Revival Pt 2

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone, it is what day is it? It's Thursday. I almost forgot the day of the week. Good afternoon everyone. It is Thursday, June the twenty seventh, twenty twenty four. It is currently two seven pm Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, a few days ago, I put on my shoes, I grabbed a set of keys, I opened the front door. I walked down the driveway.

0:50 I walked across the street about a half a block down on the left hand side, and that's where all the mailboxes are for the peace people in this residential area. Right, well, there's two sets of boxes for those on this side of the residential area. The box is about, you know, half a block from my house. And then on the other side of the residential area there's another box for the people who live on that area, that side of the residential area. Right Okay, So I walked down, I opened the box, and ladies and gentlemen, I told you it was like Christmas in July. In fact, this happened on July. Christmas in June. It happened on June the twenty fifth, so it felt like Christmas in June. Why do I keep wanting to say, I don't know the day of the week, I don't know the month, I don't know the I don't know anything right now, No, it is June. So this happened on June the twenty fifth, just a few days ago. So telling my story again, I grabbed my shoes, put on my shoes, grab the keys, walked down the driveway, across the street half about a half a block to the left, there are the mailboxes. I opened the mailbox, and inside the mailbox, ladies and gentlemen, it was Christmas in June.

1:59 Because there wasn't just one issue of the sort of the Lord newspaper. There were two, one of them dated June the seventh, twenty twenty four, the other one June the twenty first, twenty twenty four, The sort of the Lord newspaper. Remember I told everyone to get a subscription of these, like starting last year, okay, And I've had about a year of subscription of these, and well, and I've got stacks of a sort of the Lord newspapers, like there are stacks of sort of the Lord newspapers in our church library stacks. There are stacks of sort of Lord newspapers all around me. Okay, I probably need to throw a lot. I don't like throwing anything away when it comes to like books or our newspapers, because you know, they've got words, and I don't like, you know, I feel like a Nazi or something. But I have them all around me. But I grabbed the two. And remember, one of them clearly is focused on July, because the first article is America's Greatest Need with a big American flag.

2:54 And then there's another one here, the Declaration of Independence? What Price Freedom? And I'm like, okay, that's going to fourth of July. We're out. Okay, I'll get to that at some point. Let me set that down. And then remember I picked up the other one. The June seventh issue of the sort of the Lord Newspaper and Ladies and Gentlemen, there was an article entitled the Holy Spirit and Revival. The Holy Spirit and Revival, And as soon as I saw the word revival, I was like, we're going to have to talk about that, and it should be an interesting series if we talk about revival primarily using the sort of the Lord Newspaper article, because I'm not going to read it in advance, and we'll just discover what it has to say in real time together. It should be interesting, it should be fun. But when I did my introductory message, I kind of went through my history with the subject of revival. We talked a little bit about some definitions, some history of review, and so today I think what we're going to do is we're going to grab sort of the Lord newspaper and just start working through it. But let me let me just try to put forth kind of a criticism that is often sent to me via email or comments. A lot of people accuse me of this. They say that I preach, that I teach, that I promote, that I defend,

4:30 that I support the idea of a powerless Christianity, that I don't promote and teach this idea that we have power and that they're supernatural power available to us, and that I greatly am an enemy to that idea. And you know what, some of that criticism is valid. But what frustrates me is people will criticize me, but they never clearly articulate or outline how the power that we supposedly have is supposed to work? Right? Oh, oh, we have the power. Oh, we have power. So we have the power to obey all of God's law and we can be sinless and we can be perfect. Well, no, we don't have that power. Oh way, so we don't have that power. What power do we have? Well, we have the power to sin less? All right. Do we have the power to sin less externally or internally or both? And why is that power to sin less limited? We cannot get to sin less, but we can just sin less? Can't can't people just through you know, dedication and discipline and maybe placing some you know, some things around them, they could sin less even with just human effort to some level. Well, we have supernatural ability to understand the word of God. You hear Christians say that. Well, if we have the supernatural ability to understand the word of God, then why are there so many different denominations? And no, but he can agree

6:00 on anything. Well, we have the supernatural power. And it's like all this time about power and this and God will do this for you and and sometimes it's like they get mad at me because I call that into question. But they can't artake, they can't answer basic questions about the so called power which we so called supposedly possess, and it drives me crazy. He said, well, Christians have this power. You're like, look at Christianity. Well then their argument is, well, all the people who don't seem to demonstrate this power are not saved. Okay, well then who is saved? Like, It's just it just drives me crazy. And so I know, I get that accusation thrown at me, and that really will probably it's probably gonna show up because when we talk about so called revival again, I'm somewhat skeptical of the way it's typically like, oh, the power of God falls during revival, and then all of this supposedly happens. Well, wherever all the times revival supposedly has fallen, and all of this power is supposedly demonstrated, why doesn't it ever last? Right? I mean, those are questions and I and I get sometimes frustrated with the double speak within Christianity. Yesterday, I was just watching a lot of the webcast on the sermon's two point Oh app I was just watched going from one to another, and I probably should have just stayed with one. But in this particular case, it was kind of very it was kind of very illustrative of what I sometimes struggle with

7:34 within Christianity. So I listened to one that is entitled that was entitled something like what Satan Saw in Job's House. What Satan Saw in Job's House. Now, that's a cool title. So that got my attention. What Satan saw in Job's house. That's really cool. But the very first part of this webcast slash sermon, and I'm and I'm following it. It should show up in my feed at some point, hopefully they'll upload it. But base the argument was God for his children, for Christians, he places a hedge around us which Satan cannot penetrate. Not only does he put a hedge around us that Satan cannot penetrate, he also gives us a guardian angel. Every Christian has a guardian angel which protects us and defends us. And I'm like, so, wait a minute. So, as a Christian God has put a hedge around me Satan cannot penetrate, well, then I don't need to worry about Satan, right, Okay, Second, I have a guardian angel which protects me. Well, then Why why do Christians need guns or lock their doors? Why do we need to take any precaution if I have a guardian angel literally protecting me for a miny harm, Like, so I'm just baffled. Well, I go. I go directly to another webcast on the sermon's two point oh epp. And this one is like, Satan attacks you every single day, every single day. Satan is attacking you, every single day. Satan is out to get you every And I'm like, wait a minute. I just was taught and a sermon that God puts a hedge around

9:05 me and Satan cannot penetrate it. Now I'm being told that Satan is attacking me. Could Christians make up their mind? A lot of times there's this weird inconsistency, And I think when it comes to power and God out pouring out his spirit and God and dwelling us with his spirit and giving and reviving us, there's always like this weird thing like there's all this power. But then then it'll be like, oh, but well, we're gonna sin and we're gonna do this, and it's like almost like contradicting itself. And sometimes the double speak in the in the just contradiction in Christianity drives me mad. On one hand, God does this for me, and God does this for me, and God does this for me, and God gives me this, and I have this power and I have this ability. On the other hand, it's like, well, we're gonna fall, we're gonna struggle, and bad things are gonna happen. Like, which is it now? Some people say it's both, Well, you've got to explain it to me. So I have a feeling that when I get to this article on revival, you're going to hear maybe a little bit of my skepticism, a little bit of my cynicism. And again, what I have seen in a good portion of my life is that revival is a scheduled set of church meetings, and within those scheduled set of church meetings, the people are kind of already prepared that this is about revival, and this is about an outpouring of God. So there should be some emotion, there should be some confession, there should be

10:37 some brokenness, So the people are kind of already the pomp is already primed, the people are prepared for what is already expected. And then many of the services I don't think there's it. I don't think it's I think it's completely fair to criticize this. They're clearly designed to manipulate. They use emotional emotional manipulative techniques, emotional manipulation techniques. There's just no way to get around it. They manipulate the people. So you get people crying, Oh, God's spirit moved. It was powerful, it was an outpouring. There was transformation. Oh they and then the next thing, you know, everybody is just the same people they were, you know, So then we got to wait six months to the next revival service. So is it a work of God or is it a work of man. If it's a work of God, you can't schedule it. And if it's a work of God, shouldn't a work of God lasts longer than three months. I've got questions, So are you ready the June seventh, not July? Sort of the Lord newspaper.

11:52 I think the reason I'm mixing up June and July is I have a doctor's appartment that I thought was tomorrow June the twenty eighth, and I called because I was just going to cancel it and reschedule, and they're like, no, it's July. The twenty eighth. So I think that's why I'm mixing up June and July, because I obviously mixed it up for my doctor's appointment. So are you ready? Here we go. I don't know where this is going to go. I really don't. I'm a little nervous, all right. That the Holy Spirit and Revival from the sort of the Lord Newspaper of June the seventh, twenty twenty four, by doctor Lee Roberson, Doctor Lee Roberson. The article begins with this, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

12:56 Acts Chapter four, Verse thirty one. Acts Chapter four, Verse thirty one. Well, I'm gonna open up my Bible to Act four thirty one, and I'm going to read exactly what happened here. I'm gonna read it from the New King James. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with the Word of God with boldness. Now that's Acts four thirty one. I'm not saying this article is going to do so, but I'm already a little concerned that that's the verse that starts this article, because many pastors will preach Acts four thirty one there, and then we'll talk, and then they will take this place was shaken. They will make that somewhat metaphorical. Right, Well, you know, maybe it was a literal shaken at that time, but now it'll be a it'll be a shaking that occurs in a metaphorical or allegorical way. All right, we'll already have problems with that. So is it literal? Is it not literal? Okay, But then it'll say, hey, we're gonna have a revival, and the Holy Spirit's gonna fall, and we're all gonna leave here now filled with the Holy Spirit, and we're gonna speak the Word of God with boldness.

14:03 And they then make this not just descriptive, but they make it prescriptive. But here's the only problem when you make Acts four thirty one prescriptive Verse thirty two. Now, the multitude of those who believed were all of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they all had things in common. Now, wait, a minute. If you want to make Acts four thirty one prescriptive and not descriptive, you can't skip the next part. The next part is everyone's like, I don't own anything. We have everything in common. So then then if this is prescriptive, then what would happen is you're the building shakes.

14:48 Everyone is filled with the Holy spirit, you speak the word of God with boldness, But everyone basically gives up private ownership of anything. Why is that never Why has that never talked about? Why is only the first part talked about? Now? Wait can continue? And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among who lacked, For all who all who were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles feed, and they distributed to each as as one had need. They sold all of their possessions, They sold all of their property. So if you're gonna make Acts four thirty one prescriptive in any way shape or form versus descriptive, well, then guess what everyone's gonna sell everything. So if the Holy Spirit falls, well, then everyone's going to sell all of their property. Come on, let's let's make that work. Oh wait, that part doesn't apply. The other part applies, but that part doesn't. How convenient. Now I don't know what he's gonna do with it, but that makes me just wanted you to see the context of the verse right out of the gate. Now, are you ready? Right? A newspaper. See, you could have a newspaper like this in your own hands, and your kids would be like, what is that you say? It's a newspaper. I've never heard of such a creature. Okay, all right, but no, y'all didn't get a subscription. I blame everyone. Okay, here we go. The Bible points

16:22 out the fact of the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At the baptism of Jesus, we find the trinity. Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon him, and a voice spoke from heaven. This is my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased Matthew three point seventeen. When Jesus gave the great commission, we find mention of the Trinity. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matthew twenty eight nineteen. All Christians know about God the Father. We know how to pray our Father, which aret in heaven Matthew six' nine. Christians know about the Son, They know about the Christ, about Christ, who was born of a virgin, lived among men, died on the cross, arose from the dead, and ascended on high. But when we come to the Holy Spirit, many people hesitate. They know nothing of him, or they know so little they feel embarrassed. All right, now, we could just stop right there. I could give you an assignment for you to just take time to write a paragraph down to whether you agree or disagree. Do you believe most Christians? I think the word they say many people, they put many.

17:56 Would you state or would you agree with the statement that many Christians their words they know nothing of the Holy Spirit, or they know so little about the Holy Spirit they feel embarrassed. I don't know about that. I don't know. I think there may be some hesitation about the Holy Spirit because so many claims are made about the Holy Spirit, and I think a lot of Christians take the claims that are made about the Holy Spirit, look at the reality of their life, and the two things contradict. As I mentioned in my very lengthy introduction about the double speak within Christianity, because one hand, you've got the Holy Spirit, You've got power, You've got the ability to do this. God speaks to you, God will reveal truth to you.

18:42 And I think the average Christian is like, I don't feel any of that. So then do I am I not saved? Or do you just say you know, I'm not gonna worry about this. I'm just gonna move on. I don't know. Well, at the end of that paragraph, because it's a newspaper, it says continued on page sixteen, all right, so I'm going to skip over here to page sixteen. I'm gonna bend this over, fold this over so I can just have the page here for this article The Holy Spirit and Revival continued from page one. All right, are you ready? I feel like we're like in eighteen eighty three and we're sitting around talking about the newspaper, wasn't it in I think there were parts in Texas.

19:37 I think there was a Tom Hanks movie. What was the name of that? Tom Hanks movie where he was a newsreader. I think it's based off historical fact, and I think it starts off in like Wichita Falls, Texas, or somewhere not far from me, where you would have these men who knew how to read. They would come to a town and all the people would come into a building, right, and then he would read the news, the news to the people. I may say something about it, and then the people would then offer, like put some money there because they could they didn't know how to read, right, And there were I think they were called news reading. I'm not that's not an area of where I'm an expertise on it, so I don't know if that was fiction or it's based off historical fact. But I believe that there used to be a time there were called news readers. So I feel and a roundabout way, I feel like that's what I'm doing, all right, And I think the ones who were more entertaining, more dramatic, did better because it was almost a form of not only being informed, but a form of entertainment as well.

20:37 All right, But and then that gets into a discussion about news and entertainment, all right, I digress. Here we go continued from page one. First know about him, Jesus gave the promise of the Holy Spirit, he said. So the first thing we need to know about the Holy Spirit is that Jesus gave promise of the Holy Spirit. He said. They quote John fourteen sixteen. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, John fourteen sixteen. All right, our Savior tells us that the Holy Spirit abides with us.

21:22 He comes to dwell in our heart when we believe in Christ. He is present now right here we go. Oh, I see now, I'm already gonna lose my mind. I'm just I'm I don't. I don't fit in in Christianity, ladies and gentlemen. I just don't. I know. The average Christian would read this article and not have any problem. But I'm already running into a problem. And I'm already bothered that they quoted Acts four that don't do anything with it at this point. But any just reading the context, you would be like, there's no way we can make that, you know, prescriptive or anyway. Okay, So then it says, all right, most are many Christians don't know much about the Holy Spirit. The first thing we need to know is that Jesus gave the promise of the holy experience.

22:03 The quote John fourteen sixteen. Okay, we could go look at the context of John fourteen sixteen and say, does all of that is all that applicable to us? Is that just applicable to the original disciples? Right? But then immediately it says this our Savior tells us, say, now they forget the original recipients of the promise In John fourteen sixteen. Immediately we are inserted into the conversation and it says, tells us that the Holy Spirit abides with us. Please note us us, And now it's all bit about us. But look what happens. He comes to dwell in our hearts when we believe in Christ. He is present to teach us all things and bring all things to your remembrance. Whatsoever I have said unto you, ladies and gentlemen, that is a categorical lie. All right, that is not true about us. And they quote John fourteen. Let's go to John fourteen. See, we're not even gonna be able to get to the actual discussion about revival because there's already so much falsehood here, But we can't even get anywhere, right, So he says verse twenty five, All right, Jesus is clearly speaking to his disciples here, right, He's clearly speaking to his disciples.

23:15 And look what he says verse twenty will go verse twenty five, these things have I spoken to you while being present with you? That's clearly he's talking to his disciples. Right, clearly, when I was present with you, he's talking to his disciples. How do we insert ourselves in these texts? I will never understand. Like the narcissistic arrogance of the average Christian who can take a passage of scripture that clearly isn't speaking about them and insert themselves in it never never fails to just amaze me. But look at verse twenty six. Here we go. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will sin in my name, he will teach you all things. Stop there now. If the Holy Spirit is teaching us all things, ladies and gentlemen, there would be absolute unity in Christianity. How many times? Look, what are the reasons I've done the sermon's two point oh absermon challenge this year not only is for you to try to make use of all the resources available to you. But the more sermons you listen to on one particular passage are one particular topic, you too, will be confronted with the fact nobody can't agree on literally anything. We saw that today. We had a pastor making a claim about Itom and the Itedomites that was categorically false. It was wrong. We had a pastor claim that Jehosaphat called in Asaf Asaph was dead,

24:48 categorically false. Well, if the Holy Spirit is teaching you these things, then why are you getting so many things wrong? But please note I cannot stress to you what would be the only conclusion one could arrive at. If your pastor has the Holy Spirit teaching him, then everything he says you could never challenge or question. And if you're challenging and questioning what your pastor says, then you cannot believe the Holy Spirit is teaching him. And if you believe the Holy Spirit is teaching him and believing the Holy Spirit is teaching you, then how do you come up to two different conclusions. It's just maddening. Two thousand years of church history, nobody agrees on anything. Thousands of denominations, all kinds of commentaries that contradict one another, sermon after sermon that contradict other sermons. Yet we still teach that the Holy Spirit is inside of us, and we read it again. But the helper, But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, ladies and gentlemen. That is for the disciples, that is for the authors of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit would teach them all things because they would be responsible to produce written documents under

26:21 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we believe to be in those original manuscripts infoulable in errant that if that applies to you, then everything you teach and everything you say, or everything you write down would be coming directly from the Holy Spirit. You destroy the entire specialty that the inspiration of scripture is special. You would be operating the same way the Holy Spirit's teaching me. All right, I'm going to write down something about Psaw eighty three today. What I write is coming from the Holy Spirit. He's teaching me. Give me a break. Oh, but it goes further than that. Oh, the next part part but the whole. But the help or the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you, ladies and gentlemen.

27:15 That is how the Gospels come about. God brought to remembrance all the things that Jesus said. That has nothing to do with you. Okay, just stop what you're doing right now. Stop what you're doing right now. Okay, stop what you're doing right now. Okay, just for memory, give me the Summon on the Mountain. Go recite it perfectly. Those are things Jesus said. Does he bring them to remembrance to you? You know what seminary, Bible college, and Bible institute would have been a breeze. I would have a study for one test. You know, you can't cite it. So that means he's not bringing a remembrance to you, because it's not for you. It was for the authors of the New Testament. Stop claiming this for you. It's literally insanity. All right. So this article on revival is already making me need revival, all right. He's making me need a liquor stores. What is making me need? Okay? All right, let's continue, all right, And that's all I said, See, there's no explanation. It just dogmatically asserts that the Spirit is in you.

28:32 And because the Spirit is in you, he is teaching you all things, and he's bringing all things to your remembrance. Whatsoever I've said unto you John fourteen twenty six. There's no explanation, nothing, it's just dogmatically asserted and immediately applied to you. That is horrible hermoneutics, horrible exeguses of the text, and it's a complete denial of reality. You can stand in the pulpit and just ask the people, ask the people basic Bible questions. They can't get it right. Why not because the God is not bringing to remembrance anything.

29:15 See. Now this is where I get accused of teaching a powerless Christianity. So the first thing is we should know that Jesus gave the promise of the Holy Spirit. Secondly that they should have kind of broken that down, but I'm not going to get into their outlining here. Secondly, the conscious or be conscious of him. The second thing is we need to know about the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave the promise. The second we need to be conscious of the Holy Spirit. He and dwells you He is with you always. The Holy Spirit abides in your heart. Now this means that we must not grieve him by wrong doing. Okay, this one I may be able to wrap my mind around a little bit more. They quote here the following, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor evil speaking be put away from you. With all malice. Be ye kind, kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Now what A lot of times people say, grieve not the Holy Spirit. That's all they take from that article, and they say, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If you're listening to rock and roll, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If you're watching a rated R movie, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If you're in

30:48 a swimming pool with someone of the opposite sex, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If your skirt is too short, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If you read Harry Potter, you will grieve the Holy Spirit if you know that kind of thing. But the text gives a very clear things that would grieve the Holy spirit, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor evil speaking malice, and it would also grieve the Holy Spirit if you're not kind one to another, tenderhearted, for giving one another. He's been a christ Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Well, there's a lot of things there that I think we've all then grieved the Holy Spirit. It says, now, but then immediately it says certain acts of life are unpleasant to him. See immediately it ignores those things that are actually listed and go to certain acts.

31:40 Look, ladies and gentlemen, do you do you love people the way you're supposed to, You forgive people the way you're supposed to. You're already grieving the Holy Spirit. I think we're in a perpetual state of forgiving or grieving the Holy Spirit. I think there's some sense with there were always grieving the Holy Spirit to some level. But they immediately jump to acts and it says, let the Holy Spirit work through you, be a clear channel for him. All Christians need the feeling of the Holy Spirit. So then, okay, we need to we need to allow How does it say we have to let the Holy Spirit work? We have to let the Holy Spirit work? Now again, if the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, then the Holy Spirit is well God right, divine, one God, three distinct persons coequal. Now if he's co equal, meaning and it's divine.

32:25 If the Holy Spirit is divine, then the Holy Spirit has all of the attributes of God, which would be omnipotence. How can I Why does the Holy Spirit need to let me do anything? Why can't the Holy Spirit just do it? Why does the Holy Why can I, who who very much is not omnipotent, can stop the Holy Spirit and his tracks. The Holy Spirit is like I would like to work in that person. I would like to make that person holy, but he keeps stopping me. Oh, I'm trying so hard that that whole image just seems ridiculous to Menaxa says, be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit. The fullness of the Spirit cannot be accomplished unless there is an emptiness of self and a willingness for him to take over and fill us. So see, the Holy Spirit is very much restricted by you and me. I cannot be filled with the Spirit unless I I look, I have to do this. I have to empty myself of self. So I so I have to want the Holy Spirit to fill me, then I have to empty myself and for it to occur, and then I have to have a willingness for him to take over. So why is the Holy Spirit so weak that he is stopped by the sinful will of man. God's like, I'm gonna,

33:58 I'm gonna, I'm gonna have the Holy Spirit move into these people. But the Holy Spirit is going to be limited and what he can and can't do, because the people will ultimately determine what he can or cannot do. Now, if someone then empties themselves of self and are willing for the Holy Spirit to take over, then please tell me then why the Holy Spirit can't get a person who's emptied themselves of self and are willing to absolute perfection. So then you're gonna tell me, well, you're not really willing. No, I'm really willing. I want the Holy Spirit to make me perfect today. But there's no attempt to answer any of these questions. Now, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit.

34:47 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance Against such there is no law, and they that are christ have crucified the flesh with the effects and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. So the idea is, if I will be filled with the spirit, then I will produce all this fruit. Well, then when that means I'm going to produce all this fruit perfectly? Or is it going to be imperfect? And if it's imperfect, why isn't the Holy Spirit producing perfect Remember we talked about all of this before. Again, there's no attempt to answer any question here none. These are just all dogmatically asserted without any explanation of any of the difficulties these concepts should bring to mind to any reasonable person hearing it. With this, let me give you the outline for my message, all right, So that was all their introductory material, All of those dogmatic assertions. Some of those dogmatic assertions are just dogmatically fraudulent and false.

35:54 Right about the Holy Spirit teaching us and reminding us of everything he had said, It's just we know that doesn't work that way, all right. Number one, the Holy Spirit and Christian living. The Word are the Word. The Word of God exhorts us to live as Christian adults. We are not to be baby Christians. To bear the name of baby Christian is to dishonor the Lord. The sorry lives of Christians are ever before us. All right. So we're not to be baby Christians. We're not to be We're to be adult Christians, all right. Someone said it's an unhappy occupation to try to act like a Christian when you are not. Okay, don't be a baby Christian, don't be a fake Christian. Okay. The message, this message, this is again. I'm just going from paragraph to paragraph through this article. This message concerns the Holy Spirit and revival. Revival cannot come to a loss soul. The man without Christ needs salvation, but revival can only come to the Christian. Okay, I got no problem with that.

37:13 Revival. Revival comes to a Christian because you're reviving something, You're reviving something. A lot of times revival is seen as conversion of lost people. But this one is going I think in some ways the idea of a revival. Now, I guess you could. I think I can agree with this. I mean maybe we could kind of argue one way or the other. But okay, the revival is primarily for the Christian. Now they just are dogmatic, But the man without Christ needs salvation. Revival comes only to the Christian. Then, what do we mean by the Holy Spirit and revival? We mean a great turning to Christ on the part of Christians. We mean the separation of the Christian from the world and the dedication of the Christian to the holy business of serving Christ. I think that's a a typical way many understand revival. A right revival happens, and then Christians become more committed, They have more zeal, They separate themselves from sin, they feel convicted, they do they put away their sin, and they enter into a new commitment to Christ. All right, I got no problem with that next paragraph. A spirit filled life is a God honoring cross Christ magnified. When we read that again, a spirit filled life is a God honoring Christ magnifying spirit led life.

38:40 For such a life, rivers of living water will flow from such a life. Sweet manifestations of Christian character will come. The early Christians were separated servants of God. They were saints who practiced purity and all matters of life. They adorned the Gospel by their conduct. So the idea, if your spirit filled, dun dun du dum, you're basically now I don't say perfect there, but if you're coming very close to describing someone, that's pretty close to perfect. So if your spirit filled, your life will be God honoring, your life will be christ magnifying. Your life will be a life where rivers of living water will flow from such a life. Sweet manifestations of Christian character will come and will be like the early Christians, where our lives will be separated. We will become separated servants of God. We will be saints who practice purity and every single area of life. Ladies and gentlemen, that all sounds like you're going to be basically perfect. So the key is if I can get to spirit filled, then I get to basic perfection. So is the thing that I guess what they're saying is I will be revived because I'll be filled with the spirit, and then we'll live lives pretty close to perfection. Now you would argue, then, why if all that takes is

40:15 to be spirit filled, then why wouldn't God just then fill every Christian with this spirit and then all the problems would be over and we would all be perfect. Now I've reached the end of this page and it says continued on page seventeen, So I flip it over and here it is. So Number one in his message the Holy Spirit and Christian living. So his hypotheses is if you're filled with the spirit, basically you're perfect. Number two. Actually, I'm just going to stop right there. I'm just going to stop right there. I'm going to put forth some questions. I'm going to put forth some questions, all right? Question number one? Does God fill you with his spirit? But the spirit is limited by what you will or will not allow him to do? Does God feel every christ So let me take state it this way. Does God fill every Christian with the Holy Spirit? But the Holy Spirit then is limited by what you allow him to do or not do. Now, if you stop allowing him, are you no longer filled with the spirit? Are you filled with the spirit once? Are you filled multiple times? Can you be filled with it? And then you lose part of it? Because how can you be filled with the person? The Holy

41:49 Spirit is a person, He's not a liquid. So when we say filled, like do it, I mean I get more of But the idea does God fill every Christian with the Holy Spirit? But somehow he's limited on what you let him. Do you control? Does the Spirit control you? Or do you control the spirit? Who wins that war? All right? So number one, do you do we limit the work of the Spirit in our life? Or does the Spirit control the situation? Who's in control? Number two? Is the feeling a one time thing? And if we if it's if it's more than a one time thing, how do we lose it? And how do we measure it? So? Does God fill us with the Holy Spirit? And are we controlling it? Or stuff Spirit control us?

42:36 And two how do we understand this filling concept? Is it a one time thing? Does it happen over and over and over? How do we get more of it? How do we lose it? Because that seems to destroy the idea of the Holy Spirit being a person. It turns him almost into like a liquid in which we we got to get more of. Like, I don't get it, I like, how do you understand that in any way, shape or form? And do you believe number three that if you simply will surrender everything to the Holy Spirit, you'll basically be perfect? Is that? Is that all that is required for you to basically be perfect? It's just to surrender to the Holy Spirit. Is that the way it works?

43:27 Do we control the Holy Spirit or does the Holy Spirit control the situation? Are we filled more than once? And how do we how do we lose it? How do we get it back? Like? How does that all work? And and then is all that is required? Number three? Is all that is required? Is it simply that? Well, if I surrender to the Holy Spirit, then I'm basically perfect. Well, and if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, I'm basically perfect. And God fills me with the Holy Spirit. Well, then, oh, the whole thing is so confusing now, it doesn't really get it much into revival here. What it seems to be is that revival is when the whole when Christians become filled with the Holy Spirit, and then we basically become perfect. But it sounds like then we can quickly lose it. But how can we lose it?

44:19 If the filling of the Holy Spirit makes us basically perfect? How could we ever lose it? Since we'd be maintaining our perfection, right, what would be the thing that would come in and then stop the perfection from happening, or I need to be filled again. What if I'm already filled with the spirit, the Spirit would be in control, So then can I retake control instantaneously? I don't understand it at all. The whole thing is maddening, but there we have it now. For those who may have just tuned in, I'll upload this in about five minutes so you can go back and listen to all of this. We have been discussing the subject of the Holy Spirit and revival, utilizing an article from the June seventh, twenty four issue of the Sort of the Lord newspaper, and we have found well plenty to be very frustrated by. I know that most Christians will probably agree with that their perspective. I'm putting forth a very much a contrary perspective, and then you can decide which one you agree with. You can email me at news i ata Yahoo dot com. That's news Com. I wanted to keep going, but we're at forty five minutes and there's just so much to consider, and that just in the point we looked at, I don't want to go any further, so I'll stop there. Love to get your thoughts and your perspective.

45:39 Yeah, those very important questions. I gave you very important questions. I want you to consider those questions, Okay. I want you to consider them and think about them and we'll discuss them. Well, I don't know if we'll discuss them next time. It depends on what emails I get. You can email me news dot com. Thank you for listening. Everyone, have a great day and this will be uploaded in the next five to ten minutes. Thanks for listening. God bless