Bonus Content from the Program
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Q: Is there a parallel between God breathing life into Adam in Genesis and God breathing new life into us through His Holy Spirit in the New Testament? Answer [Program Date: 3-15-10]
Yes, the interesting thing to me, at least, in the Bible is there are only two things the Bible mentions God actually breathing into. Genesis 2:7 is Adam; Adam became a living creature because God literally breathed into his nostrils. The other thing God breathed into is the Word of God. It is inspired of God. That's the word "to breathe in."
Basically, when you take the Word of God, actually when the Spirit of God takes the Word of God, applies it to your life, that's when new life comes to you--not when you join a church or not when you make a list of all the bad things you've done and try to undo all those bad things to get your karma squared away. All that is nonsense.
The thing the Bible says is this: What it takes for us to have new life is the life of God in us. And for you and me today, the life of God in us comes from the God who lives within us--and that's the Spirit of God.
Q: What is regeneration? Answer [Program Date: 3-15-10]
First, like every other aspect of our salvation, regeneration is an act of God, because only God can give new life and save a soul.
Secondly, regeneration is not a process but an instantaneous act of God.
Now, thirdly, let's learn this. Although the regeneration occurs in response to our faith in Christ, we still have no part in our regeneration. It takes place apart from any human means.
Well, fourth, since regeneration is an act of God and doesn't spring from within us, it's an external act and not an experiential one.
Quote by Asa Mahan, author of The Baptism of the Holy Ghost [Program Date: 3-16-10]
"There is no natural or intellectual or educational or moral or ecclesiastical gift which can be a substitute for this. It is the all-essential and absolutely supreme gift of God in this dispensation."
"As the sun and the solar system and life and human body are the highest good and nothing can supercede them, so this baptism is the noblest blessing of Christianity and no other can take its place."
Q: What were the writers of the Bible referring to when they used the word "seal"? Answer [Program Date: 3-18-10 and 3-19-10]
1. A seal signifies identification.
A particular king or a particular family had their own seal, their own family crest. Now we are identified with Christ.
2. A seal signifyies ownership.
You know identification is one thing, ownership is something else. And a seal signifies both. Not only are we identified with God through the Holy Spirit, we belong to God by the Holy Spirit as well.
3. A seal signifies security.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God to indicate that we are safe and secure in God. God saved us. God sealed us. We are secure. We are set for the long haul.
4. A seal also signifies value.
You know you don't seal those things that are not of value to you. Without value a seal was never needed. One only sealed what was worth keeping or what was worth preserving.
5. A seal signifies genuineness.
When you buy something and you're given a certificate of authenticity, that means you can trust what you've purchased to be real, to be genuine. God authenticates our genuineness as His children by placing the Holy Spirit upon us as His seal of authenticity.
6. A finished transaction. That's what a seal signifies.
And the very fact that the Holy Spirit of God is in my life, that He's indwelling me, and the very fact that He's indwelling you as a believer means that your salvation is a "done deal."
7. A seal signifies irreversibility.
You see, once a seal was placed on the wax or the clay, it is there permanently. A seal could not be removed without destroying it. And, thus, it was irreversible. And you know what? That's exactly the way it is with the Holy Spirit of God, our seal. Once He is placed on the believer, that person can never again become an unbeliever.
God the Father does the sealing, but God the Spirit is the seal.
Select Verses [Program Date 3-23-10]
Romans 8:26-27. "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
"Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (NKJV).
These verses tell us:
1. We do not know what we should pray for.
2. But the Spirit prays on our behalf because He knows exactly what we should pray for.
3. The Spirit prays in inaudible, inexpressible sighs. (You can't hear Him, nor understand Him)
4. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Father.
Tell Tale Marks of a Cult [Program Date 3-23-10]
First of all, they deny that Jesus Christ is God. I just read that from 1 John 4. Anybody, and I mean anybody, anybody who comes to your door and wants to give you some literature or tell you that they're interested in your family; when you ask them if they believe Jesus Christ is just as much God as God the Father, if they hesitate for half a second, the Holy Spirit has influenced your understanding that the people who are at your door are not of God. They're part of a religious cult. They're part of a system of belief that is not found in the Bible.
They want to alienate you from the rest of your family. They don't want you to talk to your pastor. They want you to take their Bible course, or join their Bible study group. Ask if ... is biblical.
See, all these are marks of a cult, and you will know that because the Spirit of God lives within you and He influences your thinking.
"Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
Q: What do you have to do to be sanctified? Answer [Program Date 3-25-10]
So I suppose the real question today is this: "If the Spirit of God dwells within us, and the Spirit of God provides power for you today to win over the flesh, what do you have to do to be sanctified?"
See you can't do anything to be positionally sanctified. That's what Jesus Christ did for you when you believed. He set you apart. He seals you. He marks you out as His own. But this positional sanctification requires a daily practical application and that does bear on what you do.
So, as I close today let me make several suggestions on how to be sanctified by the Spirit of God. Here they are.
First, surrender your will to God.
Secondly, if you want to be sanctified, separate yourself from any attitude or behavior that is unlike Christ.
And then thirdly, start living a life of faith.
Q: How is a person filled with the Spirit? Answer [Program Date 3-26-10]
In Spirit baptism, we're placed into Christ, into His church. In Spirit filling, Christ is placed into us. I think that's a neat distinction.
So, to be filled with the Spirit is something every believer should strive for. It's something you and I ought to work toward. You and I are commanded by the Word of God to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
If you want to be filled with the Spirit of God, so full of God's Spirit there just isn't room for other things in there, here's what you need to do: Number one, identify sin in your life and call it what it is--call it sin.
Second, after you've identified and confessed all the sin that you know to be in your life, then you have to genuinely crave the Spirit of God to take control of your life.
Step number three. You have to unreservedly yield yourself to God for whatever He desires of You.
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