A Little Theology for a Friend

My very good friend, Gene Redlin, likes to write about Heaven as though he has been there, which may well be for all I know. Paul got a glempse (II Corinthians 12:2-5) , maybe Gene did too. He used the following text as part of his most recent blog, so I wanted to clear things up for his benefit and perhaps others.

Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

The people of whom the writer of Hebrews was speaking were the same people John described in the prologue to his Gospel of Jesus as “sons of God” (John 1:12).” Matthew calls these people the “chosen” (Matthew 20:16). These are the most fortunate of all human beings, who are born of the spirit and who live every moment of every day with God, the Creator of the World, living within them. As John went on to point out, these people did not obtain this marvelous status by jumping through some man made hoop. They were chosen by God for reasons known only to God and in God’s own time.

The Holy Spirit was always available to them as The Spirit was to the people in the Old Testament, from a distance, but when The Spirit entered into their body and became their life time companion, the relationship became much more intimate. The Spirit of necessity does what these people do and goes where they go. The Spirit is therefore taking a great chance.

It is of little wonder that God would make no attempt to bring them back into the fold, if they choose to depart. As Hebrews 6:6 points out, “they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” The issue is not Heaven or Hell. The issue is fellowship with the Spirit and The Abundant Life. Chances are that the end will be unpleasant, but what is worse than that is that a life of joy, service and contribution to the Kingdom of God will be lost.

Keep the Faith,

Earl

The Excitment of The Spirit of God

I am reacting to a blog by one of my favorite people, Gene Redlin . You can read Gene's blog at http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/

The last two days Gene has written about the need to attract men (all people of course but especially men) to the gospel. I made a comment which you can read on Gene's blog to the affect that excitment attracts men. The Gospel of Jesus should be exciting because Jesus brought to us the Holy Spirit, God, to live within us and do for us and through us exciting things, maybe not big things except as they are appropriate but exciting things, personal things that most people will not even recognize as gifts from God.

Keep the Faith,

Earl

One Way to Communicate with The Spirit of God

When good things happen it is reasonable to assume that God was involved. God has a vested interested in your progress and is therefore always willing to do things to assist, some large and some small. As with any relationship small things are important, but small things are particularly important when the there is a communications barrier. I know there are some people who say they can communicate directly with God anytime, and actually hear God’s voice in English, and I don’t doubt this. God does as God so chooses and all people are different so it makes sense that some people have a more open and more verbal relationship than others. In my case however, I have never heard God speak in the English language, which is the only language I understand. God and I communicate every day in various ways, but the communication is not verbal, and is therefore more difficult, which makes the little things that God does for me even more important. They keep me aware of God’s presence.

In response, it is very important that I be grateful. There again, the response of gratitude is a way to communicate. When some good thing happens and I thank God for it, the doors of communication are opened, and the light of God can come through. As God lives within me in the form of the Holy Spirit, it is very important that we talk - a lot. In my case this non-verbal conversation can sometimes begin with a good thing that happens and a sincere thank you to my friend and constant companion, the Holy Spirit.

Keep the Faith,

The Promise - Hebrews 11:39 - 40

If the “better thing” promised in v. 40 has to do with eternal life, the implication would be theat the Old Testament Heros did not make it to heaven, because they did not receive the promise, but that just can not be the case. These were people of God and the kind of people Jesus would certainly want to be around through-out eternity. It seems more reasonable to me that the promise had to do with The Holy Spirit. Jeremiah made reference to the promise (31:33), and it seems to me that his comment also had to do with the Holy Spirit.

We had a marvelous Sunday School class yesterday discussing the concept of the Promise. Some class-members made some amazing comments about their personal experience with God. I think that we made some progress.

Keep the Faith,

Earl

The New Testament Advantage

There is a text in the book of Hebrews that offers for those of us seeking spiritual power both a challenge and an opportunity. The writer of the Book of Hebrews speaks of the Heros of the Faith in Chapter Eleven. These were people of power. The writer then implies that we too can be people of power if we will but walk in faith as these people did. Actually, the writer points out that the work these people started could never be completed except by us and only then because we have an advantage I have recorded below the two very significant verses from Hebrews; 11:39 & 40.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The issue that can provide great help to us in our search for the Abundant Life is, what advantage do we have? What is the “promise?” What is the “better thing” that God has provided for us? There can be no way that we can fully understand the Old Testament, nor can we complete the work that these people started until we undersand and utilize this New Testament Advantage.

A Bad Day

I had a bad day yesterday. waisted time, spent money foolishly, made some poor decisions and and confused some people who were looking to me for leadership. How can this happen? How can one who is filled with the Spirit of God and who lives in, continual fellowship with God have a bad day?

The Question

It is not God’s intent to run the world. God created human beings to do that and God has no desire to remove from them that responsibility. God will however, through the Holy Spirit, help out. The Holy Spirit came to support, encourage, protect, comfort, teach and even make believers aware of opportunities to contribute. The question every human being should ask themself and God is “how can I best position myself to take full advantage of the support the Holy Spirit freely gives to those The Spirit lives within?