By
Coach Dave Daubenmire
July 8, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” -Acts 1:8
There is almost no power in American Christianity anymore. Most Christians believe that God has enough power to “save a soul,” but in the minds of most of them the idea that God is all-powerful is a stretch of their faith. There is very little “power” in most churches today.
The idea that God rules in the affairs of men is a fairy tale to most Americans. To them, the chances of God intervening in this mess we are living in as about as likely as winning the Powerball. At least that is the view of most.
The whole idea of a “Holy Ghost” is a difficult thing to explain. Jesus himself did His best to explain it to Nicodemus.
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
“Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?” Like most of today’s “Christians,” Nicodemus just didn’t get it. That is what man-made religion does to one’s expectations.
Most of America’s Christians need a dose of the Ghost.
As a disclaimer I like to remind folks that I am not a theologian. Theology is defined as “the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially: the study of God and of God's relation to the world.” For the most part, theology is nothing more than man’s explanation of the unexplainable. Our goal should be to seek God, not understand Him.
Pardon me for being so blunt, but my experience has taught me that the one’s who are least receptive to the power of the Holy Ghost are those who are the most “religious.” Studying about God will help you understand Him in the same way as reading “Love Story” will help you understand love. God cannot be explained, only experienced.
(I know I am veering into dangerous territory. I am sure the “religious” experts will take me to task for what I am about to posit.)
Most Christians are powerless because they have never been filled with the Holy Spirit. All I can do is go by what I have experienced, sifted through the filter of what I have been taught. Those who have never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit explain to us that we “get the Holy Ghost” when we are “born again,” and I believe that to be true.
But the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit is not the same as the in-filling. I know because it happened to me. When I trusted Jesus as my Savior the Holy Spirit took up residence inside my earth suit with a saving grace from the penalty of sin. A few weeks later I received the in-filling of the Holy Spirit. It was the in-filling that Jesus promised would “endue us with power from on high.” That experience did for me what a phone booth did for Clark Kent.
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The in-dwelling produces the life of Jesus in us, but it is the in-filling that produces the power for the work of ministry.
Many Christians are timid and void of power and Holy Spirit power is not even welcome in most churches. Because of the life-enhancement Gospel so prevalent in the American-church we think the purpose of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than that of an errand boy sent to meet all of our wishes.
America’s problems are not political. They are moral. The Church was created to serve as an antidote to sin, with the Holy Ghost being the inoculation. With the idea of “sin” being removed from our pulpits the need for the inoculation has become out-dated. Why is the Holy Ghost so necessary?
He is the One through whom the power runs. Jesus is not on earth, but sits at His Father’s right hand. The Holy Ghost is the conduit through which the Power of God flows. No Holy Spirit, no power. The Holy Ghost is the connection between the material world and the Spiritual world.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:” -John 16:7-8
Sin is no longer something the church hates. We love the sinner more than we hate the sin. God hated sin so much that He sacrificed His Son to destroy it. The modern church has lost her ability to blush. Should an un-repentant sinner ever feel comfortable in church?
"Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God." -Oswald Chambers
The
Holy Spirit reveals Truth. The battle for Truth is not taking place in
the world, but in the Church. Confusion reigns over right and wrong, good
and evil. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we must trust in fallible
men for direction. Churches wink at divorce, accept homosexuality, turn
a blind eye to abortion, and pursue un-Godly mammon. I’d rather
have the Holy Ghost than a pastor.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth:” -John 16:13.
Do you know the Truth? Are you willing to defend it?
The Holy Ghost puts steel in your spine. Most Christians never share the Gospel, even with their friends. Their silence has enabled sin to run unopposed, especially in the schools that the Christians underwrite to educate their children. The entire book of Acts is a record of the valor of those who spoke the Truth of God even in the face of death. “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." -Acts 4:31.
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What happened to the power that we read about in the first-century church?
The Holy Spirit is God. He is so much more than a Spirit that shows up to give you goose bumps during “praise and worship.”
Do you wish you were bolder in your faith? Would you like to get victory over your personal sin?
Would you like for the Bible to have a deeper meaning?
Could it be that you need a dose of the Ghost?
Order the CDs here.
Do you think like a Christian or a humanist? Did the Founders really separate Church and State? Is Judicial tyranny ruining America? Check out these great teachings by the Coach
� 2010 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved
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