a
list) of your:
·Tenacity – You never gave up on me
when you felt you “needed me in your life” even though I was unsure, fearful,
and resistant to the idea, even though I felt drawn to you the moment I first
saw you.
·Faith – Your faith in Christ is
genuine and “the evidence” was there and real.
·Determination – While I think you
were prone to perseverance, endurance, and acceptance because “it was what it
was”, you increasingly seem to have become determined in pursuing the things
you need to accomplish and realizing your full potential.
·Care – You care for your kids, your
pets, your students, me, and others in countless selfless ways, putting the
needs of others above your own.
·Love – I have never felt loved for,
like the way I feel loved by TammyLyn – I feel joy in her presence as I feel
like I am the “sparkle in her eye” and she seems genuinely happy to be with me.
·Character – She may not be perfect,
but since I have known TammyLyn, she has done what is right and stood for
righteousness, isn’t ashamed of it, and will even suffer because of it at
times.
So that is
my cleaned up version of my notes.After
compiling the list, I am obviously very grateful for my wife, but I also
recognized that of the other people I had thought of as other possible people
to be grateful for in this practice – I noticed that they had the same
attributes. In varying degrees, the people I could think of to be grateful for
were also: tenacious, determined, caring, loving, and faithful people of character.Not surprisingly, the vast majority of
people I could think on that had these qualities are Christians as they reflect
the One they are called to follow: Jesus Christ.
And for
those of you out there that may be struggling to think of anyone you can be
grateful for let me suggest you make friends with Christians but also you
remind you of the friend you have in Jesus.
As much as
these joy exercises will lead us to try to increase our joy through the things
around us, let’s not forget that True Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and it is
not contingent on positive circumstances.
TammyLyn
could change. She could become bitter and angry. She could lose her mental facilities
and forget who she is. She could and will someday die. So if my joy in life is
only based on her, I am setting myself up for real disappointment.
However, God
doesn’t change and our relationship to Him through our faith in Jesus Christ is
sealed for eternity.If I am worshipping
TammyLyn more than the Lord, I got something really wrong. I am worshipping the
“created” over the Creator. That’s Idolatry and that’s a sin.
While we
should be grateful for all the people, places, and things in our lives, we need
to remember that they have all been provided to us from a tenacious,
determined, caring, loving, God who defines what a righteous character is.
So thank God
for the people in your life, show them appreciation because they may not always
be who they are now or be present in your life, but remember that when you have
your faith in Christ, you are never alone and can be grateful for God.
For those who want more evidence for Christianity
than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s
website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This
morning’s meditation verses are:
Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT2) 24 ‘May the LORD bless you and protect you. 25 May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to
you. 26 May the LORD show you his favor and give you his
peace.’
Today’s verses are the “Priestly
blessing” – delivered from God to Moses, to Aaron to be give the people of
Israel a “special blessing” and it relates God loves for His people and when we
speak it, it relates our selfless love for others.
Instead of asking for “what
we can get”, this prayer selflessly directs the Lord to bless others with His
grace, His favor, and His peace.
I love how the Lord
arranged to put this before us on the day we are practicing gratitude and
appreciation for other people in our lives!It’s as if He is giving these words to us to bless those we are grateful
for, and really there is no “as if” about it.He did give us these words to bless those we are grateful for!
So thank God for the
people you are grateful for, and let them know about it too, and while you at
it, use this “priestly blessing” to prayer for them as well!
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing fromThe Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.
Let us next observe the relation of the Holy
Spirit unto the nation of Israel. A very striking and comprehensive statement
was made by Nehemiah, when he reviewed the Lord’s dealings with His people of
old: “Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them” (Neh. 9:20). He was,
until quenched, upon the members of the Sanhedrin (Num. 11:16, 17). He came
upon the judges (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 15:14), upon the kings (1 Sam. 11:6;
16:13), and the Prophets. But note it is a great mistake to say, as many have
done, that the Holy Spirit was never in any believer before Pentecost: Numbers
27:18, Nehemiah 9:30, 1 Peter 1:11 clearly prove otherwise. But alas, Israel
“rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit” (Isa. 63:10), as Stephen declared, “Ye do
always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).
That the Holy Spirit
indwelt saints under the Legal economy is clear from many considerations: how
otherwise could they have been regenerated, had faith, been enabled to perform
works acceptable to God? The Spirit prompted true prayer, inspired spiritual
worship, produced His fruit in the lives of believers then (see Zech. 4:6) as
much as He does now. We have “the same
Spirit of faith” (2 Cor. 4:13) as they had. All the spiritual good which has
ever been wrought in and through men must be ascribed unto the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit was given to the Old Testament saints prospectively, as pardon of sin was given in view of the
satisfaction which Christ was to render unto God.[1]
For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ,
I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You
can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).
