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by Herbert
W. Armstrong (1892-1986)
 CHANCES
ARE that even you, if you believe you are a Christian, are today on
mighty dangerous ground!
You'd better STOP and
check up!
Open your Bible! Take
a look at the real Christians back in the days of Peter, John and Paul
AND COMPARE! Take a look at the POWER in the original true Church in
the lives of those Christians. See how your life stacks up!
... But are you SURE?
You think you are under
God's GRACE? Safe and secure for all eternity?
Well, listen! "Let
him who thinks he stands take heed lest he FALL!" So warns God's
Word (1 Cor. 10:12). It's time to realize you are going to be finally
judged by the very WORD OF GOD. You need to see to what standard you
must measure up.
Jesus told His disciples,
just before He ascended to heaven, that they should receive POWER when
they were converted. "You shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you" (Acts 1:8).
Do you have that same
POWER today? Did you ever study closely to see what that power IS?
Have you ever been concerned about HOW you may receive it? Have you
ever checked to see WHETHER you need it? It's time you did, for without
it you are not truly Christ's!
What
we DO see
Of course
many of you professing Christians see that you must accept Jesus Christ
as personal Savior, to be saved.
You may even see that
you must repent of transgressing God's law His spiritual law, as summarized
in the Ten Commandments because sin is the transgression of the law.
Perhaps you've gone
far enough to realize WHY you were born –you've learned
God's great PURPOSE being worked out here below.
You may see that today
ALL NATIONS are spiritually drunk on the false pagan doctrines of the
modern spiritual "Babylon" that all nations are deceived
that the TRUTH has been turned upside down.
You may see that even
the churches are deceived, and have turned away from the truth and
embraced fables.
You may realize that
grace has been turned into license!
You may even have progressed
so far as to comprehend that God is molding our lives until we shall
be literally BORN of Him His character created within us this mortal
becoming immortal this human becoming divine in the very Kingdom of
God.
But haven't you overlooked,
or failed to "see", the POWER of the Holy Spirit of God within
you?
You may have come to
see how evil and paganized this world has become, and to be disgusted
with its ways.
You may recognize that
you must forsake YOUR WAY, and turn to and live GOD'S WAY! Yes, you
may fully understand that Isaiah said: "Seek the Lord while He
may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake
HIS WAY, and the unrighteous man HIS THOUGHTS" (Is. 55:6 7).
But have you overlooked,
or neglected, verse 1: "Ho! everyone who thirsts, come to the
WATERS"? Thirsty for what? WHAT "waters"? Why, the very "waters" Jesus
spoke of: "If anyone thirsts," He said, "let him come
to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said,
out of his heart [innermost being] will flow RIVERS of living water.
But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him
would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified" (John 7:37 39).
Have you ever fully
realized that the Holy Spirit is something that was not born in you?
We hear a lot today
about tapping your own inner hidden resources the dormant powers within
your mind. Modern religions are springing up calling that sleeping,
formant, latent part of your mind "GOD"!
But the Holy Spirit
is something you have not had something you must receive from GOD!
Something infinitely greater and more POWERFUL than any powers within
you something from the great God who created YOU who created the entire
vast universe and all that exists!
It is the essence the
very life the Nature of God. But it also is something from God, which
He gives you from Himself, which is actually a part of Himself and
that imparts power!
Do you know what that
power is? Has that power come into you, so that you can wield it?
You, as a professing
Christian, may have come to realize, to see, to comprehend, many of
these things to have accepted them but is this POWER actually being
manifested in your life? Are you sure you know WHAT that power is?
What IS this strange
POWER?
First, let me tell
you what this power is NOT.
It is not an emotion
physically worked up through the senses. It is not something that you
can generate, or work up, yourself.
It is not a "loosened
tongue" that suddenly becomes glib and loud and forward in "spiritual" sounding
phrases. It is not a bragging tongue.
It is not falling over
backward "under the power". It is not being robbed of all
power, as some people who have accepted the counterfeit emotional religion
are, while "under the power".
It is not something
that makes people shout, shriek, jerk, laugh insanely and uncontrollably
or go through ridiculous and childish antics in a meeting where the
preacher generates a fake, false "power" and a counterfeit
spirit by constantly calling for loud emotional responses of "Hallelujah!", "Praise
the Lord!", "Amen!", etc., in response to his oft-repeated "All
who believes it say 'Amen!' " etc.
To know what it truly
is, look into your Bible!
Jesus is our example,
and we find this POWER first of all in His life. It was nothing physically
inherent within Him. He said: "I can of Myself do nothing" (John 5:30).
But, He said, "The Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John 14:10).
The Father dwelt IN Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit imparted
POWER. What WAS that power?
The inspired Peter,
bringing salvation to the first gentiles, explained: "God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with POWER, who went about
doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God
was with Him" (Acts 10:38).
Notice: That Power
in Jesus did none of those things that are done today by the very ones
who most loudly profess to have the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
used that power, going about quietly, unobtrusively, not shouting,
bragging, falling helpless "under the power" or any of those "wildfire" things
but doing!
Yes, His was a life
of DOING but doing what? Doing GOOD! Serving, helping OTHER PEOPLE!
There was divine power with it He performed MIRACLES He cast out demons
and had discernment to know when a person was demon-possessed.
His was the POWER of
the Creator GOD! The very same POWER that produced all creation when "He
spoke"! GOD is a miracle-working God! With that POWER, which came
from the Father and was in Jesus, He stilled the storm, He turned water
into wine, He fed 5,000 with only five loaves and two fishes!
The
POWER of the TRUE Church!
Now notice
that power in the original Church, before the apostasy set in, and
the degeneracy of our day.
Soon after being filled
with that power from God, Peter and John went up together into the
Temple at Jerusalem at the 3 p.m. hour of prayer. They entered through
the gate called "Beautiful". At the gate a beggar, crippled
from birth, asked for money.
"Look at us",
said Peter. "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have
I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
Grasping the beggar's
right hand in perfect faith, Peter lifted him sharply to his feet.
The beggar was healed instantly. He leaped up, and then walked with
Peter and John into the Temple, leaping as he went, shouting out praises
to God (Acts 3:1 8).
Jesus, powerless of
His own human self, was filled with the divine power of the Creator.
The very supernatural power of God did the WORK OF GOD through His
human BODY. Jesus said, "The works that I do in My Father's name,
they bear witness of Me" (John 10:25). And again: "If I do
not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do ... believe
the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me,
and I in Him" (vv. 37-38).
Today that same Spirit
that same SUPERNATURAL POWER utilizes the collective body of the true
Church of God as God's human instrumentality, through which God accomplishes
His Work here on earth. In that way the true CHURCH is also the BODY
OF CHRIST (1 Cor. 12:27).
And Jesus said: "Most
assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do
he will do also; and greater works than these he will do" (John
14:12).
That same POWER of
God was in Peter and John. It did the work of GOD in proclaiming Christ's
Gospel.
God's POWER in action!
The miraculous healing
of the beggar aroused the antagonism of the priests and Sadducees until
they seized Peter and John and threw them in prison for the night.
The next day, these religious leaders threatened them, commanded them
not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus and let them go.
Then these true Christians
went immediately to their own group of believers. And here is a point
I want you to get. They were human. They had none of this power inherent
within themselves. They, themselves, were not the source of this dynamic
power. It had come from God.
And the important point
is this: We do not receive enough of this divine power all at once to last forever.
Remember, Jesus said
this power of God SHALL FLOW OUT from our innermost being (John 7:38).
This POWER of God is active dynamic! It is not static. You cannot get
a supply of God's Spirit and then bottle it up within you. This power
comes into you from God daily! It circulates from God into you and
then on out from you in love, in faith, in joy, in patience even in
performing miracles.
You might have been
imbued with this power yesterday and depleted of it today!
A
REfilling of power
The threatening
of these chief priests and elders, after a night in prison, apparently
left Peter and John a little depleted of faith and the confident POWER
of God. Yes, they were human!
They went to their
brethren in Christ. When they reported what had happened, all their
brethren were shaken. They, too, being human, must have felt a sudden
sense of spiritual inadequacy a lack of power!
But they sensed and
knew their NEED. They knew the SOURCE of constant refilling of this
POWER OF GOD within them! They didn't delay! They went immediately
to the SOURCE of their divine power!
"So when they
heard that, they raised their voice to GOD with one accord and said:
'Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all
that is in them ... Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to
Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching
out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through
the name of your holy servant Jesus' " (Acts 4:24, 29-30).
Yes, suddenly this
company realized their own human inadequacy realized their need of
renewed POWER FROM GOD. They didn't run from their difficulty! They
didn't cower and tremble in fear. They didn't give up in their great
commission. They went directly to the SOURCE of their power.
They yielded themselves
into God's hands, as His servants, anew. They urgently, intensively,
cried to God to FILL THEM with His power to give them boldness, faith,
power of speech. They asked God fervently and believingly to heal and
perform miracles.
Was there any God listening?
Was there any response? Listen:
"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 the word
of God with boldness .... And with GREAT POWER the apostles gave witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 4:31, 33).
We
Need It Today
Do you,
today, have the SAME POWER the original Christians had? They were just
as human as YOU! The real question, then, is this: Do you yield yourself
as fully surrender your will as unconditionally to God pray as often,
as earnestly and intensively, as they? If you do you will be filled
with as much of the divine POWER as they for God is no respecter of
persons!
This same POWER OF
GOD operated actively in those early, original Christians continually.
They actually did do greater works than Jesus until even the shadow
of Peter passing over the sick healed them! THEY DID THE VERY WORK
OF GOD!
The Work of God, which
God started in the individual body of disciples, now becoming the BODY
OF CHRIST the true CHURCH of God!
The same POWER of God's
Spirit that worked in the human body of Jesus worked in the collective
body of God's Church in the days of the original apostles. That same
power works in the collective BODY OF CHRIST His Church today!
The great commission
is this: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15).
Not some other gospel, as Paul prophesied would be preached (2 Cor.
11). That true first century Church, empowered by GOD, carried on this
true WORK OF GOD!
Then the great apostasy
set in. The apostate false church (Rev. 17:1-5) rose up in A.D. 33,
two years after Christ started His true Church. It professed to be
Christian, taking on Christ's name.
This professing Christian
church turned away its ears from the TRUTH and turned to FABLES (2
Tim. 4:4). Pagans flocked in, embracing what they called "Christianity" wholesale
bringing in with them their pagan beliefs and practices! The ancient
Babylonian "mysteries" came to be labeled, falsely, "Christianity"!
The whole world, today, is deceived (Rev. 17:1-2, 12:9).
But there continued,
also, God's true Church, pictured in Revelation 12 persecuted by Satan
and his great false church of Revelation 17. No longer was this persecuted
Church able to proclaim the true Gospel to all nations to the whole
world in great power.
But Jesus had said,
prophetically, that just before the END of this world right NOW "This
gospel of the KINGDOM will be preached in all the world as a witness
to ALL the NATIONS, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:14).
Today that prophecy
is being fulfilled, right before your eyes this very second!
This very WORK OF GOD
for our day is foretold in the prophecy of Revelation 3:7-13. But there
it is revealed that we, today, are a people of but little strength,
little power (v. 8). within ourselves though we have faithfully KEPT
GOD'S WORD! The impact of this WORK OF GOD today is going out only
through the power of God! Are you having your part in this very WORK
OF GOD?
But let's face it!
We do not have within ourselves, as God's instruments for his Work today, anywhere near the power of God that activated that original first-century church!
For that very reason,
the living Christ says (v. 8), He has opened to us the gigantic door
of MASS COMMUNICATION! The magnified power of the microphone and the
printing press. Yet that is only physical, mechanical power! The REAL
POWER that makes God's Work vital and alive is the Holy Spirit of God!
We need to present
our bodies a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1)! We need to receive
a greater TRANSFORMING and to be LESS CONFORMED to this present evil
world! We need to REPENT! We need to more earnestly SEEK GOD! We need
to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, as we are admonished in Ephesians
6:10-18! Perhaps some of us need to FAST and PRAY as Jesus did!
Have YOU enough of
the POWER OF GOD flowing dynamically into and out from you? YOU need
to seek a much closer contact with your GOD! bƒ
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